American Jews expected that the liberation of North Africa would also mean liberation for the 330,000 Jews there. In 1941–1942, American Jewish newspapers carried disturbing reports that the Vichyites had built “huge concentration camps” in Morocco and Algeria to house thousands of Jewish slave laborers. With the Allied victory, North African Jews — and their American coreligionists —expected the prisoners to be released and the Cremieux Decree reinstated for Jews living throughout the region. Nogues asked President Roosevelt about demands by North African Jews for voting rights. The increased public interest in the history of North African Jewry is a welcome byproduct of Israeli-Moroccan normalization.

Source: The North Africa Journal December 18, 2020 19:07 UTC