Histoire Des Juifs En Algrie

Jewish couple from Algeria to 1856-1858
(Photography by Flix-Jacques Moulin )

The history of Jews in Algeria dates back to antiquity, although it is impossible to trace with certainty the time and circumstances of the arrival of Jews in the territory of today's Algeria. Several waves of immigration have certainly helped increase the Jewish population of Algeria. It is probable that there were Jews in Carthage and Algeria before the Roman conquest, the development of Jewish communities is linked to the Roman presence. The Jewish revolt of ^I and II ^th centuries in the land of Israel and Cyrenaica have certainly caused the arrival of Jewish immigrants from those countries. The importance of the Jewish community is attested in the Roman Empire by Augustine of Hippo.

If the Jewish proselytizing among the Berbers is denied by anyone ;

This distinction is similar to that which existed in Morocco and Tunisia with the difference that the Ladino , the language of the Jews from Spain, do not prevailed as was the case in Tangier or Tetouan and religious institutions were never divided as was the case in Tunisia between grana and toshavim.

The origin of the Jews of Algeria is very little known. It merges with that of all the Jews of North Africa.

Jewish Algerian ^nineteenth century.

According to Richard Ayoun , the Jewish presence is "compelling" since before the Roman conquest ^of the second century, the North African coast at Hippo Regius ( Annaba ), Igilgili ( Jijel ), Iol , Icosium (Algiers) and Gunugu ( Gouraya ) as well as inland in Constantine, Setif, etc. ... This population would have been strengthened following the capture of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 ^, . The Jewish presence is confirmed in the area of Constantine in the early centuries of the Common Era, as shown by inscriptions (in Latin) we have found . Augustine of Hippo and Jerome of Stridon attest both the importance of the Jewish community in ^the fourth and ^fifth centuries: the first, which treats Jews as lazy as they observe the Sabbath , is the author of Against the Jews and the other states in an of his letters that the Jewish colonies formed an unbroken chain "from Mauritania through Africa and Egypt to India" .

The synagogue of Setif dated III ^century and it was another to Auzias (Aumale) . The synagogue Tipaza is built in the ^fourth century . Then the Arab historians point to the presence of Jews in the region of Tuat , in southwest Algeria since the ^fifth century .

In ^the fifth century , the power Vandal offers a short period of religious freedom to Jews . But when the Byzantines arrived in Algeria, the edicts of Justinian exclude Jews from all public functions and several synagogues turned into churches as in Tipaza .

^The seventh century, Algeria hosts first immigration of Spanish Jews fleeing the persecution of King Visigoth Sisebuth. .

The Judeo-Berber

The history of the Judeo-Berber is developed in the article Origins of the Jews of North Africa. It outlines the probability that some tribes Berbers were converted to Judaism before the advent of Islam.

There is also an assumption of original Canaanite Berbers, supported by some ancient authors Christians or Jews and more recently by Nahum Slouschz . So when Augustine asked their origin to the people of Hippo , the current Annaba , they answered him by speaking Punic they were "Canan." He also reminded farmers about the son cursed Ham , Canaan and son of Israel . As the historian Procopius of Caesarea , he mentions an inscription found at Tigisis (now Ain el Bordj 50 kilometers of Constantine) in Numidia who could refer to the Canaanites of the Bible: "We are those who fled before Joshua, son Nun " ^, . And, as the Sefer Yosippon , descendants of Esau would be established in northern Africa .

Berbers and Jews could therefore have a close geographic origin, as Richard Ayoun not hesitate to describe as "close family" and this may explain the affinity that existed between these two populations, an example is perhaps given by King Juba II who married Claphyra , widow of the son of the Jewish king Herod the Great , even if it does not seem Jewish .

The Jews of Tuat

The Tuat is a region in south-western Algeria in the Sahara, where the Jews seem to have been present since the ^second century, particularly in the city of Tamentit . According to Jacob Oliel , the Jews have settled in Tuat in the years 132-135 after the crackdown by the Romans in the revolt of 115-117 Cyrenaica. ^In the sixth century, their capital is Tamentit where they have a synagogue . The community prospered during the Middle Ages, when they contribute to the development of foggaras and trans-Saharan trade before disappearing in the late fifteenth ^century at the hands of a sheikh fanatic . He left descendants that recognizes their name or as Touati Touitou.

From the Arab Conquest to the expulsion of Jews from Spain

The Islamization of Algeria began in the ^mid-seventh century and was conquered by the Umayyad is completed before the end of the century.

Berber resistance is tenacious. One of the most influential figures is Dihya , called the Kahina, many with Ibn Khaldun say she was Judaizing. For about five years, she directs the Berber tribes opposed the Arabs before being defeated.

