Jews outside Europe under Axis occupation

Jews of Algeria

Main article: History of the Jews in Algeria

Vichy rule (that ruled in Algeria from 1940) cancelled the citizenship of the Jews and instituted the same restrictions that applied to the Jews of France (and forbid them to work for the government, to be bankers, teachers and students, and also the number of Jews permitted to work in free professions was limited). In 1941 the property of the Jews was confiscated. However, in a sign of the solidarity in suffering, not a single Muslim Algerian took advantage of Jewish confiscated property; on a Friday in 1941, religious leaders throughout Algiers delivered sermons warning Muslims against participation in schemes to strip Jews of their property . The suffering of the Jews of Algeria was difficult because of their previous high position in society. In 1941 some Jews joined the anti-Nazi underground. Many Jews were caught and were sent to labor camps or were executed. The Judenräte required assistance in preparation of materiel. In November 1942 Algeria was liberated by the United States and Great Britain. In 1943 the restraints on the Jews of Algeria were cancelled.

Jews of Tunisia

Main article: History of the Jews in Tunisia

Tunisia was also under Vichy rule with the same restrictions like in Morocco and Algeria. In November 1942 the control in Tunisia moved to the Germans. The Nazis established a local Judenrat, took hostages, confiscated the property of the Jews and imposed on the community heavy financial punishments. The community required to provide the needs of the German army, and the synagogue become a German storeroom. The Jews were marked with the Yellow badge, 4,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps in Tunisia and a few were sent to the extermination camps. Many Jews were murdered by means of being shot in their homes, Death marches, hunger, diseases and bombings. Tunisia was liberated by the Allies in May 1943, and the persecution of the Jews ceased.

Jews of Morocco

Main article: History of the Jews in Morocco

In 1940, the Nazi-controlled Vichy government issued antisemitic decrees excluding Jews from public functions and imposing the wear of yellow Magen David star. Sultan Mohamed V refused to apply these laws and, as sign of defiance, insisted on inviting all the rabbis of Morocco to the 1941 throne celebrations.

Jews of Libya

Main article: History of the Jews in Libya

Libya was under Italian rule. The Jews, who were British and Italian subjects, suffered from anti-Semitism and economic restrictions as a result of the tightening of the relations with Germany. From 1942 laws of racial discrimination were activated in Libya and men between the ages of 18-45 were recruited to forced labor and thousands died from hunger and epidemics. In February of that year the Germans ordered the transferring of the Jews to concentration camps.

Jews of Iraq

Main article: History of the Jews in Iraq

While not under occupation of Nazi Germany, Iraq was, for a short term, under the Nazi-allied regime of Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani. While the regime did not last long, the Farhud (a pogrom in which 180 Jews died) is considered among its results.

Jews in Japan and China

Main articles: History of the Jews in Japan and History of the Jews in China

Prior to the war there was a small Jewish presence in Japan, particularly Kobe, which consisted of Jews originating predominantly from Russia, as well as those from the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the United States. In Japanese-occupied China there was a more significant Jewish population, including White Russian refugees and Baghdadi Jews. As Jewish persecution in Europe stepped up an increasing number of refugees travelled to China by steamship or had transited through the Soviet Union and were hoping to move on to the United States. Most of these Jews were concentrated in the Shanghai International Settlement.

When Japan entered the war many Jews were interned, including the Baghdadi Jews who were identified as British subjects. The Japanese implemented strict measures to control the activities of the Shanghai ghetto who were restricted in 1943 to a one square mile city block shared with 100,000 Chinese. However despite repeated requests from Nazi Germany to implement anti-semitic policies, including exterminating the Jewish population in the Shanghai ghetto, despite the wartime privations the Jewish population was generally left alone.

See also

Middle East Theatre of World War II

• Mediterranean Theatre of World War II
• North African campaign
• East African Campaign (World War II)
• Tunisia Campaign
• Western Desert Campaign

Further reading

• Abitbol, Michel. The Jews of North Africa during the Second World War. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1989 • Bauer, Yehuda. A History of the Holocaust • Borgel, R. Etoile Jaune et Croix Gammee. Tunis, 1944 • Epstein, Eric Joseph, and Rosen Philip. Dictionary of the Holocaust. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1997

• Gilbert, Martin. The Dent Atlas of the Holocust. London: JM Dent Ltd, 1993

• Gilbert, Martin. The Holocaust: the Jewish Tragedy. London: Collins, 1986 • Gutman, Yisrael, ed. Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1990 • Pinkas Kehilot, The Jews of Tunisia and Libya during the Holocaust, Yad-vashem, in Hebrew • Sabille, Jacques. Les Juifs de Tunisie sous Vichy et l'Occupation. Paris: Edition du Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine, 1954

• Robert Satloff: Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach into Arab Lands (PublicAffairs, 2006). ISBN 1586483994

External links

• Voices on Antisemitism Interview with Robert Satloff from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum