The World Jewish Congress mourns the passing of French Jewish leader Emmanuel (Manek) Weintraub, a former chairmain of the French Section of the World Jewish Congress and later vice-president of the French Jewish umbrella body CRIF. He was 83.
Weintraub, who was born and grew up in Poland and later fled to France, served as interpreter for French President Charles de Gaulle’s meetings with German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1961. He later was head of the translation service of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris.
As head of the French Section of the WJC (since 1992) and as member of the CRIF Executive Committee, Manek Weintraub took part in many diplomatic battles on behalf of world Jewry. CRIF President Richard Prasquier praised him as a man of personal modesty who had “served others without serving himself.”