Jewish immigration that followed the Arab conquest seems to continue and a merger with some of the Judeo-Berber. In Algeria, there are Jewish communities in many cities including Candle , Algiers , Oran , Ouargla , Mostaganem and Biskra in the M'zab and into the oasis Sahara . Jewish communities are subject to the status of dhimmis , as in all Muslim lands since the Covenant of the Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab , the ^eighth century , which, while allowing them freedom of religion gives them a legal status very lower than that of Muslims .

After the defeat of Kahina and the conquest of Andalusia, several Berber revolts sufrites ( kharidjisme Berber) or destabilize the power Rostemides Abbasid the Maghreb. The Kharijites as Rostemides Tiaret or Berber dynasties kharidjites Tlemcen are tolerant vis--vis the Jews.

^In the tenth century resident in Algeria several Jewish scholars . :

• Rabbi Judah ibn Quraysh , a linguist of Tiaret , which produces a comparative study of Hebrew and Arabic to Aramaic
• Rabbi Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi , decision halakhic , a native of Fez , in Morocco , whose great work is the Sefer HaHalakhot ( ).

Towards the end of the ^tenth century , the Merinids kharidjites settle in Mzab during attacks Almoravids. Several oases inhabited by kharidjites and Jewish communities are growing rapidly.

After several centuries of relatively peaceful, the Jews of North Africa are the ^twelfth century subjected to terrible persecution by the Almohad . Southern communities disappear in 1142, that of Oran , in 1145, that of Tlemcen, in 1146 and of Bougie in 1147 . In 1165 , the Almohad power establishes a policy of forced conversion, and forbidden to marry Muslims and engage in commerce on a large scale . In 1198, the sovereign Almohad Al Monsur requires Jews to wear special clothing, yellow . It is the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil , the dynasty of Abbasid (847-861), who chose this color, blue being reserved for Christians and red with Samaritans. This will mark the Jews of color or a badge, which varies among countries and over time, will be repeated in Europe since the Lateran Council in 1215.

Jews must then (as in the Maghreb and Muslim Spain) to choose between practicing their religion clandestinely or in exile to some friendly countries, the Egyptian (as is the case of the philosopher, physician, Talmudic scholar Moses Maimonides ), the earth Israel or Italy. The assumed conversion of the latter to Islam (and transient circumstance) is raised by the Arab writer Ibn Al-Kift , who witnessed the end of the twelfth ^century and early ^thirteenth century : "The Berber Abd al-Mumin Ben Ali al-Kumi announced expulsion of Jews and Christians, it allowed them to stay and earn a living if they were converting to Islam. Those who had few assets left. There remained only the more affluent. In public, they popped up as Muslims and secretly remained unfaithful. Moshe ben Maimon was to them and remained in the country until he had the opportunity to leave. He left Spain for exile in Egypt at Fustat . " .

Almohades eventually allow Jews to live in North African cities .

In 1228, the city is based Ghardaia , the capital moved Mzab where a large Jewish population.

After the decline of Andalusia

Synagogue of Netanya ( Israel ) rite of Algiers, Algiers honoring two rabbis

From the ^fourteenth century and until the ^seventeenth century , emigration reversed. The North African communities see the arrival of Jews from Spain in particular after the riots of 1391 in Catalonia and Majorca. The largest wave will follow the expulsion order issued in March 1492 after the capture of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs. Relatively few come to Algeria, the Spanish Jews settled in the coastal towns and gradually merge with the indigenous Jews. It is they who, under the designation of Sephardic (which originally meant the Jews of Spain), introduce the liturgy of the same name. Finally, they are all Jewish communities in North Africa, and beyond the Balkans and Eastern, which will adopt the Sephardic liturgy.

Among the Jewish families expelled from Spain and who sought refuge in Algiers, are generally seen as blinds, Duran, and Seror, and Benhaim, the Oualid and Ayache ^, . The families claim their Spanish ancestry . Early in the ^fifteenth, the rabbis of Spanish origin are the head of the Algerian community :

• in Algiers : Isaac ben Chechet said Rivach and Shimon ben Tzemach Duran said Rachbatz , both born in Spain and successively taking the leadership of the Jewish community of Algiers.
• to Constantine : Saadia ben Maimun Najar and Joseph ben Meniri .
• in Tlemcen : Hakin and Abraham ben Ephraim Encaoua , rabbi born at Toledo, whose tomb became a place of pilgrimage until the departure of Jews from Algeria.

