New book: Cohen, Moroccan Jews in France and Canada (Ottawa, 2025)
allyson....@fulbrightmail.org
Moroccan Jews in France and Canada
Yolande Cohen
In this book, the post-colonial migration of thousands of Moroccan Jews
is analyzed. Based on oral histories and historical archives, these essays
show the importance of colonialism and Zionism as disruptive forces
that precipitated their massive exile and their settlement in France and
Canada during the post-Shoah period.
In this volume are gathered articles published by Yolande Cohen and her team, offering for
the first time a global perspective on Moroccan Jews’ post-colonial migrations to France
and Canada. Having herself migrated from Morocco to Montreal, Cohen is uniquely attuned
to the difficulties of living through such a massive exile. Why did members of the Jewish
community leave Morocco? When did this migration happen? And how can we analyze their
journey?
Cohen explores the many vivid memories of departures that she encountered when collecting
oral histories of migrants both in France and in Quebec. She notes the deep attachment some
of them have to their King and to Morocco, making this an exception in the Arab Muslim world.
The main disruptive forces in the displacement of these populations were French colonialism
and its emancipatory promises and Zionism, both messianic and modern.
After the establishment of the State of Israel and the subsequent Israel-Arab wars, most of
them joined in the mass exodus of Jews from Arab lands, leaving their countries for Israel.
With the demise of the French colonial empire and the decolonization process, a minority
of westernized Jews went to France and to Canada, with the help of transnational Jewish
organizations.
In Montreal, a city with a strong multi-ethnic Jewish community, those migrants understood
the crucial aspect of French language as an essential factor of integration. Yet, analyzing
their trajectories and the words they used to represent their exile allows us to understand
the underlying traumas.
Yolande Cohen is Full Professor of Contemporary History at the Universit. du Qu.bec .
Montr.al and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Knight of Qu.bec Ordre national, and of
France’s Légion d’honneur, she received an Honorific Doctorate from Universit. de Montr.al
and ACFAS Andr. Laurendeau 2024 prize for human sciences, arts and letters. Fervent adept
of oral history, she has shown the multiple facets of women’s and gender history in France
and Canada and developed a unique historical perspective of Moroccan Jews’ complex
migrations patterns in the post-Shoah period.
Why read this book?
• Based on an extensive original study, this book offers new insights into the migration
patterns of North African Jewish populations and makes an important contribution to
research.
• Combining socio-historical analysis, archival research, community press studies, and oral
history, this book applies an innovative multidisciplinary approach to migration studies.
• By examining the movement and settlement of these communities in France and Canada,
this book provides a comparative perspective on the experiences of Moroccan Jewish
migrants.
• Published simultaneously in French and English, these distinct yet complementary editions
ensure broader accessibility to scholars and readers alike.
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