I am pleased to welcome to this renovated website the members, supporters and
friends of the Society for the History of the Jews of Tunisia, as well as the merely curious, thanks to
the effective commitment of our secretary general Hervé Kabla.
In June 1997, academics and community leaders originally from Tunisia took
the initiative of founding, under the law of 1 July 1901, the Society for the History of the Jews of
Tunisia (SHJT). Their aim was to stimulate the scholarly study of the history of the Jews of
Tunisia, which was the poor relation of Jewish studies in France, whereas an upturn could be observed
in Israel and in Tunisia, where interesting work was developing, but
with each side unaware of the other.
By regularly organising international conferences, study days and
popular lectures, by enabling researchers from both shores of the
Mediterranean to meet and exchange, and by sharing information on
archival sources, the Society, for more than two decades now and thanks to the
collaboration of specialised university centres, has played a notable and recognised role in the
development of historical research on the Jews of Tunisia.
Books have been published that make part of our work known. We
have multiplied conferences and study days bringing together Israeli,
Tunisian, European and American researchers. Students now come of their own accord to
ask for research topics and reading advice, and several theses have been
defended, awarded prizes and led to publications. Among the latter, for recent
years, I would mention the innovative insights provided by Martino Oppizzi’s thesis on « les Juifs
italiens de Tunisie pendant le fascisme », recently published by the Presses Universitaires de
Rennes, and that of Marie-Anne Guez on « Les Juifs de Tunisie au combat dans l’Armée
française dans les deux guerres mondiales », currently being published by the Presses de La
Sorbonne.
Since 30 June 2022, a board of directors has been in charge of the Society. It is composed of
young researchers who, alongside seasoned members, now bring our
Society new questions and working methods. Our programme for 2022-
2023 includes the organisation of a research seminar, two study days and an
international conference, alongside our lectures intended for the “general public” and the
preparation and completion, under the authority of our vice-president Jérémy Guez, of a
bibliography of the Jews of Tunisia intended for researchers but also for interested
amateurs.
Our ambition is not to make a clean sweep of the past but to draw on the dynamism
of yesterday in order to progress, and on what has been achieved in order to pursue our reflection.
This website should help us through your comments and criticism while being for you,
as we hope, a stimulating tool. I wish you a pleasant and interesting
visit.
Claude Nataf