Eclaireurs Israélites de France badge with Judean lions and tablets

The Eclaireurs Israelites de France (EIF), is the Jewish division of the Boy Scouts in France (Scoutisme Français). It was founded by Robert Gamzon (1905-1961) in 1923. The EIF was a pluralist movement under the patronage of community leaders who sought to attract native born and immigrant youth to Judaism and to steer them away from the more radical political movements of the time. Tensions soon arose between the EIF's patrons and the movement's leaders, many of whom were increasingly attracted to Zionism. By the late 1930s, the EIF was co-sponsoring programs with the Zionist scouting group, Chomerim. They opened an agricultural training school in Saumur near Tours in the Loire region. These programs had several purposes, including vocational training, raising Jewish consciousness, and preparing youth for immigration to Palestine.

After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in September 1939, leading to the outbreak of World War II, the EIF set up children's homes in southwestern France. In May 1940, Germany invaded France. The June armistice split France into a northern region occupied by Germany and a southern region under the French collaborationist government headquartered in Vichy. The EIF as a Jewish organization was banned by German authorities. They maintained a clandestine operation in Paris, but moved most of their activity to the unoccupied zone. The children's homes became increasingly crowded as non-native Jew from all over France and other German occupied regions were sent to Vichy internment camps. The EIF also organized a number of youth communities in rural areas of the south. At the end of 1941, the EIF was forced to join the southern branch of the Union Generale des israelites de France (UGIF, Union of French Jews), a compulsory French Jewish council, later constituting its Fourth Section, which dealt with issues related to Jewish youth. Gamzon was appointed to UGIF council and the EIF hen handled issues related to the young. In March 1942, the Germans began large scale deportations of the Jewish population. In response, the EIF created a special underground unit called La Sixieme (The Sixth), which developed a rescue network for children and youth, placing them in hiding in safe homes or smuggling them out of France. They also forged identity papers for at risk Jews. In fall 1943, Germany occupied the south. EIF formed a resistance fighting unit called Compagnie Marc Haguenau, after the leader of La Sixieme who committed suicide when captured by the Gestapo. It participated in the liberation of southwestern France as part of the Organisation Juive de Combat (Jewish Fighting Organization). In the Tarn region, members of Companie Marc-Haguenau, under EIF founder Robert Gamzon, and members of Eclaireuses et Eclaireurs Unionistes de France, a Protestant division of the Scouts, under Robert Cook, formed the core of Maquis de Vabre. Also known as Corps franc de la liberation 10, they joined the French forces of the interior and American commandos to liberate Castres on August 20, 1944, capturing 4500 German soldiers. The war ended with Germany’s surrender in May 1945.

During the war over 150 members of the EIF lost their lives, chiefly those involved in La Sixieme. The organization is credited with the rescue of several thousand Jews in France.