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Great Synagogue at Oran, Algeria

Description

Location: Founded in the 10th century, Oran is the second largest city in Algeria. It’s located in the northwest near the Moroccan border. The Great Synagogue was originally located on Boulevard Joffre, but the street has since been renamed by the Algerian government to read Boulevard Maata Mohamed El Habib².

Description: This outstandingly grand synagogue has a basilican plan composed of a central nave and two side aisles. The prayer room is divided into two stories while a niche indicates the direction of Jerusalem. There are three large stained glass doors that are separated by three arches. The “Star of David” is found on each of its large windows. Inside, 960 seats sit atop a floor made of solid oak. A grand menorah was placed in the center of the first floor. Since the beginning of its history, the synagogue’s two slender 20-meter high towers mark the building as a reflection of the Islamic architecture of minarets. Other features related to Arabic art and architecture include numerous cupolas, curved arches, and interlaced designs. 

History of the Great Synagogue: In 1880, the Consistoire, an initiative by started Napoleon Bonaparte to change the character of the Jewish people, was founded. Prior to 1880, Oran’s Jewish community had over ten small synagogues. Simon Kanoui, who was the president of the Consistoire began the drive to build a grand synagogue in a prominent downtown location by selling “subscriptions” to finance its construction. After three decades of work, the synagogue’s inauguration took place in 1918.

Jewish Presence in Oran: A Jewish community in Oran was first documented around 1391 when Jewish refugees fled persecution in Spain. A community in Oran, however, had already been established by the time Sephardic Jews immigrated and scholars believe that Jews have lived in Oran since antiquity³. In 1509 Oran was captured by a Spanish military campaign and remained under Spanish rule for the next three centuries. Although the intended purpose of the campaign was to expel the Jewish community, for most of the 16th and 17th centuries Spanish monarchs allowed for a small Jewish community in Oran. A list from 1530 mentions 125 Jews⁴ who were currently receiving protection from the King of Spain in Oran and 72 Jews⁵ who lived in the area without this legal status. Jews in Oran during this time were required to live in a specific district of the city where they “continued the practice of Judaism openly.”. They also maintained contact with other communities in North Africa and the Mediterranean which helped them reach commercial success. This success in addition to their role as mediators between the Spanish and Muslim communities made the Jews of Oran invaluable and is what protected them from the inquisition. In 1669 the 450 Jews of Oran were given 8 days to leave⁶, forcing many families to travel to Nice, France, and to other Sephardic communities such as those in Livorno, Italy.

In 1790 a devastating earthquake hit Oran and in 1792 the Spanish gave the city to the Ottoman Mohammed el Kebir, the Bey of Algiers who later rebuilt Oran and invited Jewish peoples from the nearby cities of Tlemcen, Mostaganem, Mascara and Nedroma to settle. The Jewish population further grew in the early 19th century as more Jews from Morocco and other parts of Algeria migrated to take advantage of new economic and trade opportunities. By the time France annexed Algeria in the early 1830s, Oran was a majority Jewish city. According to a French census, Oran was then home to about 2,800 Jews and 1,000 non-Jews⁷ (Christians and Muslims). In the subsequent 130 years, Oran grew into a major city and the Jewish community grew along with it. By the mid-19th century, there were 5,000 Jews in Oran⁸ who were administered by the French consistoire system and the city had 17 synagogues. 

Around this same period, anti-Jewish sentiments in Oran began to arise and the first anti-Jewish organization was established in 1871 in response to the 1870 Cremieux Decree which granted Algerian Jews French citizenship. In May 1897 the Jewish quarter and Jewish shops were attacked by local Muslims and European settlers. The violence eventually settled down around 1902 but anti-Semitic sentiments never disappeared and violence once again targeted the Jewish community during the 1920s and 30s. In June 1940 France was defeated by Germany and Algeria fell under a pro-Nazi Vichy government. Shortly after, anti-Semitic legislation began to take effect and in October of 1940, the Cremieux Decree was revoked. In March 1941 racial laws of the Vichy government started to be implemented and Jews were banned from all organizations and associations. Anti-Jewish persecution didn’t end until 1942 when American troops landed in Oran and it took till 1943 for the Cremieux Decree to be reinstated. 

Shortly after World War II, a struggle broke out for Algerian independence. During the Algerian War, Oran’s Jews “strove to remain neutral as much as possible,” but they inevitably became involved through persecution from both sides of the conflict. From the 1950s to the 1960s, the Jewish population decreased drastically as the increased fighting and riots drove many Jews to leave the country. At the end of the Algerian war, the Supreme Court declared that citizenship would only be granted to “those residents whose father or paternal grandfather were Muslims.” When Jews were stripped of their citizenship, no longer under the protection of Algerian law, the community left en masse in 1962. By 1963, a year after Algeria gained independence, only 850 Jews remained in Oran⁹. The population further decreased to 400 in 1968¹⁰ and by the early 2000s, there were no recorded Jews in Algeria. 

Oran, Algeria

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