A Struggle Across Borders: Maghrebi Jews and Muslims Discover Familiar Fault Lines in French Banlieux

     The end of World War II began an enormous shift in the ethnic demographics of French Jewry; after the Holocaust, the Ashkenazim who had previously made up the majority of French Jews fled in massive numbers to Israel;... [ view full abstract ]

     The end of World War II began an enormous shift in the ethnic demographics of French Jewry; after the Holocaust, the Ashkenazim who had previously made up the majority of French Jews fled in massive numbers to Israel; at the same time, the Jewish populations were emigratinen masse from North Africa to France, thanks to the automatic citizenship given to all Jews in Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. The conjunction of emigration of Ashkenazi Jews and immigration of North African Jews resulted in a Jewish population in France of which the vast majority (more than seventy percent) are of North African origin. This majority mirrors that of the Muslim population in France, the majority of which is of North African origin, as well. These demographics create a situation in France in which the two largest religious minorities share largely the same ethnic and cultural background. The rise in popularity of nationalist and conservative views in mainstream French society has put pressure on Jewish and Muslim communities, resulting in a clearly documented rise of both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. The tension between Jews and Muslims in France has grown, demonstrated in the series of anti-Semitic incidents perpetrated by Muslims in France over the last decade. As Jewish and Muslim communities struggle to develop and maintain an identity in a foreign country, they encounter one another across fault lines that have existed in North Africa, the Maghreb, for a millennium. This study examines the current relationship between the Jewish and Muslim communities in France and its effects on the contemporary transitioning and moving communities that struggle to define themselves in a foreign country today.