ABSTRACT
As in Germany, reforms in France during the 1770s and 1780s ameliorated the situation of the Jewish population. Though Sephardic Jews in Paris and in the south and south-west lived in comfort and security, the Ashkenazic Jews of Alsace and Lorraine had a traditional Jewish lifestyle and were subject to a variety of disabilities. In 1789 the National Assembly issued a declaration proclaiming that all human beings are born and remain free and equal in rights and that no person should be persecuted for his opinions as long as they do not subvert civil law. In 1790 the Sephardim of south-west France and Jews from Papal Avignon were granted citizenship. This decree was followed in September 1791 by a resolution which granted citizenship rights to all Jews. This change in Jewish status occurred elsewhere in Europe as well – in 1796 the Dutch Jews of the Batavian republic were also granted full citizenship rights and in 1797 the ghettos of Padua and Rome were abolished.