Fear of persecution by the Spanish remain so large in the Jewish community that these failures in their attempts to Algiers in 1541 and in 1775 are commemorated by the Jews during Purim Algiers .

The Ottoman Algeria

During the period Ottoman , the Jews of Algeria are strictly subject to the status of " dhimmi , "which gives them both some protection but discriminates against Muslims. This status gives them great freedom of worship, but imposes many restrictions and harassment (not to be armed, prohibition of riding, duty to remove their shoes in the vicinity of mosques and wear distinctive color dark obligation to reside in neighborhoods reserved, the Jewish quarter ) . When assaulted by a Muslim, then the Jews have any right to defend itself with force. In the event of a dispute with a Muslim, they are judged by a Muslim court, before which the testimony of Jews are considered invalid, but they still have the right to speak during the trial. Jews do not respect these restrictions are burned alive at the Porte de Bab El-Oued , the very spot where France built by high school principal of Algiers.

The ^seventeenth and ^eighteenth centuries saw a revival of studies with Talmudic rabbis Saadia Chouraqui who is also a mathematician and Judah Ayache (1690-1760), dayan (that is to say the rabbinical court judge) in Algiers, author of Treaty Bet Yehuda (Judah's house) where he describes the Jewish customs Algiers .

In the ^seventeenth century , come the "Jews Franks, Granas of Livorno ( Italy ), very small but very engaged in maritime trade in the Mediterranean. They too are part of Iberian origin. Livornese the export of agricultural commodities in Algeria such as wheat or citrus fruits and handicrafts such as silk or leather and will import other agricultural products like sugar or coffee, and industrial hardware or as iron and steel, but the bulk of Jews still live in poverty .

Jews living under the constant threat of massacres like that of 1805 as evidenced by the consul of France Dubois-Thainville . It then saves the lives of 200 Jews by sheltering them in his consulship . In 1815, the Chief Rabbi of Algiers, Isaac Aboulker is decapitated during a riot . Note, however, a wide variety of situations in space and time. Of good-neighborly relations of friendship or can be established, especially during the celebration of Jewish holidays. The practice of "protection" - a particular individual putting himself under the protection of a prominent Muslim, an officer or Dey or European consuls - not just about some rich merchants, but s' sometimes extends to some very modest. In the countryside, some Jewish tribes living in tandem with their Muslim neighbors .

During the French Revolution , two merchants of Livorno, and Bacri Busnach manage to forge a special relationship with the Dey of Algiers , becoming its financial adviser and enjoy privileges and trade monopolies that make their fortune. They provide the armies of wheat Directory to 1795-1796, but failed to pay the price make it, except partially in the Restoration. This trade dispute has experienced numerous more or less dramatic twists and poisoned relations between France and the Regency for thirty years. David Bacri appointed by Napoleon consul general in Algiers in 1811 was beheaded by order of the Dey of Algiers . This event is a first stage of the conflict between the Ottomans and the French. Finally, the Hussein Dey , unable to take his majority share in the proceeds of the transaction unresolved, call the French consul Deval to settle the debts of France. It therefore follows that the trade dispute arise the case of "her fan," the capture of Algiers and the conquest of Algeria .

Some features of Judaism in Ottoman Algeria

Jewish communities each develop their own customs and their own rituals (Constantine Algiers, Oran, ...), we find today as some synagogues, for example, or other rite of Algiers rite Constantine . That Judaism places great importance on the Kabbalah and the veneration of "saints" that is to say, as the founding rabbis Ribach and Rachbatz or Ephraim Encaoua to Tlemcen , whose tomb is visited by both Jews by Muslims. Some synagogues become places of pilgrimage, such Ghriba to Djerba , but also those of Bone and Biskra .

In each city, at the head of the community "the chief of the Jewish nation" (Mokdem), appointed by the authority and responsibility for tax collection. Despite the risks involved in this function, it is highly prized for its influence auptrs of Dey. Suits between Jews are judged by the judges of the rabbinical courts , but also those involving Muslims are considered by Muslims. Other notables important, are responsible Guizbarim charities .

The Jews, who, as dhimmis, are not allowed to own land are often craftsmen or merchants: tailors, embroiderers, cobblers, but goldsmiths, jewelers or jewelry. They can even beat the currency of the Dey. As traders, they provide links with the Saharan provinces and also thanks to their family and professional ties with the Jews of Livorno, they are in business relations with European ports in the Mediterranean as Marseille . The commercial and financial power gives them access to the Dey.

This should not hide the fact that Jews are despised and subjected to bullying: in each city, they are required to wear specific clothing and can still be victims of arbitrary authority. In 1805 and 1810 or 1811, the leaders of the Jewish nation Algiers Nephtalie Busnach then his stepfather David Bacri are killed when riots ravaged several Jewish neighborhoods.

