Georges Hirsch

Georges Hirsch (22 February 1895 – 12 May 1974)^[1] was a French theater director, a member of the French Resistance, and municipal councillor of Paris.

He was a director of the Paris Opera from 1946 to 1951 and from 1956 to 1959. Married to the singer Madeleine Mathieu, he is the father of Professor Jean-François Hirsch, creator of the first paediatric neurosurgery department at the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital and of Georges-François Hirsch, also director of several Parisian theatres.

Hirsch was born in the 19th arrondissement of Paris in 1895^[2] A member of the SFIO, he was appointed municipal councillor of Paris and general councillor of the former Seine department from 1933 to 1940. At the Conseil municipal de Paris [fr], Hirsch must face anti-Semitism from Louis Darquier de Pellepoix, who does not hesitate to come to blows:

Over and over again, Darquier opposes within the Council itself with his Jewish colleagues on the definition of what is being "French". Reactionary tradition versus Republican tradition. Maurice Hirschovitz [fr], Georges Hirsch, Raphaël Schneid, all three have at one time or another claimed that they were "more French" than him. At the end of the session [of June 4, 1936], he [Darquier de Pellepoix] waited in the Council's changing rooms for the "dirty little Jew" in question, Georges Hirsch, and committed an attack on him that quickly turned into a brawl between colleagues.^[3]

Re-elected from 1944 to 1945, then from 1959 to 1965, he was appointed head of the Réunion des théâtres lyriques nationaux [fr] from 1946 to 1951 and from 1956 to 1959. In this capacity, he chaired the jury of the International singing competition of Toulouse on 2 occasions.

Hirsh died in the 16th arrondissement of Paris in 1974 and was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery (89th division).

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