Algerian Jewry's Plight: Dispersio
By LOIS HACKETT
(Copyright, 1964, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, Inc.)
For the Jews still there, Algeria
has become like a ghost town,
haunted by memories of what used
to be, it was reported by William
Shapiro, representative of the Joint
Distribution Committee in Algeria,
on • his recent return from field
trips deep into the desert country
east and south of Algiers.
Following the collapse of • local
community organizations that at-
tended the exodus of over 100,000
Jews in the summer of 1962, JDC
instituted a welfare program in the
larger -cities for several hundred
sick, elderly and handicapped peo-
ple left stranded by the breakdown
of community services. With de-
partures continuing at amore grad-
ual pace throughout 1963, JDC esti-
mated that by the beginning of this
year only 3,500 to 4.000 Jews re-
mained in all of Algeria. Of these,
75% or more were believed to be
concentrated in Algiers and Oran.
This was confirmed when figures
collected at Passover indicated that
there are some 2,000 Jews left in
Algiers and about half that many in
Oran.
Shapiro's journeyings took him
the length and breadth of an
area of 6,000 square miles—due
south from Algiers through
Djelfa and Lag,fiouat to El Golea
..
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a once sizeable community. The
cial religious bodies) have dis-
man owned a large store which appeared, and in many instances
continued to prosper, they were on i community properties were just
excellent terms with their Arab abandoned. Outside of Algiers
neighbors, nevertheless- they were and Oran, there are less than !
at the point of leaving. half a dozen towns and cities
"We're lonely," the man said where Jews have remained in
- All the joy has gone out of life. sufficient numbers to reorganize
Why should I sit here making the community structure. Most of
money? I can't spend it. I can't these reported that they have
take it out of the, country. I'm old
been living on their reserves and
enough to want to pass the rest
that the exhaustion of their ,
of my days in peace. So we're
financial resources was immi-
going to Lyons to be with our son "
nent, since in the past their in- I
But some will stay . . . a lone
nd
Co me de
Pe
e mainl Y on such
Jew employed as the village tax
collector . . . two elderly men
who run a man's clothing store
things as a tax on kosher meat
and fees for religious services.
On the credit side has been the
. . the head of a family of five fact that in recent months the
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Friday, Septembe 4; 1964 . 169
Happy Holtday Greetings
— east through the mountains year, Shapiro said. They regret
the absence of young people and
from Tizi Ouzou to Constantine
they miss their relatives who
and Bone south again down
have gone to. France.
through Biskra to Touggourt.
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In all this vast region he found
Yet, looking across the Mediter-
Licensed by the Board of Health
less than 500 Jews, of whom over ranean, life . in France holds little
Single jobs or monthly contracts
half are living in Constantine and promise fore the "pied noir," many
WO 1-1388 '
2348 Michiga n
Bone. The rest are scattered of the Algerian Jews there are
through' 19 towns. On the basis of having a hard timer They feel per-
a similar .census taken by two rab- haps people acted too hastily and r -----------------
his, he reports that the same situa- this breeds a certain bitterness and
Holiday Greetings
tion exists in Western Algeria, resentment, a sense of desertion.
If anything, their
eliness,
their
some 700 Jews are living in
lon
isolation has made 'them more
j
w
30 to ns.
There are those with business Jewish. They cling to it as the most
f Property Management
precious thing they have There is
affairs they are still trying to
those
who
have
found
a
sense
of
solidarity
with
the
WO 1-8369
liquidate,
3500 David Scott Bldg.
it possible to go on living under others who have stayed. Shapiro
the new conditions and hope to noted that in Algiers they turn out
stay, and the old, the sick or in amazing numbers to parties cele-
otherwise handicapped who were brating Purim or Hanukah.
Best Wishes For to Happy New Year
In communities so small that it
either unable or did not want to
To Our Relatives,. Friends and Patrons
is hard to make up a "minyan,"
leave.
Typical of the first group are a there has been a growing sense of
-r
family of three brothers and their the need to cooperate with others
400 rce-o-mots -
in the same dilemma. This led to
dependents in a desert town south
There is.one in your neighborhood for the one nearest you
the reconstitution in February on
TO [8-8800
of Algiers. The brothers owned
Federa
palm groves which have been a limited basis of the old
Ice Punch Bowls — Ice Carvings
tion of Algerian Jewish Communi-
taken over by the government and
get compensa-
they are trying tai get
In most of the communities,
tion for them. When if ever, they
Shapiro discovered that orga
get it, they will go. Perhaps they
ffappy New Year'c — Shalom Aleichem
nized Jewish life had either
will give up hope and go anyway.
ceased to exist or, as people con-
tinued to depart, would do so .
1 on his way down to the Sahara. within a matter of weeks or
They were the only Jews left from months The Consistoires (offi-
who owns and operates a movie
attitude of the government on re-
6154 BIVOUAC
theatre . . ' ligious matters has- been not only
VI 1-3475
They have stoically accepted the tolerant, but even encouraging:
fact that their situation is full of for example, the ministry of Reli-
contradictions. In an Algeria in the gious Affairs has undertaken to
process of socialization, their eca- pay monthly indemnities to reli-
Neth Yeirr Best Wishes
nomic future is uncertain. Goods of , gi o us functionaries, including rab-
all kinds are in short supply, prices; bis. The French Consulate also is
are high, so is unemployment. Yet i'considering undertaking some re-
in some areas Jewisli businessmen' sponsibility for such things as the
have even benefited from the fact upkeep of cemeteries and will con-
13.675 Plymouth
that their competitors have left.
tinue a certain amount of assist-
WE 3-8755
The psychological factors are no ance to needy French Europeans
less ambivalent. They feel they are (which include Jewish relief
living between two worlds. They 'clients).
are oppressed with a sense of nos-
Shapiro, said that the number of
talgia and loss. Always in their new cases he found in immediate
New Year Greeting's
minds is what life was like before. need of assistance from JDC proved
Algeria today is a country
to be relatively small. However,
without children — Jewish chil-
with local resources on the verge
dren, that is—and young people.
of exhaustion, he foresaw the ,.con-'
Ferndale — Royal Oak
There are no "bar mitzvahs." A
tinuation of a hard core welfare
marriage that took place in Oran
Dearborn -
problem for JDC in Algeria for an
in February was the first. in a
indefinite time to ,come. He pointed
L_
out that Algiers is the only place
where a local community organiza-
New Year Greetings
tion, in cooperation with JDC, has
proved capable of reconstituting a
comprehensive welfare program.
With the help of the French
Jewish community, it has proved
Buyers of Scrap Iron, Metal and Junk Cars
possible to resettle some 300 needy
VI 3-0721
persons in France, either in old
7900 Dix, Detroit 9
age institutions or with their fami-
lies, Shapiro said. But there re-
mains a total caseload in Algeria
Holiday Greetings
of over 300 people. Of these, 60
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Day
or
Night
Phone: 862-7119
per cent are 65 or older.- For the
past few months this caseload has
tended to remain numerically the
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same, people leaving being re-
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other reasons have not previously
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asked for help.
"To send them all to France is
too pat a solution," he said. "Even
if it were possible, it's not always
the best thing to do. Many feel
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they are too old to be transplanted.
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They say, 'I want to die in Algeria.'
They've lived here all - their lives
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and don't want to leave."
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