Overview
- Interview Summary
- Sylvain Moshe Fitoussi, born 7 April, 1937 in Tunis, Tunisia, discusses his family’s move to Algiers, Algeria in 1939 when his parents sought better economic opportunities; his father (born in 1906 in Tunis) and mother (born in 1910 in Tunis); life in Algiers; his education; living in a close-knit Jewish community; the birth of his brother in 1943; the harsh application of the Vichy anti-Jewish legislation in Algeria, largely because of the broad, existing antisemitism in Algeria; being thrown out of school for being Jewish and his father telling the school principal that the legislation did not apply to Tunisian citizens only to the French, so he was allowed to remain in school on the rue Clauzel [PH]; the moment on November 8, 1942 when the Americans and British landed in Algiers and took control of the country; the beginning of Algerian War for Independence in 1954; his military service; staying in Algiers until 1962, when at Algeria’s independence, the family moved to Paris, France; his first visit to Israel in 1967; his decision to build a second house in Herzliya, Israel in 1977; returning every year to Israel for vacation with his three children; securing French nationality for the family in 1958; the family agreement that they would leave Algeria as conditions worsened; and his permanent move to Israel in 1988.
- Interviewee
- Sylvain M. Fitoussi
- Date
-
interview:
2004 May 12
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Nicole Cohen-Addad
Physical Details
- Language
- French
- Extent
-
1 DVD : MPEG-2.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Restrictions on use. The collection donor Nicole Cohen-Addad retains copyright and distribution rights. The use of this interview in video/film form, whether in a documentary or romanced form, requires written permission from Dr. Cohen-Addad. Contact information can be found at www.compagnons8nov1942.org
- Copyright Holder
- Dr. Nicole Cohen-Addad
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Antisemitism--Algeria. Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. Jewish children in the Holocaust--Algeria. Jews--Algeria--Algiers. Jews--Legal status, laws, etc.--Algeria. Jews--Persecutions--Algeria. Jews--Social life and customs. Jews, Tunisian--Algeria. Men--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Algeria. World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Algeria.
- Geographic Name
- Algeria--Emigration and immigration. Algeria--History--Revolution, 1954-1962. Algiers (Algeria) France--Emigration and immigration. Hertseliyah (Israel) Israel--Emigration and immigration. Paris (France) Tunis (Tunisia)
- Personal Name
- Fitoussi, Sylvain Moshe.
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Nicole Cohen-Addad donated a copy of the oral history interview with Sylvain Moshe Fitoussi to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in January 2011. The recording is part of a series of interviews produced by Dr. Cohen-Addad beginning in 2002 with Algerian Jews and with participants in resistance against the French Vichy regime in order to help the Allies land in Algiers during the November, 8, 1942 Operation Torch.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 09:20:32
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn81490
Additional Resources
Summaries (2)
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