Popular Culture and Mass Politics in Wartime North Africa, 1939-1945

The collapse of the Third Republic during World War II led to the establishment of Vichy France in July 1940. The new reactionary regime sought to transform the population into obedient subjects. Political dissent was banned. Even the youngest were impacted by the nascent cult of Marshal Pétain. Muslim men and women publicly proclaimed their allegiance to the state in highly ritualized performances.

By late 1940, the colonial authorities began to implement antisemitic race laws. As a result, many Jewish professionals lost their jobs, Jewish students were expelled from schools, and Jewish properties were "aryanized". While typhoid fever spread across the region, hundreds of Jewish doctors were forced to close their clinics. Algerian Jews also lost their French citizenship.

Meanwhile, the economic situation deteriorated. Despite the strict rationing system in place, the state was unable to provide the general population with enough food, clothing, and other daily necessities. Prices increased by up to 600%.

The Allied forces' landing on November 8, 1942, facilitated the emergence of a more liberal public culture. Those who had resisted the Vichy regime demanded justice. However, this widespread call for freedom did not include everyone. Muslims were still excluded from formal politics, and Algerian Jews waited to regain their citizenship until fall 1943. While "Fighting France" joined the struggle against Nazi Germany, it maintained the racial hierarchies on which colonialism depended. Material conditions worsened, and ordinary people continued to suffer.

The German Wehrmacht occupied Tunisia in December 1942, tormenting the country's Jews through forced labor and confiscating private property for nearly six months.

The liberation of Europe depended on supply shipments from the United States and the contributions of hundreds of thousands of Muslims, Jews, and European colonists. However, the shared experiences of the war years not only brought men and women together across communal lines, but also accentuated their differences. A new social order based on equality remained elusive. Consequently, anti-colonial nationalist movements demanded independence instead of petitioning authorities for concessions. North Africa's decolonization had begun.