The period of French colonization 1830-1962

The attack of Admiral Dupper during the capture of Algiers in 1830.

From the Taking of Algiers Senatufconfultum of 1865

When the French landed in Algeria, from 15 000 to 17 000 Jews live there , part of which migrates to their arrival. They are for 80% of them urban dwellers while the Muslim population is not just 5% . 6 500 Jews live in Algiers, where they represent 20% of the population. They are at 4000 a href = "Constantine_ (Alg% C3% A9rie)" title = "Constantine (Algeria)"> Constantine, 3000 in Oran , Tlemcen and Mazagran. There are also small communities living in the oases of southern Jews Mzab and Laghouat and some groups of Jews living in nomad tent and as Muslims in the region of Souk-Ahras .

Economically, most Jews continue to practice their traditional crafts. They are tailors, embroiderers, watchmakers, tinkers, weavers and silversmith . But a small minority succeeds in the wholesale and quickly assimilated French culture .

From the 1930 Cremieux Decree

Changing of the guard at the synagogue in Algiers during the riots of 1898.

During the War of 1870 , the Government of National Defence automatically assigns citizenship to French Jews in Algeria by Cremieux decree of 24 October 1870, ending the civil status mosaic, and immediately subjecting all new citizens military service. Thus, at a time when France's position was threatened in this colony, there were created some 34 574 people French more. The fact that such a decree is not made for Muslims, despite the wishes of Adolphe Cremieux , is explained by the hostility of the military and settlers who refused any concessions to Muslims .

It should also be mentioned that the Cremieux decree does not apply to Jews Mzab because this region is not so under the same administrative status. French nationality do they will be assigned on the eve of the independence of Algeria .

Francization

In 1830, Jews have a lifestyle very similar to that of the Arabs. In 1962, the independence of Algeria, they leave almost all of Algeria for France. In little more than a century, the Jewish community in Algeria has been transformed under the influence of the school and the Army but also Jews from France.

In 1832, Jewish schools providing instruction in French are opened in major Jewish communities of Algeria. In 1845, Jewish schools are funded on the model of Catholic schools. Cremieux decree followed the laws of Jules Ferry makes education compulsory and free. This secular education is the primary cause of the French language of the Jews of Algeria .

As early as 1865, the Jews committed in the French army and Cremieux decree making them French citizens, subjects all young men to military service from 1875. Admittedly, only a few classes are serving (a one-year term until 1914) in France and most do in Algeria but they rub shoulders in the armed forces of other Blackfoot from all sources, speeding integration into the European community .

Finally, we must also recall the influence of Jews in France that integrates presbyteries Algerian Central Consistory of France, impose their model of Judaism. As for the Alliance Israelite Universelle , whose school system is developing in Morocco and Tunisia, she prefers, Algeria, schooling for Jewish children in public schools rather than schools in Alliance then, Beginning in 1900, participates in the reform of Research in religious rabbis at the expense of traditional . The French language is found in the vocabulary used to discuss the stages of Jewish life: Jews in Algeria often speak of baptism for the brit milah and communion for the bar mitzvah .

European Antisemitism

The representatives of the settlers initially supported efforts to grant citizenship to French Jews in Algeria: Wishes in that are voted on several occasions between 1858 and 1870, by each of the 3 councils, without opposition or European advisers, nor religious advisors, whose bachaga Mokrani Council of Constantine. But it is different after the entry into force of Decree Cremieux. Europeans suddenly realized that the entry of indigenous Jews citizenship is a first step of partial decolonization, which could set a precedent perfected by Muslims. Hence hostility to the decree becomes a leitmotif of the colonialist camp, which raises bloody anti-Jewish riots (in 1896 in Algiers and Oran in 1898 and 1897) and which succeeds in electing several notorious antisemites, in Constantine 1896, counsel Morinaud, in Oran in 1897, the pharmacist Gobert , in Algiers in 1898, Max Regis, the town hall and Edward Drumont Parliament . Some settlers opposed to the measure in the claiming unfair to Muslims. But none of them takes this concern for the Muslims to apply for the award for the latter. As for their lobbies, they will call up to the uprising against the city and will ask permanently delete this Cremieux decree, until the establishment of the Vichy regime. With the approach of war exists a strong current among the Semitic Blackfoot Europe as evidenced by the headline's permanent Small Oran:

"We need to sulfur, pitch, and if possible the fire of hell to the synagogues and Jewish schools, seize their assets and hunt in open country like mad dogs "

Only the First World War brought temporary relief to the Judaism of the "pieds noirs" with the mobilization of all French people including those of Algeria and the ensuing heavy casualties: 2,850 Jews from Algeria to fall Flanders Fields .

