1929 FRENCH FOREIGN OFFICE MEDAL INFO SOUGHT

I am hoping that your readers may help me to establish the provenance of a medal struck by Daniel Dupuis.

What background information I have is as follows: ---

• The medal was issued in 1929 to Simon Eskenazi by the French Foreign Office (Le Ministere de Affaires Etrangeres) with the initial C.E.P added, possibly in recognition of service rendered.

• Present use of the initials C.E.P in relation to French affairs means the Confederation of European Probation, but whether this was so in 1929 I have no idea.

• The medal is currently in the possession of Simon Ashkenazi’s granddaughter, who lives here in Adelaide South Australia

• She has advised “Simon Eskenazi was Turkish - so Turkish grandfather, Italian/Greek grandmother - who met in Egypt where my mother was born, and then they came out in 50's , and I am first generation Aussie so to speak as my father is Aussie. Simon Eskenazi passed away in the 90's and this was an item left for me as the background.”

• She has also advised ... “From memory it is related to when you finished studies and he received this medal back in the day; background is Egypt.” Whether this was Secondary Schooling or Tertiary Study I do not know. The nearest I can approximate to it is Certificat d’aptitude professionnelle (CAP) at the end of Upper Secondary Education----- This level of education is provided over a three-year period to pupils ages 15-18. The general and technological lycées prepare pupils for long-term higher education, while professional lycées mainly prepare students for a career (although they have the option to continue their studies). The diploma awarded upon completion of the lycée, the baccalauréat, is a prerequisite for admission to university. In professional lycées, students can earn the Certificat d’aptitude professionnelle (CAP) after two years and the baccalauréat after two additional years. However, this system has been in France only since 1975, so whether there is any connection to the Education System in 1929 is problematic. There is a strong probability that the situations were very similar as the organisation of public education in France after the Revolution and the establishment of the French Republic goes right back to the Third Republic (1870 – 1940).

• If this educational connection is correct that would make this the equivalent of a Matriculation to University Study Medal. This would be consistent with “From memory it is related to when you finished studies.... “

• That leaves a problem of why such a medal would be issued by the French Foreign Office? ..... possibly solved if there was some form of secondary schooling based on the French Education System operating in either Cairo or Alexandria in the 1920s, even though at that time Egypt was a British Protectorate. Such an educational institution in Egypt using French Educational qualifications might well come under the administrative supervision of the French Foreign Office. There is a very slim chance that this coincides with the Pharaonist Movement in Egypt in the 1920s which was heavily influenced by French thinking.

• Another long shot at making a connecting link to the French Educational System in Egypt might be that if Simon Eskenazi was not only of Turkish origin , but had come from a Jewish Diaspora Community in Turkey to be part of the long standing Jewish communities in both Alexandria and Cairo, then the link becomes stronger. Jewish Communities (wherever found in the world) set very high store on University Education, especially for young men. Simon’s name is strongly similar to one of the most devout forms of Judaism, the Ashkenazi ---- may be a happy coincidence , but may be more significant than at first glance. From the foundation of the Alliance Israelite Universelle (AIU) in 1860 French Jews had been strongly involved in transforming the Jewish cause against anti-Semitism in Europe and the Middle East, especially through higher Education, and the Jewish Communities of both Alexandria and Cairo were both strongly influenced and supported by the AIU right up to the foundation of the modern State Israel in 1948. So if there were indeed French schools in both centres in the 1920s then the connection is possible.

I realise that my level of speculation may not be helpful or useful, which is why I am relying on your expertise. For the last six years I have been working as a retiree volunteer at the Migration Museum of South Australia: my responsibilities being accessioning new items into the collection, which includes establishing the provenance of such items and telling their story. I have had to do similar tracing to this medal for medals , coins (numismata) as well as all manner of artefacts donated to the Museum by people who have migrated here to South Australia. The Migration Museum of South Australia was set up in 1986 and was the first Social History Museum of its type in the World.

Any help you can give on the story of the medal, including its valuation would be very much appreciated.

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