While the important newspapers refrain from comment on the abrogation of the Cremieux Law, having the effect of denationalizing some 60,000 Algerian Jews, and the Catholic La Croix openly states that the step was intended to appease Moslem claims in North Africa, some papers hail the measure.
(The German wireless reported in a Vichy dispatch that news of the abrogation has caused “much rejoicing” among the Arabs in Algiers, Constantine and Oran.)
Le Matin of Paris termed the step a “historic act” and said it “will go far” to solve the Algerian problem by removing the “inequality” between Jews and native Arabs.
The Royalist Action Francaise said that “the scandal which lasted 70 years has ceased.” It expressed hope that abrogation of the Cremieux Law was but “the preface to a general law establishing a statute for Jews” in France. The paper also suggested confiscation of Jewish “named and anonymous” riches for distribution among the peasants.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