Opposition to the Arabs

When the French arrived in Algeria, some Jews, mainly traders take advantage of their presence and growth of trade, while others are loyal to the Arab resistance led by Abd-El-Kader . But soon, the situation of Muslims is deteriorating, especially in agriculture, whose difficulties do not affect the Jews, but are sometimes accused by their financial role or for some purchases of land, contributing to the decline of the Arab agriculture . According to Richard Ayoun and Bernard Cohen , "in 1871, one of the watchwords of colonial policy is to oppose Jews and Arabs." This leads to anti-Jewish riots in 1897 in Oran, where Arabs are paid to loot Jewish homes then the drama of Constantine riots in August 1934 which killed 25 people among the Jews and 3 Arabs killed by the police and revealing impotence "suspicious" of the authorities .

Influence of Jews and Judaism in the metropolis

Synagogue of Oran.

French colonization in Algeria is coupled to the Israelites that Schwarzfuchs Simon calls a "Jewish colonialism" came from mainland .

From the conquest of Algeria by France , the Jews of France are interested in the fate of their coreligionists, and sent emissaries to establish relationships that make caring but often condescending toward the Jews of Algeria , showing them eager to get closer to French civilization. They are the ones who are asking the government bodies consistorial be extended to Algeria. This query will be repeatedly denied by the government does not organize the Israelite cult and finally accepted as "philanthropy worthy of France" . Thus, by the Royal Order of St. Cloud, 9 November 1845, a Central Consistory was established in Algiers and two others in Oran and Constantine, headed by chief rabbis from France, culture Ashkenazi which require in part, over time, but not smooth the view Consistorial secular Algerians and the Israelites away from Jewish traditions in North Africa . This influence of the Jews of the city is further enhanced under the Second Empire and in 1867 the Presbytery of Algeria is deleted. The grand rabbi of France became chief rabbi of France and Algeria. All that remains of local presbyteries, reporting directly to the Central Consistory of France .

Assimilation or Acculturation?

Jews seem more willing to "assimilate" to be "permeable" to the French influences as Muslims. The Jewish community will quickly franciser, mainly thanks to the school where Christians, Jews and Muslims get to know . From 1860-1870, the youth dressed mostly in European , and the names also changing: the French names replace the Hebrew or Arabic names that are now worn in second place in the order of the state civilian. The use of French replaces the Arabic language as common among Jews as illustrated by two Algerian Jewish figures come from very different backgrounds, the journalist Jean Daniel and Rabbi Leon Ashkenazi :

"I do not carry the stigma of a particular Arabism. My Arab friends spoke French. I did not learn Arabic and I regret it. And it was not advisable to do so. At the time of my childhood, the French presence is strong and many Muslims are impregnated . "

"I remember when I was a child, I was in school my father and my grandfather. They studied in Judeo-Arabic, because the language of my grandfather was the Judeo-Arabic . "

This assimilation of the French model, although more pronounced than in Tunisia or Morocco , is not as extensive as taking place among Jewish metropolis. Thus, very few mixed marriages are contracted, and the Jews are a distinct group within the population receiving French citizenship in Algeria. Similarly, religious Jews Algerian remains generally higher than that of the Jews of the hexagon of the same period.

The many interviews conducted by Jolle Allouche Benayoun with Jewish women from Algeria to France (see bibliography ) are very illuminating on these points. Acculturation has influenced the language, dress, changing socio-professional kitchen. The author argues that women played a central role, though largely ignored in the integration of their families to French culture.

Zionism

Algerian Judaism is "almost totally impervious to Zionist activity, reflecting their special attachment to France, whose citizens they are and why they fought during the First World War , then that the neighboring communities of Tunisia and Morocco are much more receptive . This specificity Algerian practical consequence that migration ( aliyah ) to Israel has still maintained at very low levels. In fact, Algeria is the only Muslim country whose inhabitants mostly Jews do not migrate to that country.

World War II

The French defeat of 1940 and the establishment of the Vichy regime that followed remained as a very painful period for the Jews of Algeria. Seventy years after their accession to citizenship French, collectively they are deprived of their nationality.

