Waubonsee Community College

A matter of time, the Jews of North Africa in world war II, by JMT Films

videorecording

For High School; College; Adult audiences

A matter of time

electronic resource

747796802

by JMT Films

108

the Jews of North Africa in world war II

These two films tell, for the first time, the story of the Jewish communities of North Africa (Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco) during World War II. Extensive archival footage brings the history of this period to life. Stories from the survivors, now elderly, reveal how, had fate not intervened, it was only "a matter of time" until they would share the fate of their co-religionists in Europe.Part I - From Tripoli to Bergen Belsen. The Jews of Libya, an Italian colony, had maintained their traditions, more so than the Jews of Italy who had assimilated. The survivors tell of the impact of Italian-imposed racial laws, property confiscation, and the separation of the Jews from the rest of the community. Somehow they maintained their spirit and will to survive. But a few hundred were actually sent to Bergen Belsen.Part II - Common Fate. Hitler left it to the Vichy government to impose the racial laws in Algeria and Morocco. Many European Jews had fled to Morocco at the outbreak of the war and it had the largest Jewish population in North Africa. The Moroccan Jews suffered the least because they were on good terms with the Arabs who traded with them while they were interned. In German-occupied Tunis, however, the forced-labor camps were harsh and many died of typhoid and starvation.A Matter of Time presents the historical evidence of plans by German and Italian occupiers to carry out the Final Solution far from the shores of Europe. The film includes testimony of people who lived in North Africa during WWII and unique archival material.It is enriched by the commentaries of historians such as Prof. Irit Abramski Blei of Yad Vashem., Prof. Michel ?bitbol, Dr. Yaron Zur and Dr. Haim Saadon

general