1934 Constantine riots

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1934 Constantine riots
Vu de Constantine apres les emeutes du 5.8.1934.png
Location Constantine, French Algeria
DateAugust 3–5, 1934
Target Algerian Jews
Deaths25 Jews, 3 Muslims
InjuredRoughly 200

The 1934 Constantine riots erupted in the Algerian city of Constantine against the local Jewish population, [1] [2] [3] rooted in the different manner in which Jews and Muslims had been treated in Algeria by the French colonial government. [4] It is uncertain what the exact cause of the riots was, though various accounts suggest that the riots were triggered by an altercation between a Jewish man and some Muslims at the Sidi Lakhdar Mosque in Constantine. [4] [5] Multiple sources report that 25 Jews and 3 Muslims died over the course of the three-day riot, and several Jewish establishments were pillaged. [4] [6] The events have also been described as a pogrom. [7]

Contents

Background

The Cremieux Decree, which granted French citizenship to Algerian Jews Cremieux 136.jpg
The Crémieux Decree, which granted French citizenship to Algerian Jews

The 1934 Constantine riots can be contextualized by the rising antisemitism in French Algeria. One source of the tension was the Crémieux Decree, which was implemented in October 1870, and allowed for Algerian Jews to gain French citizenship. [8] [9] For the French government, this decree was considered part of the so-called "civilizing mission" in North Africa. [10]

Various French parties and individuals were against this decision, and many of the reasons were rooted in antisemitism or xenophobia more generally. One of the reasons for the French to oppose the decree was that they believed that the Jews were more suitable for commercial jobs, and they were afraid that French citizenship would allow more Jews into the French military. Many right-wing, radical French nationalists agreed with Charles du Bouzet's claim that the Algerian Jews were simply incompatible with Western civilization. [9] [6] Du Bouzet, the former prefect of Oran and special commissioner to Algeria, noted that it was the Algerian Jews' "morals, language and clothing" that made them Arab, hence different from the French. [6] The radical French nationalists saw the gradual political inclusion and assimilation of the Algerian Jews into the French community as a threat to the "native" French society. [6]

There were spikes in antisemitism in Algeria in the early 20th century. For instance, Dr Jules Molle, who spearheaded the antisemitic Unions Latines movement, became the mayor of Oran in 1925 and became the city's deputy in 1928. Abbé Gabriel Lambert, who claimed that the political left promoted "Jewish imperialism", became Oran's mayor in 1934. Local newspapers in both Oran and Constantine, Le Petit Oranais and La Tribune, respectively, regularly propagated antisemitic messages. [6]

Evidence suggests that the antisemitic French settler population attempted to instill antisemitic sentiments in the Muslim Algerian population and induce altercations between Constantine's Muslims and Jews. [11] Based on contemporary press and police reports, there is no evidence that antisemitic messages were publicly propagated by the local Muslim politicians or clerics in the 1920s and 1930s. [11] There was also wide belief that Nazis instigated the riot. [7]

Timeline

The Sidi Lakhdar Mosque in Constantine, 1900 Sidi Lakhdar Mosque 2 Constantine 1900.jpg
The Sidi Lakhdar Mosque in Constantine, 1900

The cause of the Constantine pogrom has been debated for some time. The general consensus is that the initial cause of the conflict was a confrontation between Eliahou Khalifa, a Jewish Zouave, and Muslim worshippers at the Sidi Lakhdar Mosque on August 3, 1934. The Muslims said that Khalifa was drunk, and insulted Islam. A report by the Jewish authorities claimed he was not intoxicated, and that after getting into an argument with them, the Muslims had cursed Khalifa's faith and he cursed them and their faith back. [3] [5] The French colonial authorities only reported the Muslim version of events, which most scholars believe instigated the pogrom. [12] Other accounts explain that Khalifa had urinated outside on the mosque's wall, which would have instigated the riots. [5] In the evening of August 3rd, a Muslim man was shot in the stomach during the violent demonstrations that ensued at Khalifa's apartment. [4] A total of 148 French soldiers and 52 police agents were sent to contain the riots in the city. [13]

On Saturday 4 August, the riots continued as local leaders and representatives of the Muslim and Jewish communities gathered with police and military representatives to seek a peaceful end to the violence. [4] [13] [14]

