A website Lost in Tunis has posted some heartbreaking photos from inside the abandoned Or Torah Synagogue in the Hafsia neighborhood of Tunisia, including the following:
The website notes:
It was constructed in the early 1930s, prior to World War II, designed by architects Aimé Krief and Jean Valensi.
Now it’s closed and abandoned for more than 30 years.
But no explanation as to why it was abandoned.
Here’s why:
Before 1948, the Jewish population of Tunisia reached a peak of 110,000. During the 1950s, half this number left for Israel and the other half for France. After the country’s independence in 1956, Tunisia’s Jewish Community Council was abolished by the government and many Jewish areas and buildings were destroyed for urban renewal. Although the situation of Tunisian Jewry was now tolerable, anti-Jewish rioting erupted during the Six Day War in 1967 resulting in the destruction of several Jewish shops and damage to the Great Synagogue in Tunis. Despite government apologies and attempts to ease the fears of the Jewish community, 7,000 of the country’s remaining 20,000 Jews immigrated to France in the wake of the violence.
Today, it is estimated that only 700 Jews are living in Tunis and 1,000 on the island of Djerba, comprising the country’s largest indigenous religious minority.
Actually, from what I can see, the anti-Jewish riots were even happening well before the Six Day War.
Incicentally, note the New York Times headline and compare to what actually happened as mentioned in the report. It seems the New York Times even back then promoted a “cycle of violence” narrative, even when not at all accurate.
