Mediating a Desperate Scenario: The JDC and Jews in Colonial Algeria on the Eve of Independence

• In Event: The Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Communities of North Africa: A Burgeoning Field of New Research

Abstract

The Franco-Algerian war unfolded over 7 years from 1954 to 1962. The Jews of Algeria had hoped to be able to stay, many wanted Algeria to stay French. However, after it was too late for such hopes, Jewish leaders departed French Algeria throughout 1960 and ’61, and all community operations stopped. “This was when the JDC had to step in,” wrote Charles Jordan the day after Algerian independence in July 1962. “Even while the bombing was still going on, we had to carry on the JDC tradition that calls for courage and self-sacrifice, calls on us to undertake missions at the risk of our lives when our fellow Jews need relief ” (Jordan to JDC, July 6, 1962). The American Joint Distribution Committee entered Algeria when the local community leaders departed with the other Jewish elites--including the well-to-do, rabbis, teachers, and other representatives. As outsiders, these volunteers—Franco Lévi, Charles Jordan, Souget, and others—listened to the needs and wishes of the people they encountered in Algeria, and, the advantage of stepping in after the war meant that their actions were humanitarian, and ostensibly apolitical. These workers focused on the dispossessed and the poor who remained in Algeria. Souget referred to the “hours” he spent explaining to people that the JDC “will not fail to come to their help,” even though the well-off Jews, the rabbis, and others had already left Algeria (Souget to Jordan, January 9, 1962). This paper will analyze their role at that moment—the difficulty of staying apolitical, and who benefited from their presence.

Author

• Jessica Hammerman, Central Oregon Comm College