Encyclopaedia Judaica
Jews in Algeria 03: French occupation and
emancipation rule 1830-1940
Emigration movement against emancipation -
immigraiton to Algeria for emancipation -
Crémieux Decree 1870 - anti-Semitism against
naturalization of Jews - hatred violence 1921 and 1934
Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971: Algeria, vol. 2, col. 617-618,
table of the Jewish population in Algeria 1838-1968
from: Algeria; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 2
presented by Michael Palomino (2007)
[1830: French occupation of
Algiers - French law - Jews emigrating to and from Italy,
Morocco, and Tunisia - migration movement within Algeria]
<The French government had accumulated enormous debts to
the Bakri and Busnach families, relatives and partners, who
had been delivering grain to France for them since the end
of the 18th century. These unpaid debts were the cause of
diplomatic incidents that resulted in the French conquest of
Algiers in 1830.
The French conquest opened a new era for the 30,000 Jews of
Algeria. In the beginning the communities were allowed to
continue their self-government, and the rabbis continued to
administer justice. But this autonomous structure was soon
overturned. Rabbinical justice was deprecated and
jurisdiction of the Jews passed to the French tribunals.
The
muqaddim, who
had previously headed each Jewish community, was replaced by
a deputy mayor. These reforms did not give rise to any
protests on the part of the Jewish population, as they
retained their previous legal status. However, the changes
caused some to leave: many European Jews returned to Leghorn
[[Livorno]], and the middle class, small tradesmen, and
craftsmen emigrated to Morocco and Tunisia.
On the other hand, Moroccan and Tunisian Jews, attracted by
new conditions, emigrated into Algeria. There was also a
movement of Jews from the south toward the centers and the
port towns.
[Implementation of French
juridical structures upon Jews in Algeria - rabbis from
France - emancipation]
Under the French each municipal council and chamber of
commerce had one or two Jewish members. In 1858 a Jewish
general counselor was elected for each province. In Algiers,
Oran, and Constantine consistories on the model of those of
France were created. Chief rabbis, brought from France, were
appointed and paid by the government, and presided over all
other religious functionaries. One of the tasks of these
chief rabbis was to promote the emancipation of their
followers.
Cultural assimilation was so rapid that it provoked a break
with the old Jewish world. Some attempted to fight the trend
toward total assimilation in such undertakings as the
establishment of Hebrew printing (col. 615)
houses in Algiers in 1853 and Oran in 1956 and 1880. French
education, despite its advantages, led many Jews who were
unprepared for it to leave Judaism. To counteract this trend
talmud torah schools were opened in many cities.
Several highly influential families formed a Jewish
intelligentsia, capable of assimilating French civilization
yet maintaining their own traditions. Members of these
families were the first to enter the liberal professions,
becoming magistrates, physicians, lawyers, engineers,
high-ranking officers in the Army, and, later, university
professors. Both they and the French Jews favoured the
naturalization of Algerian Jews as did also the French
liberals.
Algerian Jews were granted the right of individual
naturalization in 1865, and on October 24, 1870 by the
*Crémieux Decree all Algerian Jews were declared
French citizens, with the exception of those in the south,
whose legal situation remained uncertain.
[Anti-Semitism against the
naturalization of 35,000 Jews - pogroms, looting, and
killing]
The naturalization of some 35,000 Jews resulted in a wave of
anti-Semitism. Jews were attacked and pogroms followed in
Tlemcen in 1881, in Algiers in 1882, 1897, and 1898, in Oran
and Sétif in 1883, and in Mostaganem in 1897, where
the violence reached its peak. Up to 1900 there were in all
towns and villages cases of looting and killing, and
numerous cases of synagogues being sacked and the Holy
Scrolls desecrated and used as banners by the rioters.
[Anti-Semitic French
government: Discriminating laws against the Jews - Muslims
don't support anti-Semitic law - anti-Semitic French
government going down in 1902]
The *Dreyfus affair in France inflamed the anti-Jewish
campaign even more. An anti-Semitic party came to power:
Edouard *Drumont was elected the representative of Algiers
and Max Regis became its mayor. Extraordinary measures were
taken against the Jews. In Constantine, by decision of the
deputy mayor Emile Morinaud, Jewish patients were not
admitted to hospitals. The illegality of such steps,
together with the fact that the Muslims failed to support
the movement, brought about the defeat of the anti-Semitic
party; in 1902 it ceased to exist altogether.
[Outburst in Oran in 1921 -
massacre in Constantine in 1934 - French Jewish government
since 1936 - Union of Monotheistic Believers]
The heroic participation of the Jews in World War I caused
an improvement of relations, although in 1921 there was a
renewed outburst of hatred in Oran.
Hitler's rise to power, greeted with rejoicing by the
anti-Semites, caused a new wave of anti-Semitic campaigns,
which resulted in a massacre in Constantine in 1934.
The crisis was renewed in 1936, when Léon *Blum, a
Jews, became premier of France. The Jewish Algerian
Committee for Social Studies, directed by Henri Abulker,
André Lévi-Valensi, Elie *Gozlan, and others,
undertook intensive activities aimed at curbing the racial
unrest. Subsequently, the Union of Monotheistic Believers
(Union des Croyants Monothéistes) was formed; during
World War II it was responsible for the Muslims declining to
identify themselves with the anti-Semitism of the Vichy
government.> (col. 616)