Repeal of Decree Cremieux

The decision to repeal the decree Cremieux was taken on 7 October 1940 by Vichy. 30, the same month, the laws on the status of Jews in gas Semitic apply metropolis like in Algeria. The Act of June 2, 1941 prohibited Jews from many professions. A numerus clausus for education on Jewish students and professors is applied strictly. But the Jews of North Africa does not suffer the genocidal actions of the Nazis, the Holocaust , which devastated the Jewish communities of Europe. However, they are ostracized by the French firm in Algeria during the duration of hostilities and some of them were interned in labor camps in southern Algeria .

Maintenance of anti-Jewish legislation after the Allied landing

Inhabitants of Arzew meeting the allied soldiers.

On November 8, 1942, at the Operation Torch , 400 ill-armed French resistance (of which around 70% are Jews), led by Aboulker (which will be made a Companion of the Liberation ), arrested the General Vichy for 15 hours and neutralize the XIX ^Army Corps Vichy Algiers. While the Vichy forces focus their crackdown against points held by the resistance, they allow the Allies to land and encircle Algiers without objection, then seize the day. Through their action on the part of the French resistance is prominent in the success of Operation Torch.

In the months following the arrival of the Allies did not translate to much by the end of the anti-Semitic legislation. Collaborationist under Admiral Darlan , it is maintained. Among the leaders of the insurrection in Algiers, 9 Jews were arrested and deported in handcuffs, into forced labor camps . After the assassination of Darlan by Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle , it was under the leadership of General Giraud as the Vichy regime's discriminatory measures against Jews are maintained, including the fact that they are kept separate units combatants. Giraud Appoints Marcel Peyrouton governor of Algeria. Former minister of Vichy, is the man who proposed to Petain in 1940, the status of Jews and the repeal of Decree Cremieux.

However thanks to the war correspondents who reveal allies to major U.S. newspapers and English what is happening in December 1942, the press free to challenge these two countries and their leaders attacked the policy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in North Africa "liberated." Roosevelt misled by their local representative Robert Murphy , at that time supported the Vichy regime in Algeria, first to gain entry into the war of the African army in the Allied camp and especially to eliminate de Gaulle. He managed to maintain this support for several months Giraud, more and more unpopular in the United States, but is eventually forced by public opinion to put pressure on it to reinstate finally free institutions. So he sends the economist Jean Monnet with Giraud to convince him that if he wants to retain U.S. support, it must abolish the laws in Algeria inspired Hitler. Thus Giraud, 14 March 1943 was forced to announce the repeal of all discriminatory legislation of Vichy, but otherwise, it rabroge immediately, by order of March 18, Cremieux decree "to restore equality between Jews and Arabs, whereas Jews are in North Africa, "the natives practicing a religion different from their neighbors, not something else" . But the main Muslim leaders have already rejected this argument before landing because they do not want equality with the Jews but from the bottom upwards. And Ferhat Abbas , the new faces repeal, noted the fragility of the French citizenship, which he had previously claimed, but which can be withdrawn or granted at the discretion of the rulers of France. He then gave up assimilationism brilliantly, and publish the "Manifesto of Algerian People" .

The philosopher Jacques Derrida reflects this difficult time for Jews in particular, children:

"The Jewish children are expelled from school. Superintendent's office: you'll go home, your parents will explain. Then the Allies landed, is the period of general government (De Gaulle-Giraud): racial laws kept nearly six months under a government "free" ^, . "

Recovery Cremieux decree

General Charles de Gaulle shaking hands with General Henri Giraud to Dwight Eisenhower and Winston Churchill ( Casablanca Conference , January 14, 1943).

French citizenship was officially restored to the Jews of Algeria, 20 October 1943, almost a year after the Allied landing, de Gaulle had won the presidency of the exclusive French Committee of National Liberation in Algiers and asserted its authority throughout the Empire at War. The restoration of Cremieux decree is justified by a technical argument, a statement from CFLN arguing that the decree of 18 March had not been followed by implementing legislation in due course lapse .

Subsequently, we see figures like Professor Aboulker Jewish, disabled the First World War , demand that the Jews are in combat units as other French citizens, that General Giraud had been excluded. For young Jews, they engage in massive shock units, such as Free Corps in Africa. Thus, Rabbi Leon Ashkenazi became chaplain in the Foreign Legion.

In 1947 was founded the Federation of Jewish Communities of Algeria and established a rabbinical school in Algiers .

War of Algeria

The Jewish population is on the eve of the War of Algeria mainly present in larger cities, Algiers and Oran in particular . In 1953, 21% of physicians, dentists 18%, 16% and 18% of lawyers are Jewish officials . There are also 472 settlers on agricultural land. Over 30% of Jewish women working at that time . Although constituting a group distinct from the majority of the Blackfoot cultural point of view, religious and ethnic aspirations it shares some, notably the commitment to French sovereignty.

