Personal Stories
Libyan Jews and their descendants share memories of home, the riots that drove them out, and the new lives they built in Israel, Italy, and beyond.
Written Narratives
Pnina Meghnagi Solomon
Pnina Meghnagi Solomon recalls her vibrant Jewish childhood in Tripoli, the antisemitic violence that forced her family to flee Libya in 1967, and their experiences of displacement and rebuilding their lives in Italy and Israel.
Libyan Oral History Collection
Watch JIMENA's video interviews with Jews from Libya, including Gina Bublil-Waldman, Joseph Maimon, and Penina Meghnagi Solomon.
Tony Dadush
My life in Tripoli was a happy family life, but I must add that I grew up very nervous. I remember walking with my mom in the streets of Tripoli as a child. I used to ask my mother: why are those houses burnt? Only later did I realize those burnt buildings were the result of the pogroms that the Jews had to suffer.
Gina Waldman
900,000 Jewish people were expelled from the Arab lands they called home.These are the refugees whose story was never told. It is the story of my family and I will share it with you tonight.My family came from an ancient Jewish community known as the Mizrachim. They had lived in Libya for over 2,000 years.
Doris Nachum
A neighbor yelled, “Julia,” from across the courtyard separating her apartment from Doris Nachum’s. Julia was Doris’ mother’s name, it was June 5th 1967, the start of the Six-Day war. Doris was eight; her house was built on top of a synagogue, in a part of Tripoli only five minutes from the port and sea.
