# Is there really a village/town in France called 'Mort-aux-Juives' (death to Jews)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 12, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-really-a-village-town-in-france-called-mort-aux-juives-death-to-jews/298998 "2005-04-12T17:42:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-really-a-village-town-in-france-called-mort-aux-juives-death-to-jews/298998/21 "2005-04-14T02:13:33Z")
> [@JohnM](#): > > Thanks! I must admit that I started off in debunking mode, thinking that surely this was a UL; . When I read the OP, I didn’t asumed it was an UL. There are a large number of places in France including the word “Juif”, and the word “mort” sometimes appears too. I didn’t find surprising that some place could include some combination of both. By the way, though “Mort aux juifs” indeed means "death to the jews, but with the article “La” before it, it doesn’t mean anything. God only knows how this place was called this way. Maybe there used to be a jewish graveyard, or maybe a Jew died there, or maybe the original name wasn’t “la mort” but something sounding like it in the local dialect, etc… I personnally don’t think the old name of a hamlet should be considered offensive and changed. By the way, I lived for several years in the subburbs of Paris in ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-really-a-village-town-in-france-called-mort-aux-juives-death-to-jews/298998/22 "2005-04-14T02:14:05Z")
> [@JohnM](#): > > Thanks! I must admit that I started off in debunking mode, thinking that surely this was a UL; . When I read the OP, I didn’t asumed it was an UL. There are a large number of places in France including the word “Juif”, and the word “mort” sometimes appears too. I didn’t find surprising that some place could include some combination of both. By the way, though “Mort aux juifs” indeed means "death to the jews, but with the article “La” before it, it doesn’t mean anything. God only knows how this place was called this way. Maybe there used to be a jewish graveyard, or maybe a Jew died there, or maybe the original name wasn’t “la mort” but something sounding like it in the local dialect, etc… I personnally don’t think the old name of a hamlet should be considered offensive and changed. By the way, I lived for several years in the subburbs of Paris in a town called “Villejuif”, litterally “Jewtown” ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-really-a-village-town-in-france-called-mort-aux-juives-death-to-jews/298998/23 "2005-04-14T06:53:13Z")
The OP should show his friend [this article](http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050401/17/ffg2g.html). (And see whether he notices the date.) ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-really-a-village-town-in-france-called-mort-aux-juives-death-to-jews/298998/24 "2005-04-14T13:40:22Z")
> [@](#): > > There are occasionally places that were named in honour of some individual of an ethnic minority in a way that’s now perceived as racist. Just so. Submitted for your consideration: [the flap over Jap Road](http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Southwest/12/03/name.road.reut/), in Fannet, TX (near Beaumont). IIRC, the road has indeed been renamed since this article was written in 2003. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-really-a-village-town-in-france-called-mort-aux-juives-death-to-jews/298998/25 "2005-04-14T16:00:05Z")
Sometimes, these supposedly “PC” name changes remind me more of Beavis & Butthead sniggering “heh, heh, he said _head_” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-really-a-village-town-in-france-called-mort-aux-juives-death-to-jews/298998/26 "2016-06-23T04:24:37Z")
Topic most recently addressed in another thread in June 2015: > [@](#): > > **Leo Bloom:** > > La Mort au Juifs, France ([current Google map](http://i.imgur.com/rxQNAfV.png) [NB: image from 6/15/2015]). Google Maps, citing Wiki, which must be true, says “[…] its name can be translated 'The Death of the Jews” or "Where Jews Died.’ " Anything can be translated to anything if you you don’t know a language or want to euphemize reality, but its translation from French is “Death to the Jews.” > > But of course, some might rightly claim this is exactly counter-example to OP premise: > [… In 2014 …] Ms Secretand for the [town] council said: ‘Why change a name that goes back to the Middle Ages or even further? We should respect these old names. > ‘A previous municipal council, at least 20 years ago, already refused to change the name of this hamlet, which consists of a farm and two houses.’[[cite](http://metro.co.uk/2014/08/13/theres-a-village-in-france-called-death-to-jews-and-residents-are-refusing-to-change-the-name-4830788/#ixzz3d9IXIPzN)] To which was added: > [@](#): > > **Johanna** : > > Coincidentally, I just saw that Matajudíos (‘kill Jews’) in Spain came to their senses and changed their name to Mota de Judíos (‘hill of Jews’). Hopefully those idiots in France will see this and get a clue. However, Matamoros (‘kill Moors’) has no plans to change its name, so Spain doesn’t get off the hook just yet. Same for Mexico’s Matamoros. But the present thread, unlike so many Jews but one, arguably, has been made undead (zombies aren’t Golems either) because it is on topic for… \*\*[Spanish village formerly named ‘Kill Jews’ twins with Israeli town](http://www.timesofisrael.com/spanish-village-formerly-named-kill-jews-twins-with-israeli-town/) \*\* Kfar Vradim in northern Galilee signs agreement with newly monikered ‘Jews’ Hill’ to promote cultural, commercial ties TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF AND AP June 20, 2016, 5:57 am … A delegation from [the newly named] Castrillo Mota de Judios arrived in Israel on Sunday for a ceremony designating the two as twin towns to promote cultural, touristic and commercial ties. The signing was attended by the mayor of the Spanish town, Lorenzo Rodriguez, and the Spanish Ambassador to Israel, Fernando Carderera. “We’re here in the Promised Land to safeguard the roots of the town, established in 1035," said Rodriguez alongside the head of the Kfar Vradim local council, Sivan Yehieli. … ETA 😕“Castrillo”? Never saw that before. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-really-a-village-town-in-france-called-mort-aux-juives-death-to-jews/298998/27 "2016-06-23T07:30:47Z")
_Castrillo_: diminutive of _castro_. [_Castro_(1)](http://dle.rae.es/?id=7sEZOoY%7C7sI6CS4): 1. fortified village in Roman Iberia 2. Asturias, ruins of a pre-Roman village 3. Galicia, height where there are ruins of a fort 4. obsolete, location of a temporary army fort It is also the name of the peoples who built those fortified villages in NW Spain (Asturias and Galicia). The villages in question are all circles: circular houses in a circular wall. This sometimes leads to similar but more modern forts also being called a _castro_ rather than the more frequent _castillo_. If you look for “mota de judios” in google maps, you will see that the village is indeed quite round: _castrillo_ fits. TL, DR: _castrillo_ means “little round fortified village” ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-really-a-village-town-in-france-called-mort-aux-juives-death-to-jews/298998/28 "2016-06-23T12:45:12Z")
Thank you, **Nava**. I was hoping the spirits of SD would summon you to read this thread… ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-really-a-village-town-in-france-called-mort-aux-juives-death-to-jews/298998/29 "2016-06-23T15:20:02Z")
I’m glad that this thread got revived because the definitive book on the subject was written in 2006. [From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow: How Maps Name, Claim, and Inflame](https://www.amazon.com/Squaw-Tit-Whorehouse-Meadow-Inflame/dp/0226534669/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1466694868&sr=1-1&keywords=from+squaw+tits). Mark Monmonier is a geographer with a long string of books on maps. This one is fascinating, but a bit dry like most of his work. It’s not restricted to America. He has chapters on several controversies over names in other countries. I recommend it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-really-a-village-town-in-france-called-mort-aux-juives-death-to-jews/298998.md?page=1)