Jewish Identity and Tunisian Independence
I was born in Tunisia, in Tunis, a few steps from that city’s large ghetto. My father, a harness maker, was somewhat pious, naturally somewhat so, as were all men of his trade and his station in life. My childhood was marked by the rhythms of the weekly Sabbath and the cycle of Jewish holidays. At a fairly early age, after first attending yeshivah…
In this autobiographical essay, Albert Memmi, a prominent intellectual and anti-imperialist writer, describes his life from his early days near the Jewish ghetto in Tunisia through his political awakening during the Spanish Civil War and the decolonization of North Africa. Memmi recounts his struggle between his support for Tunisian independence and his Jewish, Zionist identity which were at odds and could not be reconciled. Under the new regime in Tunisia, Jews and Judaism were excluded from both constitution and culture. Memmi concludes by reiterating his support despite feeling a lack of belonging within his national home; he sees the exclusion as a regression, locating North African Jews in the same space that European Jews had long occupied.
Related Guide
Postwar Jewish Life Writing
Life writing in the postwar period explored the Holocaust, displacement and migration, cultural identity, and the deteriorating situation of Jews behind the Iron Curtain.
