Disclaimer
This entry contains information known to us from a variety of sources but may not include all the information currently available. Please be in touch if you notice any inadvertent mistakes in our presentation or have additional knowledge or sources to share. Thank you.
Archive
Cimetière Juif d'Oran
Though it is no longer functional, this Jewish cemetery in what was once the second largest Jewish community in Algeria has a fascinating history lasting two centuries.
Description
This cemetery was built on 7.5 acres of land granted by Bey Osman, the local ruler of Western Algeria appointed by the Ottoman government, in 1801.1 The very public signing of the deed was considered to be monumental by many members of the thriving Jewish community there, and a designated cemetery became increasingly necessary. With the French occupation in the 1830s, the Jewish population almost doubled due to the increased rights the French granted them, and became the largest segment of the population in the city. However, this period of security wouldn’t last forever.
This growth of political and economic power of Jewish communities, combined with a few other highly publicized and controversial events involving Algerian and French Jews, including the Dreyfus Affair, led to a substantial rise in antisemitism throughout the 1890s, and an Anti-Jewish League was founded in Oran in 1896. These sentiments continued to rise throughout the first half of the 20th century, and much of the nineteenth century legislation that had granted Jews security was undone, especially by the Vichy government, though some of these laws were reinstated after the Nazis’ defeat. Tensions reached a boiling point with the growth of Algerian nationalism in the 1950s, as Jews were thought to be sympathetic towards the French. The cemetery was desecrated in 1960, as part of a series of anti-Semetic attacks against property, and by the end of the Algerian War in 1962, most of the Jewish community had fled to France, Latin America, and Israel.2 As part of post-colonial urban planning, the government announced plans in 1971 to destroy the cemetery to make way for a new highway. Former Algerian Jews (mostly from France) funded the exhumation of the bodies, which began in 1972. Along with generations of some families, several former chief rabbis were buried there, including rabbis Sibon and Mizrahi.3 In 2015, construction began on the site of the desecrated cemetery.4
Oran, Algeria
© Mapbox, © OpenStreetMap
Sources
Notes
1 Shulman, David. “Oran:: Algeria.”
2 Benkada, Saddek. “Oran”. In Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World.
3 Kamins, Toni L., et al. “Jewish Cemetery in Oran Razed.”
4 Lev, Haim. “Algeria Begins Plans to Uproot Jewish Cemetery.”
Bibliography
Kamins, Toni L., et al. “Jewish Cemetery in Oran Razed.” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 20 Mar. 2015, www.jta.org/archive/jewish-cemetery-in-oran-razed.
Lev, Haim. “Algeria Begins Plans to Uproot Jewish Cemetery.” Israel National News, 1 Nov. 2015, www.israelnationalnews.com/news/202745#.Vjj02PmrTcv.
Bendaka, Saddek. ‘Oran’. In Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, edited by Norman A. Stillman, Phillip I. Ackerman-Lieberman, Yaron Ayalon, Avigdor Levy, Vera B. Moreen, Meira Polliack, Angel Saenz-Badillos and, and Daniel Schroeter. Accessed July 16, 2023. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1878-9781_ejiw_COM_0017070.
Shulman, David. “Oran:: Algeria.” International Jewish Cemetery Project, iajgscemetery.org/africa/algeria/oran. Accessed 16 July 2023.