The heart of the diaspora: Algerian Jews during the War for Independence, 1954-1962
Item
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Title
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The heart of the diaspora: Algerian Jews during the War for Independence, 1954-1962
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:23bd93122063:11783
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identifier
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12388
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Creator
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Hammerman, Jessica R.,
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Contributor
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Dagmar Herzog | Clifford Rosenberg
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Date
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2013
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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European history | Judaic studies | North African studies | Algeria | Algerian War | Decolonization | Jews
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Abstract
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This thesis examines the ideas, politics, culture, and memories of French-Jewish individuals during the Algerian War for Independence between 1954 and 1962. By tracing the involvement of a leadership organization, the Committee for Jewish Algerian Social Studies (CJAES), this dissertation argues that over the course of the war, Jews---who were indigenous to Algeria---became more integrated into the Christian settler community. An analysis of Algerian-Jewish perspectives complicates the picture of late-colonial Algeria. As intermediaries between France and Algeria, the Jews' identity determined who would be French and who would be Algerian. Initially, Jewish leaders stood by as they watched the violence unfold. When the war inevitably began to encroach upon Jewish neighborhoods, leaders worried about a resurgence of fascistic violence from European circles. Late 1956 was a significant turning point. In the Soummam Appeal of October 1956, the FLN invited the Jews to become Algerian fighters; the CJAES declined in the name of neutrality. News of the Suez Crisis (December 1956) also impacted Algerian identities, further alienating Muslims from Jews as Middle Eastern politics migrated to Algeria. In the context of the horrendous violence of the following two years, CJAES leaders welcomed President Charles de Gaulle in May 1958, in a hope that he could pacify the region. It became apparent that De Gaulle did not accept that Jews were like other French citizens; nor did he see a future for France's presence in Algeria. In the final years of the war, Jewish leaders let go of the hope that they could remain in French-ruled, multicultural Algeria. When the vast majority of Algerian Jews immigrated to the French mainland in 1962, Jews had become Pieds Noirs, blending into the formerly hostile European settler population.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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History
