History of the Jews of Djibouti

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The history of the Jews of Djibouti starts from 1884, when some Yemeni Jews in the wake of the early French colonial rule in what is now Djibouti in the town of Obock settled, then capital of the French Territoire d'Obock and north of the present-day Djibouti City area. The story of the Jewish community in Djibouti ended in 1949 when its members emigrated to the newly formed State of Israel .

The Jews of the colony called Côte française des Somalis soon after their immigration came from the British protectorate of Aden , which later became South Yemen, as well as from northern Yemen , which was under Ottoman rule at the time of the Jewish immigration to Djibouti , which is today it is no longer possible to determine the exact distribution of the regions of origin.

There were 50 Jews in Djibouti in 1901, including eleven merchants and 111 in 1921.

The Jews of the “French Somali Coast” were mostly small artisans and some also traders. They built synagogues here , including one in the center of Djibouti City, on Rue de Rome. They also continued to wear the sidelocks that are characteristic of Yemeni Jews.

The French colonial power recognized them as a separate community and granted them their own lay judge in the "native tribunal".

After Israel's declaration of independence in 1948, the Zionist movement organized Operation Magic Carpet , beginning in the spring of 1949 , through which around 45,000 Jews came to Israel from Yemen. The small number of Djibouti Jews were included in this operation and left Djibouti for Aden. After their departure, most of the Jewish property was taken over by the Arab population of Djibouti.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Alain Rouaud: Pour une histoire des Arabes de Djibouti, 1896–1977, in: Cahiers d'études africaines, 1997, Volume 37, number 146, pp. 319–348, [1] , p. 331.
  2. ^ A b Angoulvant (Gabriel), Vignéras (Sylvain) [1902], Djibouti, mer Rouge, Abyssinie , Paris, Librairie africaine et coloniale, J. André, 415 p., En ligne sur Gallica , p. 146.