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AIU School, Tangiers, Morocco
Description
AIU School: The Alliance Israélite Universelle School in Tangier, Morocco, was founded in 1864.1 A girls’ school was later founded in 1883. The AIU organization, which formed in 1860 in Paris, France, aimed to unite, protect, and educate Jews all across the world.2 The school provided a free French-style education to many Jews who were uneducated and impoverished living in the Middle East and North Africa.3 The school was subsidized by Jewish investors. For example, the boys’ school in Tangier received around 9,800 francs while the girls’ school received around 1,200. Initially the Jewish community welcomed the Alliance organization, as they hoped the school would counterbalance the emerging mission schools operated by the Franciscan Brothers.4 However, the secular nature of the curriculum was met with disapproval by some of the Jewish community leaders. They were worried that a secular school would corrupt their proud Jewish and tried to convert the school to become a rabbinic teaching center.5
In the 1880’s, tensions arose between the AIU director, Moïse Fresco, and the community council, due to the former’s refusal to amend the teaching curriculum. The council, the junta, was displeased that the school was emphasizing secular rather than religious education. For example, leaders were angered to discover that the children at the AIU learned that rain was not sent by God, but created from water vapor.6 By 1887, tensions reached such a height, that Fresco decided to rent a new building for the AIU school and detach it from the Talmud Torah School next to it.7 The junta campaigned furiously against the AIU schools, pressuring parents to withdraw their students. On March 17, 1887, only five pupils were left in the school from the 200 pupils that were learning in the beginning of March.8 The Paris administration, assessing the situation, closed down the boys’ school to reopen it seven months later in November of 1887 under a new director. Ironically, the school reopened with no changes in curriculum as the junta allowed for all of the conditions set by the AIU for the new school. The girls’ school was not affected by these events, as girls’ religious education was not as valued as the boys’.9 In 1899, both schools had around 600 pupils attending classes and around half of those students were non-Jews; Christians, Muslims, and other members of the communities were admitted to the school.10 Teachers at the school were just as diverse as the students.11 Students received textbooks, lunch, and sometimes even clothing from the AIU organization. Sometimes the school hosted literacy programs for adults who were unable to receive a proper education in their youth.12 By this time, the qualms between the AIU leadership and the junta had filtered out and the Jewish community was witnessing AIU graduates move on to successful futures.13
In 1939, the total number of students attending AIU Moroccan schools reached approximately 16,000, and by 1952, the number reached around 28,000. However, as the situation in Morocco worsened, especially after the Israel-Arab War in 1947-8, many Jews left Morocco, and schools had to close down. By 1963, the student attendance dropped to 14,000, almost a 50% decrease in ten years. In 1960, the AIU schools came under the control of the Moroccan Education Department, transitioning from a private organization to part of the French public school system in Morocco. The schools were renamed the Ittihad-Maroc schools, losing their Jewish attributes.14
Sources
[1] Michael M. Laskier, The Alliance Israélite Universelle and the Jewish Communities of Morocco: 1862-1962, (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983), 82.
[2] Simon R. Schwarzfuchs, and Frances Malino, "Alliance Israelite Universelle," in Encyclopaedia Judaica, ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik, 2nd ed. Vol. 1. (Detroit: Macmillan Reference, 2007), 671-75. Gale Virtual Reference Library.
[3] Jessica Marglin, "Modernizing Moroccan Jews: The AIU Alumni Association in Tangier, 1893-1913," Jewish Quarterly Review 101, no. 4 (Fall 2011): 574-603.
[4] Reeva Spector Simon, Michael Laskier, and Sara Reguer, eds. The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times. Vol. 1. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2003: 483.
[5] Laskier, The Alliance Israélite Universelle and the Jewish Communities of Morocco, 82-3.
[6] Ibid., 83.
[7] Ibid., 84.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Simon, The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times, 483.
[11] Jacques Bigart, "Alliance Israelite Universelle," Jewish Encyclopedia. Accessed July 20, 2016. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1264-alliance-israelite-universelle.
[12] Bigart. "Alliance Israelite Universelle."
[13] Laskier, The Alliance Israélite Universelle and the Jewish Communities of Morocco, 86.
[14] Schwarzfuchs, "Alliance Israelite Universelle."
Bibliography:
Avital, Ahuva. Class at the Alliance School for Girls, Tangier. 1919. Beth Hatefutsoth, Photo Archive, Tel Aviv.
Bigart, Jacques. "Alliance Israelite Universelle." Jewish Encyclopedia. Accessed July 20, 2016. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1264-alliance-israelite-universelle.
Laskier, Michael M. Alliance Israélite Universelle and the Jewish Communities of Morocco: 1862-1962. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983.
Marglin, Jessica. "Modernizing Moroccan Jews: The AIU Alumni Association in Tangier, 1893-1913."Jewish Quarterly Review 101, no. 4 (Fall 2011): 574-603. doi:10.1353/jqr.2011.0039.
Schwarzfuchs, Simon R., and Frances Malino. "Alliance Israelite Universelle." Encyclopaedia Judaica. Edited by Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: Macmillan Reference, 2007. 671-75. Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Simon, Reeva Spector, Michael Laskier, and Sara Reguer, eds. The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times. Vol. 1. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2003.
Wyner, Isaiah. Alliance Francaise, Tanger (Morocco). 1989. World Monuments Fund Moroccan Photo Archive.