On Sunday 5 August, violence broke out again after rumors of an assassination on a local Muslim politician, Mohamed Salah Bendjelloul, spread. However, the rumors turned out to be false. [4] [15] The riots lasted several hours and also spread to towns in the vicinity of Constantine. [4] The Constantine division of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICRA) hung up posters, both in Arabic and French, calling for peace and an end to the violence. [16]

The riots resulted in the death of 25 Jews and 3 Muslims, roughly 200 people were injured, and several Jewish businesses and homes were also destroyed or looted. [4] [6] [14]

Contemporary reporting

JTA reported on August 8, 1934:

A scene of utter desolation and horror, of Jewish girls with their breasts cut off, of little children with numerous knife wounds and of whole families locked in their homes and burned to death, was described by a Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent, who succeeded in reaching this city today.

"It will take days before the world will obtain a true picture of all the atrocities committed by the Arabs during the pogrom on the Jewish quarter," the correspondent wired.

"The only comparison I can think of is the Palestine riots of 1929. I found Jewish girls with their breasts cut off, greybearded Jews stabbed to death, little Jewish children dead of numerous knife wounds and whole families locked in their homes and burned to death by the rioters."

"Just as in Palestine in 1929, the lists of the dead and injured run into the hundreds with no official estimates available. The hospitals are filled with Jewish victims and the doors of the hospitals are besieged with half-crazed wives and mothers seeking to ascertain whether their loved ones are among the dead or injured, or whether they succeeded in escaping the pogrom bands". [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

Antisemitism is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. This sentiment is a form of racism, and a person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Primarily, antisemitic tendencies may be motivated by negative sentiment towards Jews as a people or by negative sentiment towards Jews with regard to Judaism. In the former case, usually presented as racial antisemitism, a person's hostility is driven by the belief that Jews constitute a distinct race with inherent traits or characteristics that are repulsive or inferior to the preferred traits or characteristics within that person's society. In the latter case, known as religious antisemitism, a person's hostility is driven by their religion's perception of Jews and Judaism, typically encompassing doctrines of supersession that expect or demand Jews to turn away from Judaism and submit to the religion presenting itself as Judaism's successor faith—this is a common theme within the other Abrahamic religions. The development of racial and religious antisemitism has historically been encouraged by the concept of anti-Judaism, which is distinct from antisemitism itself.

Antisemitism has increased greatly in the Arab world since the beginning of the 20th century, for several reasons: the dissolution and breakdown of the Ottoman Empire and traditional Islamic society; European influence, brought about by Western imperialism and Arab Christians; Nazi propaganda and relations between Nazi Germany and the Arab world; resentment over Jewish nationalism; the rise of Arab nationalism; and the widespread proliferation of anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist conspiracy theories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pogrom</span> Violent attack on an ethnic or religious group, usually Jews

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The history of antisemitism, defined as hostile actions or discrimination against Jews as a religious or ethnic group, goes back many centuries, with antisemitism being called "the longest hatred". Jerome Chanes identifies six stages in the historical development of antisemitism:

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  3. Muslim antisemitism which was—at least in its classical form—nuanced, in that Jews were a protected class
  4. Political, social and economic antisemitism during the Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment Europe which laid the groundwork for racial antisemitism
  5. Racial antisemitism that arose in the 19th century and culminated in Nazism
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<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Algeria</span> History of the Jewish community of Algeria

The history of Jews in Algeria goes back to Antiquity, although it is not possible to trace with any certainty the time and circumstances of the arrival of the first Jews in what is now Algeria. In any case, several waves of immigration helped to increase the population. There may have been Jews in Carthage and present-day Algeria before the Roman conquest, but the development of Jewish communities is linked to the Roman presence. Jewish revolts in Israel and Cyrenaica in the 1st and 2nd centuries certainly led to the arrival of Jewish immigrants from these regions. Jewish proselytizing among the Berbers is an established historical fact, but its importance remains debated.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jules Molle</span> French politician

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of antisemitism in the 20th century</span>

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This timeline of antisemitism chronicles the acts of antisemitism, hostile actions or discrimination against Jews as a religious or ethnic group, in the 19th century. It includes events in the history of antisemitic thought, actions taken to combat or relieve the effects of antisemitism, and events that affected the prevalence of antisemitism in later years. The history of antisemitism can be traced from ancient times to the present day.