When war broke out, the community in general moving towards a wait. Community organizations are exercising extreme restraint, refusing to take political advantage, both attached to French nationality as the principle of equal rights for all . However, despite the hostile attitudes in both camps, some embrace the cause of the FLN as Henri Alleg , while others engage in the OAS.

The statement of 1 November 1954 the FLN invites all people of any faith to fight against the French army. In 1956 , a call is made to the Jews of Algeria, inviting them to join the nationalist cause , but Jewish institutions are trying to avoid taking any position by saying: "We are French, we're Republicans, we are Liberals, we are Jews " . However, murders and attacks involving the leaders but also the Jewish community, the desecration and destruction of synagogues are attributed to Muslims. They reduce the potential sympathy of Jewish populations to the Algerian national movement, already low due to the commitment of Jews to France. Among the atrocities suffered by Jews, desecration of the synagogue in 1960 in Algiers and Oran Cemetery , aggression against the rabbi of Batna in 1955, the fire in a synagogue in Oran in 1956 The murder of Rabbi Nedroma in 1956 murder of Rabbi Medea in 1957, the projection of a grenade into a synagogue Boghari, Bousaada , the ransacking of the synagogue of the Casbah in Algiers in 1961, attacks in Jewish neighborhoods in 1957, 1961 and 1962 in Oran and Constantine . On September 2, 1961, assassination of a Jewish barber in Oran causes retaliation and reprisals-cons between Jews and Arabs .

When the OAS appears in 1961, among those who sympathize with the organization in Algiers and Oran are the "Commandos Hill" groups linked to the networks' France Insurrection "and led by Elijah Azoulai and Ben Attar. They kill Muslims, and some elected officials trying to set fire to a prison where inmates are men of the FLN, knocking the French officers, including Lieutenant-Colonel Ransom .

The death of Sheikh Raymond Leyris stepfather of Enrico Macias , musician maalouf appreciated both Jews and Muslims, murdered by a Muslim in Constantine on 22 June 1961 , is a symbolic turning point for many Jews of Algeria .

The vast majority, they choose, like other French people, to settle in France during Algeria's independence in 1962, representing a specificity of the Jewish population of Algeria. Other Arab diaspora Jewish emigration mainly choosing Israel. While few Jews of Algeria made their aliyah in 1962, emigration to Israel has been slow and when it is estimated that about 25,000 Jews emigrated from Algeria in Israel since 1948 .

The Jewish fighters of the FLN in Algeria

Some Jews join the battle for the independence of Algeria, as Georges and Daniel Smadja Timsit that manufacture explosives . Timsit Daniel is a medical student and militant Algerian Communist Party , who disagreed with the latter secretly joined the FLN in order to constitute "an" industry European grouping of activists Blackfoot, Christians and Jews " . Members of the network Timsit take part in the development of explosives laboratories (preparation of bombs) and the armed struggle . Timsit is incarcerated in 1956.

We must also mention the case of Henri Alleg , a Jew of Polish origin, communist militant arrested near the separatist by the French, long time editor of the Algiers Republican , during and after the war Algeria.

After 1962

France

Starting with April 1962 , almost all of the 150 000 Jews was repatriated to France. Parties like the majority of the French in Algeria in disaster, they benefit like other returnees of "national solidarity". They are based initially in the mass of Blackfoot which they identify themselves and only gradually that their specific identity resurfaces. The number of French towns with a Jewish community organized going from 128 in 1957 to 293 in 1966 . The Jewish community in the city is playing community solidarity in favor of newcomers. 25 000 people remain in Algeria but it is there are more than 1000 people in 1971, 200 in 1982. Some leave, following the Algerian civil war .

The arrival of Jews from Algeria and, more generally, the Jews of North Africa gives new force in French Judaism, traditionally Ashkenazi , being rapidly assimilated, which was badly hit by the Second World War. Gradually, despite the misgivings, the Jews of Algeria took place in Jewish institutions. In 1981, Rene Samuel Sirat , a native of Bone ( Annaba ) was elected chief rabbi of France, a little more than a century after the Grand Rabbi of France was appointed chief rabbi of France and Algeria.

In Algeria

Between 1960 and 1970, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will complicate relations between Algerians and the Jews of Algeria. In 1975 , the Great Synagogue of Oran , like all others, is transformed into a mosque. Like many Christian cemeteries, many Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated or destroyed.

