Exhibition on the Jews of Algeria in Paris

 The Museum of Art and History of Judaism in Paris hosts an exhibition dedicated to the history of the Jews of Algeria until 27 January 2013. When was the first traces of Jews in North Africa? What relations they maintained with the authorities and other people? What are the important events that have staked their history? The exhibition tries to answer these questions.
 
  The goal is "to draw attention to little-known aspects of the history of Jews in Algeria, as the Spanish period and Ottoman period," says Anne-Hélène Hoog, curator of the exhibition. For her, it is only a first step in the search for sources "to reconstruct the path of the Jews in Algeria." Visitors are greeted by 30 prayer shawls. Hanging in a window and lit up, they form a colourful picture and solemn at once. Just behind  there is a multimedia station where can find virtually Algeria on the site and Jewish memories with an application similar to Google Earth.
 
It then enters a series of small spaces that divide history into major chronological periods, the "Algerian ancient origins of Judaism" to "exile" post-independence. The Jewish settlement in the Roman era is "evidenced in coastal areas already marked by an ancient Phoenician occupation, as Caesarea (Cherchell) to Tafsa (Tipasa) and Ausia (Aumale)." A seal bearing an inscription in Hebrew dated from the seventh century BC and found in Tripoli shows the period. Then there is "The Judeo-Berber until the arrival of Islam." The exhibition draws on the texts of St. Augustine, who "often refers to the Jews of Hippo (Annaba) in his writings." An excerpt from the History of the Berbers of Ibn Khaldun is an opportunity to say that "in the collective memory, the relationship between Jews and Berbers is embodied by the legendary figure of the 'Jewish Queen' Dihya el-Kahina ".
 
Safer, the text of Denis Cohen-Tannoudji, Vice-President of the Historical Society of Jews from Tunisia, says the exhibition catalogue that "some historians as Haim Zeev Hirschberg, cast doubt on the conversion of the Berbers Judaism (...), some even claim that the Kahina was a Christian. " Are several elements that corroborate the presence of Jewish populations in the coastal zone but also Judaised Berber tribes such as Hebrew inscriptions or the discovery of a seven-branched candelabrum.  The Pact of Umar open space dedicated to "the golden age of the Muslim Mediterranean." This text set the rules of the dhimmi status, which applies to "people of the book" Jews and Christians.
 
 In exchange for a tax restrictions in religious and other constraints in everyday life, they received protection from the authorities. This period is the scientific exchanges "of Babylon in Cordoba" favored by linguistic unity. In this challenging environment, Judaism Maghreb itself from the tutelage East. The darkest period of the Almohad dynasty saw the forced conversion and exile of many "people of the book." These are the Jews of Spain that will restore the strength of this community. Driven by the Reconquista between 1391 and 1497, they settled in Tlemcen, Oran, Algiers, Bejaia and Annaba. The course of a few large families, such as Duran or Sasportas, gives substance to this story.
 
Then comes the Ottoman period, rich in manuscripts bills, tax debts, inventories of goods. Here emerges the role of Jewish merchants in the Mediterranean area. This intermediary role is illustrated inter alia by reporting debt Cicarello Antonio, a Genoese "slave beylik Algiers" with Raphael Jacob Busciara "Jewish merchant of Algiers", for the redemption of his liberty . French colonization is the time of the emancipation of the Jews. Who better than Cremieux could symbolize this upheaval. A photographic portrait of 1860 gives flesh to this Jewish lawyer who obtained the collective naturalization of Jews in Algeria in October 1870.
 
 You can read a little further on the text of the decree which bears his name. The first and second world war periods are provided in personal documents and archive objects. For the record, that for the family, there is a hooded circumcision, a pot decorated with henna six-pointed star and many pairs of sticks Torah ornaments. A few photographs, yellow stars remind that conflicts are exported to our shores. As well as letters from soldiers sent to the front. The thunder comes from the repeal of the Cremieux decree, "very painfully experienced by families," says Anne-Hélène Hoog. Equally painful is the slowness of the authorities to restore order after release. The War of Independence is processed without profusion:  A Letter to the FLN  from 'the Israelites of Algeria "in 1956, photographs of attacks against Jews and the ransacking of the Great Synagogue of Algiers. Anne-Hélène Hoog, this period is complicated because "many people are committed to the separatist side but also many side of the OAS."
 
As Rabbi Wladimir wrote in February 1961: "Since the conflict began, the Jews are literally torn apart." Finally, the exhibition concludes on a note of sports and music. It convenes boxers Robert Cohen and Alphonse Halimi alongside the Oranaise Pippin, Lili Boniche Line and Monty. The only thing missing in this exhibition, history increasingly clandestine Jews of Algeria after 1962.