H eadlines
Holocaust History in North Africa Explored
L OCA L
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
AOMAR BOUM AND Sarah
Abrevaya Stein knew the wartime
experiences of North African
Jews are often overlooked in
Holocaust history, so they
decided to write a book about it.

“Opening up these stories
about North African experi-
ences of the second World
War and, in some cases, the
Holocaust, can not only teach
us about this region, but really
change what we know about
Holocaust history and Jewish
history as a whole, and that
is a really profound invest-
ment and yield for students,
for readers and for academic
research,” said Stein, chair of
Sephardic studies and director
of the Alan D. Leve Center for
Jewish Studies at UCLA.

The National Museum
of American Jewish History
hosted a webinar about the
book, “The Holocaust in
North Africa,” on April 9.

Josh Perelman, NMAJH’s chief
curator, interviewed the two
scholars about pre-war Jewish
life in North Africa, the impact
of colonialism and fascism on
the region and the research
they conducted for the project.

Boum, associate professor
of anthropology at UCLA, said
most North African countries
were under the colonial rule
of European powers on the eve
of WWII. France controlled
Algeria, Tunisia and northern
Morocco, Italy controlled Libya
and Spain controlled southern
Morocco. He
estimated between 480,000 and 500,000
Jews lived in these countries.

Stein said these Jews
were a diverse population
Clockwise from left: Aomar Boum, Sarah Abrevaya Stein and Josh Perelman
that migrated from different
regions, spoke different
languages, came
from different classes of society
Screenshot by Sophie Panzer
and participated in different others lived more traditionally.

political movements. Some
Since the North African
Jews in urban centers adopted countries had Muslim majority
European lifestyles, while populations, as well as settler
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