North African Jewry & The Holocaust

Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, is developping a new program for teaching junior-high students about North African Jews and the Holocaust.

The name of the unit - "North African Jewry during the period of the Holocaust" - consciously avoids coming down on either side of the question of whether North African Jews can be viewed as victims of the Holocaust. Mainstream Holocaust researchers believe that these communities did not face total annihilation, and their persecution was not based only on racist motives but also on doubts regarding the Jews' loyalty to the government.

"When the Holocaust is discussed only in demographic or numeric terms, it is obvious that there was no Holocaust in North Africa. But if one is attempting to understand the Holocaust in terms of values, it is clear that North Africa plays an important part."

( Via Haaretz)