Doris Donath[2] was born in 1924 in Vienna, Austria.[3][4] Her father was Robert Donath (born 12 June 1883, Vienna). After the Anschluss, the Donath family left Austria and removed to Antwerp,[4] before coming to Lille, France, where it was protected by the Préfet du Nord. On 11 September 1942 Robert was deported by Convoy No. 31 to Auschwitz via Drancy internment camp, where he was killed, at age 59.[5][4] With her mother, Bensimon took refuge in Lyon.
Bensimon became a researcher at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) where she was responsible for the team working on the sociology of Judaism, within the Groupe de Sociologie des Religions ("Sociology Group of Religions").[6] She also became a professor at the University of Caen and at INALCO in Paris.[7]
Quotidien du vingtième siècle : histoire d'une vie mouvementée, 2007
Notes
^According to Morton (2003), Bensimon's and Sergio Della Pergola's La Population juive de France: Socio-Demographie et identite (Jerusalem, 1984) "represents the most important study conducted on modern French Jewish demography, social behavior, and identity".[9]
^Klarsfeld, Serge. Le Mémorial de la déportation des Juifs de France. Beate et Serge Klarsfeld: Paris, 1978. Nouvelle édition, mise à jour, avec une liste alphabétique des noms.FFDJF (Fils et filles de déportés juifs de France), 2012. (in French)