Anticipating new and even increased violence to follow the imminent announcement of agreement between France and the Algerian rebel leaders, Jews in Constantine, Algeria, are leaving the city in large numbers now, it was reported here today from Algiers.
No more than 5,000 Jews are believed left in Constantine. Unable to quit Algeria because of the prohibition against “desertion” decreed by the OAS–the French underground organization fighting to keep Algeria French–the Constantine Jews were reported to be seeking temporary refuge in Oran and Algiers which have big enough European populations better able, the fleeing Jews hope, to cope with inter-communal strife.
However, both Oran and Algiers have been left in recent weeks without Jewish communal leaders and with little material resources. Less than a dozen rabbis are still in Algeria. Wherever lay leaders have been able to flee to France they have done so. Even Oran’s famous Jewish “self-defense” units, which repulsed a Moslem mob last Rosh Hashanah, have disintegrated during the last few weeks.
The disappointment of Algerian Jews over the mounting violence accompanying the move toward a cease-fire was reported typical of all non-Moslems in Algeria. Both Arabs and Europeans were actively preparing for the cease-fire announcement. Many Europeans were busy surrounding their homes with barbed wire and shopkeepers put up specially reinforced steel curtains to protect their store windows.
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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.