Unions latines (UL) was an early 20th century fascist Algerian political party.

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References

  1. ↑ Sharon Vance (10 May 2011). The Martyrdom of a Moroccan Jewish Saint. BRILL. p. 182. ISBN   978-90-04-20700-4. Muslim anti Jewish riots in Constantine in 1934 when 34 Jews were killed
  2. ↑ Stein, Rebecca (2005). Palestine, Israel, and the Politics of Popular Culture. Duke University Press. p. 237. ISBN   0-8223-3504-2.
  3. 1 2 Levy, Richard (May 24, 2005). Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 139. Between August 3 and 5, 1934, Muslim mobs went on a rampage in the Algerian city of Constantine, attacking Jews and Jewish property. In the attack, 25 Jewish men, women, and children were killed, most from having their throats cut or their skulls crushed, and 26 more were injured, according to official statistics. More than 200 Jewish-owned stores were ransacked. The total property damage to homes, businesses, and synagogues was estimated at over 150 million Poincare francs. Some 3,000 people, one-quarter of Constantine's Jewish population, were in need of welfare assistance in the aftermath of the pogrom. During the rampage, anti-Jewish incidents were recorded in the countryside of the Department of Constantine, extending over a 100-kilometer radius. Jews were murdered in Hamma and Mila, and in Ain Beida, Jewish homes and businesses were looted. During much of the rioting, the French police and security forces stood by and did little or nothing to stop the rioters.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cole, Joshua (2012). "Constantine before the riots of August 1934: civil status, anti-Semitism, and the politics of assimilation in interwar French Algeria". The Journal of North African Studies. 17 (5): 839–861. doi:10.1080/13629387.2012.723432. S2CID   143595241.
  5. 1 2 3 Allali, Jean-Pierre; Musicant, Haim (1987). Des Hommes Libres: des histoires extraordinaires de l'histoire de la LICRA (in French). Editions Bibliophane. pp. 22–23.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 McDougall, James (2017). A History of Algeria. Cambridge University Press. pp. 116–117. ISBN   978-0-521-85164-0.
  7. 1 2 The Sentinel⁩⁩, 23 August 1934 — ⁨The Constantine Pogroms ⁩
  8. ↑ Stein, Sarah Abrevaya (2014). Saharan Jews and the Fate of French Algeria. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. pp. xi. ISBN   978-0-226-12374-5.
  9. 1 2 Schreier, Joshua (2010). Arabs of the Jewish Faith: The Civilizing Mission in Colonial Algeria. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. p. 8. ISBN   978-0-8135-4794-7.
  10. ↑ McDougall, James (2017). A History of Algeria. Cambridge University Press. p. 115. ISBN   978-0-521-85164-0.
  11. 1 2 Cole, Joshua (2012). "Constantine before the riots of August 1934: Civil Status, Anti-Semitism, and the Politics of Assimilation in Interwar French Algeria". The Journal of North African Studies. 17 (5): 847. doi:10.1080/13629387.2012.723432. S2CID   143595241.
  12. ↑ Samuel Kalman,The Extreme Right in Interwar France: The Faisceau and the Croix de Feu, Ashgate Publishing 2008 pp.210ff.
  13. 1 2 Cole, Joshua (2019). Lethal Provocation: The Constantine Murders and the Politics of French Algeria. Cornell University Press. p. 123.
  14. 1 2 Boum, Aomar (2014). "Partners against Anti-Semitism: Muslims and Jews respond to Nazism in French North African colonies, 1936–1940". The Journal of North African Studies. 19 (4): 557. doi:10.1080/13629387.2014.950175. S2CID   144799112.
  15. ↑ Cole, Joshua (2019). Lethal Provocation: The Constantine Murders and the Politics of French Algeria. Cornell University Press. pp. 130–131.
  16. ↑ Cole, Joshua (2019). Lethal Provocation: The Constantine Murders and the Politics of French Algeria. Cornell University Press. p. 126.
  17. ↑ "Algeria Riots Checked". Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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