Vichy in North Africa: The Experience of Jews in French North Africa in World War II

The experience of Jews in French colonial North Africa during the era of the Holocaust has been largely neglected by scholars. This project seeks to fill an important gap in the historiography. My project has three significant aspects. The first is to integrate the experience of Algerian, Moroccan, and Tunisian Jews more fully into the history of the Holocaust using various files acquired by the USHMM. The second is to explore the ways in which Jews mobilized and responded to the antisemitic legislation and discrimination that they faced during this time period. The third aspect is to examine the relationship between antisemitism, national identity and national aspirations, the Holocaust, and Zionism among the Jews of French North Africa. This project builds on my first book project -the history of citizenship and antisemitism in colonial Algeria from 1870 to 1962, but goes well beyond it to examine the experiences of Jews in Morocco and Tunisia as well.