This talk examines the place of Jews in colonial Morocco from the interwar period though to independence (achieved in 1956) and beyond. It is structured around one central question: how Moroccan Jews see themselves as emancipated citizens in a future independent Moroccan state? From a period of ideological porosity during the interwar period, through the anti-Semitic policies of the Vichy regime during WWII, to the struggle for national liberation, and finally, the years of mass Jewish exodus and authoritarianism, this talk pushes against teleological readings of Moroccan Jewish history and explores a previously obscured narrative of political possibility and radical roads not taken.

Assistant Professor Alma Heckman, History

Reception to Follow
For accessibitiy concerns, contact pmreed@ucsc.edu