Sunday, May 22, 2011

Charles Aznavour (May 22, 1924)

Charles Aznavour, the famous French singer and actor, was born in Paris to Armenian immigrant parents fleeing from Turkey. He grew up in the Marais, the Jewish neighborhood. He said: "'All my childhood friends are Jews. … I was brought up among them. I finished up having the same gestures, the same way of talking, the same way of joking. During the German occupation, I was arrested several times for being Jewish. Shall we say, I don't have a very Catholic appearance. They'd take me to the command post. I'd show my baptism certificate, but they didn't believe me. They'd make me take down my trousers. As I tell my friends, I am the only Ashkenazi goy in France.'" See "Aznavour, The Last Chanteur"

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