Biography
Margalith Gafni (born Margalith Ghozlan) is the daughter of Reine and Yishua Ghozlan. She was born in Constantine, Algeria on December 25, 1935 and had three siblings: Geneviene (b. 11/28/40), Nicole (b. 8/29/1940) and Alain (b. 6/27/38). Yishua was a socialist and the family was not religious. Prior to the war, the family moved to Marengo in 1937 and then to Saint Eugene, a suburb of Algiers, in 1939. Yishua served as the director of the local post office, and the family lived in an apartment above the post office. Already in the prewar years, the family experienced latent antisemitism and in 1933 Reine and Yishua survived a deadly pogrom by hiding with French Christian friends. After the start of World War II, Yishua was thrown out of his position in the post office, and the family was evicted from their apartment. Despite the fact that her father was unable to work for three or four years, the family did not go hungry and supported themselves from their ample savings. Margalith began elementary school at L'Ecole Maternelle, but in 1941-1942 she was expelled. After the war in 1945 he returned to his previous position in St. Eugene and Margalith started school. During the years tat she was not allowed to attend school; she studied violin and piano with a neighbor who was a member of the Philharmonic orchestra of Algiers. Soon afterwards the family moved from St. Eugene to Blida where Yishua continued to direct a post office and continued to advance to higher positions. Margalith finished high school; in Blida but tragedy struck the family. Her mother fell on her way to see a film and died of an aneurysm. Margalith's father felt he was being punished and sought solace in Judaism. He joined the local synagogue and became president of the Consistoire. In this framework heads of different youth movements and came formed meetings of Habonim, Hashomer Hazair, and Dror. Margal9th joined Gordonia and began a group for younger children. Her sisters also joined. Margalith very much wanted to immigrate to Israel but her father opposed this and hence she moved to Algiers where she worked in a club of the youth movement in exchange for lunch. She lived with her grandmother. In 1958 her father agreed to immigrate to Israel and Margalith followed six months later. In the interim she went for hachshara training in Toulouse where she learned how to work in the fields and other organizational skills. In December 1958 Margalith immigrated to Israel.
