Victims of Riots in Oujda and Jérada (Morocco): June 7-8, 1948

Pogrom · Oujda & Jérada, Morocco · Sephardic · Jeff Malka Collection

The independent State of Israel had been established three weeks earlier on May 14th, 1948. Finally a homeland for the Jewish people! In the Gola we all were happy although very much worried for our brothers in the Holy Land who were fighting against seven Arab countries that declared war against the new nation.

On the morning of June the 7th, 1948, a riot broke out against the Jews in Oujda (Morocco), a city in the north-east of the country close to the border with Algeria. Five Jews were killed and many wounded. This was not enough for the bloodthirsty horde of rioters. The following day, June 8th the hate filled rioting spread to the small mining village of Jerada, 60 km south west of Oujda. There, the Jewish community numbered some 100 souls. What a horrible massacre! 38 human beings were slaughtered, sometimes entire families. Many, left as dead, were severely wounded.

The number of wounded people exceeded one hundred. Killing was not enough: material damages were severe especially in Oujda. In both localities the police forces arrived so late that they could only note the damages. According to the historians Haim Saadoun and Yaron Tsour and others, several factors led to the outbreak of riots:

1. The feeling of brotherhood towards the Palestinian people;
2. The huge progress made by the local nationalist movement of independence;
3. The fact that hundreds of young Jews were illegally leaving Morocco and crossing the border between Morocco and Algeria, close to Oujda en route towards France and Israel;
4. The speech given by Morocco Sultan, Mohamed V, in which he expressed concern about Morocco’s Palestinian Arab brothers, although emphasizing Moroccan Jews’ loyalty to Morocco. He ended by calling for countrywide calm. Unfortunately, many listeners only heard the first part of his speech

I was unable to find the victims’ names anywhere, till Rabbi Eliahou Marciano suggested to look in the rabbinical book ‘And Solomon awoke’, with funeral orations listing the riot victims’ names read out during the eulogies. This transcribed list the Oujda and Jerada riot victim names is a humble tribute to their memories as well as a reminder of their annihilation.

This collection can be searched via the JewishGen Morocco Database, the JewishGen Jeff Malka Collection or the JewishGen Sephardic Collection.