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“In this
pioneering work, examining the crucial period from the Italian
racial laws of 1938 to the final Jews exodus from Libyan soil
in 1967, Dr Maurice Roumani builds on the foundations laid by
the scholars of the Jewish communities of the Maghreb – H.Z.
Hirschberg, Shlomo Dov Goitein and Michel Abitbol – giving
us for the first time a full, clear and remarkable picture of
what is now a lost community, alive and flourishing only as a
world-wide diaspora, with Israel as its centre. ...
The extent of Dr Roumani’s scholarship illuminates the
story of Libyan Jewry in its final five decades: its early Zionism,
its period under Italian monarchist and then Italian Fascist
rule, its torments during the war years, its literal liberation
and mass emigration under the British, and its final years under
Arab and Muslim rule. He gives the reader an impressive account
of the workings of the Jewish community, its personalities, its
strengths and its achievements. ...
There is much in Dr Roumani’s final chapters that is dramatic,
much that is tragic; yet the extraordinary efforts to secure
the emigration of Libyan Jews is an inspiring story. In telling
it, as in each phase of this book, Dr Roumani uses a wide range
of archival and oral sources, many of which have never been used
before. Throughout the book, he reveals a mastery of the social
and political history, and a fine understanding of the lives,
hopes, fears and aspirations of Libyan Jews. His book is a testimony
to their suffering and their fortitude.” From the Foreword
by Sir Martin Gilbert
“This is a significant contribution to the modern history
of the smallest and, regrettably, least studied Jewish community
of North Africa. It is an important case study of Jewish modernization
in an Islamic land under colonial rule and national independence,
and while exhibiting certain parallels with the diaspora communities
in the French Maghreb, it also exhibits no-less-important differences
due not only to nature of Italian rule, but to the distinct character
of the Libyan Jewry itself. Maurice Roumani has given us an impeccably
researched, richly documented, and keenly insightful survey of
Libyan Jewry’s social and political evolution in the twentieth
century. He brings to the study not merely the observations of
a trained scholar with all of the requisite linguistic and methodological
skills, but also the real life experience of someone who lived
through the turbulent events of the period and was an actual witness
to some of them. It is to Roumani’s great credit that he
is able to achieve an admirable balance of overall scholarly dispassion
with the intimate poignancy of personal engagement. The Jews
of Libya will surely take its place alongside the pioneer studies
of Renzo De Felice and Harvey Goldberg.” Norman A. Stillman,
Schusterman/Josey Professor of Judaic History, University of Oklahoma
This book investigates the transformative period in the history
of the Jews of Libya (1938–52), a period crucial to understanding Libyan Jewry’s evolution into a community playing significant roles in Israel, Italy and in relation with Qaddhafi’s
Libya.
Against a background of a reform conscious Ottoman administration
(1835–1911) and subsequent stirrings of modernization under Italian colonial influence (1911–43), the Jews of Libya began to experience rapid change following the application of fascist racial laws of 1938, the onset of war-related calamities and violent expressions of Libyan pan-Arabism, culminating in mass migration to Israel in the period 1949–52.
By focusing on key socio-economic and political dimensions
of this process, the author reveals the capacity of Libyan
Jewry to adapt to and integrate into new environments without
losing its unique and historical traditions.
The evolution of Libyan Jewry between 1938 and 1952 is characterized
by three pivotal developments: The first (1938–43) was
one of disruption and dislocation, brought about by the oppressive
colonial administration allied with Germany.
In the second (1945–48), riots and pogroms by Muslim Libyan mobs, agitated by pan-Arab and Palestinian sympathies, against Jewish communities left unprotected by the post-war British administration, ushered-in an awakening to the fact that its millennial presence in Libya was about to end. Incipient Zionism among Libyan Jews, particularly in youth movements, matured into fully shared decisions to migrate to Israel where the third pivotal development (1949–52) – encompassing resettlement, economic, social and religious adaptations –began
to unfold.
The book concludes with an analysis of the success story of
Libyan Jewry in Israel, and in Italy where a group of post-1967
refugees reconstituted a thriving, influential community in
Rome. “Jerusalem and Rome”have thus become the
two poles of the renewed Jewish community of Libya, exhibiting
political advancement in Israel, and commercial prosperity
in Italy, along with a cultural renaissance and potential contributions
to the ongoing process of reconciliation of the new Libya (as
of 2005) with the West.
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List of Contents to follow |
Publication Details
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ISBN: |
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9781845191375 h/b |
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Page Extent / Format: |
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324 pp. / 229 x 152 mm |
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Release Date: |
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March 2008 |
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Illustrated: |
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with photoraphs and facsimile documents |
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Hardback Price: |
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£59.95 / $77.50 |
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