Algerian Policies
Explore policies, laws, and decrees impacting Jewish communities in Algeria.
Laws and decrees
Policies that Shaped Jewish Life in Algeria
Algerian Jews moved from second class status as dhimmis to French citizenship, then lost it and regained it within a single lifetime. These laws shaped their lives and, in the end, their departure.
| Before 1830 | Under Ottoman rule, Jews lived as dhimmis: protected but unequal, paying a special tax and facing limits on dress, testimony in court, and public worship. |
| 1841 to 1845 | France abolishes the authority of rabbinical courts and reorganizes Jewish communal life under official consistories. |
| October 24, 1870 | The Crémieux Decree grants French citizenship to about 33,000 Algerian Jews. |
| October 3, 1940 | Vichy's Statute on the Jews defines Jews by race and bars them from many public jobs. |
| October 7, 1940 | Vichy abolishes the Crémieux Decree, stripping about 110,000 Algerian Jews of citizenship. |
| 1941 | New Vichy laws set quotas of 2 percent for Jews in medicine and law, cap Jewish students at 14 percent before excluding them from public schools, and hand Jewish businesses to non Jewish administrators. |
| October 1943 | French citizenship is restored after the Allied liberation. |
| 1963 | Algeria's Nationality Code (Ordinance 63 69) limits citizenship by origin to people whose father and paternal grandfather had Muslim status, excluding nearly all Jews. |
The impact
What these laws meant
Algerian Jews who left in 1961 and 1962 lost homes, businesses, and communal property, including synagogues and cemeteries. JIMENA has testified to the U.S. government about protecting Algerian Jewish heritage.
JIMENA's advocacy
From JIMENA
Explore further
Keep exploring
Key dates in the history of the Jews of Algeria, at a glance. |
The story of the Jews of Algeria, from ancient times to today. |
Watch Algerian Jews tell their own stories. |
Books on the Jews of Algeria → Histories, memoirs, novels, and children's books in JIMENA's library. |
For the classroom
Think about it
- Choose one of these laws. How would it have changed daily life for a Jewish family: their work, their schooling, their home, or their freedom to travel?
Sources: Anti Jewish legislation in North Africa (U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum); Algerian nationality law.
Timeline of Jewish Presence