The Jewish issue remains a taboo subject, the Jews residing in the country have no public persona apart from some advisers who worked with the Algerian Trade Minister Ghazi Hidoussi because of the sensitivity of the issue and its relationship with Israel. Some parties, including nationalists and Islamists, react violently to the accreditation of Lions Clubs and Rotary Club of obedience they assume Zionist and Freemason and the handshake spontaneous President Bouteflika and Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak at the funeral of King Hassan II in July 1999.

In 1999 , a href = "Abdelaziz_Bouteflika" alt = "Abdelaziz Bouteflika"> Abdelaziz Bouteflika pays tribute to the Jews of Constantine, to mark the ^2500th anniversary of this city . In December 2007 , although invited by French President Sarkozy , to accompany him on an official visit to Algeria, he must renounce the face of hostility and the refusal of the Algerian Minister of Veterans Affairs.

In 2005 , two events mark the news: the holding of a conference of Jews from Constantine to Jerusalem causing a rumor that they would have a claim to Algeria following their departure in 1962, denied by the Algiers authorities and the visit to Tlemcen of 130 Jews from this city, unprecedented since independence, is experienced in the emotion of both the Algerian side of the Jews than that of the Algerians.

In 2009 , the Algerian state accredits an organization representing the Jewish religion in Algeria , chaired by Roger Said. It identifies 25 synagogues , abandoned for the most part, the Jews of Algeria were afraid to hold ceremonies of worship for security reasons. This body should also act in coordination with the Ministry of Religious Affairs on the status of Jewish graves, especially Constantine , Blida and Tlemcen.

Languages spoken by the Jews of Algeria

If, on the eve of independence, most Jews have moved to Algeria by the French school and speak French, therefore, many among them who also speak Arabic, which was one of their languages for centuries.

Finally, some still know the Judeo-Arabic , the language built on a substrate supplemented with oral Arabic Hebrew words written in Hebrew characters, just the same way that Yiddish was based on German and Hebrew.

Culinary Tradition

Numerous books on Jewish cuisine from Algeria have been published since 1962. In the work cited by Jolle Allouche Benayoun, many notes are devoted to the revenue collected from women interviewed by the author: tefina dish of Shabbat afternoon makrouds , pastry dough to dates or almonds and knidlet, other pastry dough with almonds served both to Purim , Sferis , Passover fritters and many other often linked to specific times of the Jewish year.

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Jolle Allouche-Benayoun and Doris Bensimon, the Jews of Algeria. Memories and plural identities, Stave / Cerf, Paris, 1989 ( ISBN 2-7089-5369-9 )
• Robert Attal, Perspectives on the Jews of Algeria, L'Harmattan, 1996
• Richard Ayoun and Bernard Cohen, Jews of Algeria. Two thousand years of history, Jean-Claude Lattes, Paris, 1982
• Norbert Bel Ange When Vichy's Jews interned in Algeria, L'Harmattan
• Bernhard Blumenkranz , History of Jews in France, Privat, Toulouse, 1972
• (En) Andr Chouraqui, History of Jews in North Africa, Ed. Hachette in 1 volume (1985) or repr. to Ed. 2 volumes in the Rock (1998) ( ISBN 2268031055 and 2268031063 )
• Mark R. Cohen, Under Crescent and Cross in - the Jews in the Middle Ages, trans. of English by Jean-Pierre Ricard, ed. du Seuil, Paris, 2008. ( ISBN 9782020815796 )
• (En) Meriam Demnati , Lucien Samir Oulahbib , Masri Feki and Moise Rahmani , In the Shadow of Islam. Minorities and minorized, Filipson Ed, Brussels, 2005, ( ISBN 2930387106 ).
• (En) Genevieve Dermenjian, anti-Jewish crisis Oran (1895-1905), anti-Semitism in colonial Algeria, Paris, L'Harmattan, 1986, ( ISBN 2-85802-673-4 ).
• Guy Dugas: Between Djeha and Cagayous. Judeo-Maghrebi literature in French. Paris, l'Harmattan, 1991.
• (En) mile Flix Gautier , Genseric, king of the Vandals, Payot, Paris, 1935.
• (En) mile Flix Gauthier, The Dark Ages of Mahgreb, Paris, Payot, 1927.
• (En) Diego de Haedo , History of the Kings of Algiers (Topographia e Historia General de Argel, Valladolid, 1612), Translation of HD de Grammont, Bouchne, Paris, 1998 (ISBN 26912946050).
• (En) Ibn Khaldun , History of the Berbers, Translation of Baron of Slane, Volumes I, II, III and IV, Algiers, 1852-1856. ( ISBN 2705336397 ).
• Paul Monceaux, Jewish settlements in Roman Africa, Journal of Jewish Studies, No. 87, June 1902 Related articles
  • History of Jews in France

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