You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (August 2015) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
View a machine-translated version of the French article.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Décret Crémieux]]; see its history for attribution.
You should also add the template {{Translated|fr|Décret Crémieux}} to the talk page.
This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2023)
The decree automatically made the native Algerian JewsFrench citizens, while their MuslimArabs and Berbers neighbors were excluded and remained under the second-class indigenous status outlined in the code de l'Indigénat. Muslim Algerians could, on paper, apply individually for French citizenship, but this required that they formally renounce Islam and its laws,[2] and their requests were additionally very seldom accepted. That set the scene for deteriorating relations between the Muslim and Jewish communities, with tensions increased by the colonial administration discrimination between natives and citizens. Seeing one's indigenous brother become a first class citizen while being left as a second class citizen divided locals with animosity.[3] This eventually proved fateful in the 1954-1962 Algerian War, after which the vast majority of the Jews of Algeria emigrated to France.
Jews first migrated to Algeria during the Roman period.[4] The Spanish inquisition also led to an influx of Jewish migration.[5]France conquered Algeria in 1830-1834. France became focused on assimilating colonized people into French citizens, and a Sénatus-consulte in 1865 revised citizenship laws to allow indigenous Algerians to apply for French citizenship.[3] But Algerian culture prided itself on its customary practices, and as a result application rates were low.[6] Many European Jews lived in France, and so the French believed that Algerian Jews would be more likely to assimilate due to having Sephardic (Portuguese Jews, like Crémieux's mother) and also Ashkenazi relatives in France.[3] Thus, Jews gained recognition in France as a means of control: the French government having realized that, by enabling Ashkenazi practices, they could appoint chief Rabbis with a duty to "inculcate unconditional obedience to the laws, loyalty to France, and the obligation to defend it".[citation needed] France had already given the Sephardic Jews of France citizenship in 1790, and almost two years after, in September 1791, granted citizenship to their Ashkenazi co-religionists who were seen as less French at the time.[7] By granting citizenship to Algerian Jews, the French believed the local Jews would forgo their traditions, and become loyal to France.[8] The intent was rapid acculturation of Algerian Jews into French Jews.
It was signed as Decree 136 of 1870[9] by Adolphe Crémieux as Minister of Justice, Léon Gambetta as Minister of the Interior, and Léon Martin Fourichon as Minister of the Navy and the Colonies. These ministers were members of the provisional Government of National Defense (based in Tours, since France was at war and Paris was besieged. The Muslim revolt of 1871 created distrust of the indigenous non-Jews, as it established that they would not respect French authority.[3] This amplified French desire to attempt the assimilation of Algerian Jews over other indigenous communities who, it was felt, would be more resistant.
At the same time, the naturalization regime in French Algeria was confirmed by Decree 137, which stated that Algerian Muslims were not French citizens. The aim was to maintain the status quo, the sovereignty of France over its North African colonies. Five years later, in 1875, this was confirmed in the framework of the code de l'indigénat.
Decrees 136 and 137 were published in Official Gazette of the City of Tours (Bulletin officielle de la ville de Tours) on 7 November 1870.
Within a generation, most Algerian Jews came to speak French and embrace French culture in its entirety. Conflicts between Sephardic Jewish religious law and French law troubled community members as they attempted to navigate a legal system at odds with their established practice. The French army's control over civilian life in Algeria was limited, as Algerian Jews were legally viewed as equal to other French citizens.[3] The Crémieux Decree also heightened French feelings of racial superiority in Algeria. Many French colonists refused to accept Jews as citizens, leading to a wave of antisemitism that continued to worsen well into the mid-1900s.[10] This led to a divide after the 1882 conquest of M'zab when the French government categorized Southern Algerian Jews and Northern Algerian Jews as distinct groups, recognizing only the rights of the latter, while treating the former as indigenous Algerians.[11]
Following the fall of France and the formation of the Vichy government, Interior Minister Marcel Peyrouton abolished the decree on 7 October 1940, at the same time as the new government promoted antisemitic laws in metropolitan France.[12]
After the Anglo-American landings in Algeria and Morocco in November 1942, Vichyist Admiral François Darlan was initially kept in power by the Allies and did not abrogate the laws of Vichy. After Darlan's assassination on December 24, 1942, General Henri Giraud was appointed French Civil and Military Commander-in-Chief and, on March 14, 1943, he revoked the antisemitic laws of Vichy and reinstated the Crémieux decree. The Decree remained in effect until Algeria won its independence in 1962 and most of the Algerian Jewish population relocated to France.[10]
Text of the decree
French Republic
No. 136. - Declaring the indigenous Jews of Algeria French citizens.
24 October 1870.
The Government of National Defense Decrees:
The indigenous Jews of the departments of Algeria are declared French citizens; therefore, their actual status and personal status will, after the promulgation of this decree, be settled by French law, any rights acquired to date remaining inviolable.
Any legislative provision, any Sénatus-consulte, decree, regulation or ordinance to the contrary is abolished.
Done at Tours, 24 October 1870
Signed Ad. Cremieux, L. Gambetta, AL. Glais-Bizoin, L. Fourichon
Stillman, Norman (2006). The Nineteenth Century and the impact on the West. The Jews of Arab Lands in Modern Times.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Décret_Crémieux, and is written by contributors.
Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.