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The history of Jewish refugees in Tangier during the Second World War has received only sporadic attention from historians and the intent of this paper is to redress some of this lacuna, with a focus on the relief work of the Comité d’Assistance aux Réfugiés, which was sponsored by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC).
As thousands of Jewish refugees were stranded in Nazi-occupied Europe, international aid organizations were hoping that Tangier, located at the crossroad of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, could become one of the “fire escapes” through which the refugees would continue their flight to North and South America. Drawing on a range of sources, including material from the JDC Archives, YIVO and Yad Vashem’s archives, the paper will examine why Tangier, did not become the perfect transit spot for Jewish refugees that many observers had hoped it would be. Dealing mainly with the 1941-1945 period, during which Tangier was under the control of Franco’s Spain, this paper will investigate challenges faced by the refugees, relief workers and the local community in Tangier – hostility from the Spanish authorities, economic crisis, internal dissensions— and the JDC’s efforts to respond to them.