Jews have lived in France since Roman times, with a rich and complex history. In the Middle Ages, French kings expelled most of the original Ashkenazi Jewish population to Germany. Since the French Revolution (and Emancipation), Jews have been able to contribute to all aspects of French culture and society. Moreover, the Cremieux decree gave in 1870 the full French citizenship to North-African Jews, living in the Maghreb under French colonization. During World War II, a significant number of Jews living in Metropolitan France were murdered in the Holocaust, deported to Nazi death camps by the French Vichy government. After 1945, France served as a haven for Askhenazi refugees, then after the independence of Morocco, Tunisia and the end of Algerian War, an influx of immigration of Sephardi Jews saw the Jewish population triple to around 600,000, making it the largest Jewish community in Western Europe. Behind the United States and Israel, France ranks 3rd by Jewish population. In 2019, the Jewish Agency evaluated the Jewish population in France to be 450,000, not mentioning French citizens with only one Jewish parent or grandparent. The following is a list of some prominent Jews and people of Jewish origins, among others (not all of them practice, or practiced, the Jewish religion) who were born in, or are very strongly associated with, France. The French nationality law itself, strongly secular, forbids any statistics or lists based on ethnic or religious membership. Historical figures Activists René Cassin (1887–1976), drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, won Nobel Peace Prize (1968) Lewis Goldsmith (c. 1763–1846), English-born journalist and political writer Alain Krivine (born 1941), student leader and Trotskyist MEP André Spire (1868–1966), lawyer, journalist, poet, Jewish society and French Zionism leader Clergymen Aaron ben Perez of Avignon, fl.1300–1310 Abraham Auerbach (mid 1700s – November 3, 1846), Alsatian-born rabbi and liturgical poet. Fled France for Germany after imprisonment during the Reign of Terror. Gilles Bernheim (born 1952), chief rabbi of France 2009–2013 Mordecai Karmi (1749–1825), rabbi and Talmudic writer Jean-Marie Lustiger (1926–2007), former Catholic archbishop of Paris and cardinal; converted to Catholicism when he was 13 Rashi (1040–1105), medieval rabbi based in Troyes, famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) Joseph Sitruk (born 1944), Tunisian-born former Chief Rabbi of France, 1987–2008 Rabbeinu Tam (1100–1171), rabbinical authority, grandson of Rashi Military