Historical Background
This is a brief overview of key dates and a culmination of events which eventually led to our expulsion in 1956.
In 1922 Egypt became independent from Britain, but it continued to retain a portion of the Suez Canal, and maintained political and military power as well as economic influence over the country, especially Alexandria and Cairo.
1929 was the promulgation of Egyptian Citizenship or nationality Laws under which a certain number of Egyptian residents managed to obtain citizenship. The Jewish population in Egypt was quite diverse. A quarter of the Jewish population held Greek, French, British and Italian citizenship. Most possessed foreign passports which made it easier to obtain Egyptian citizenship.
The rest of the Jewish population was stateless. We (our family and many of our friends) were considered Apatride, meaning “stateless or without a country”, even though we were all born in Egypt.
In 1936 (26 August) the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty led to Egypt’s broadening their independence.
From 1939 to 1945 was the time span for World War II, a very dark time in history. It was also a time during which Jewish people then living in Arab countries were left very vulnerable with the years following WWII bringing further unsettling times.
In 1948 was the conflict between Egypt and Palestine. It was also the year which led to the creation of the state of Israel.
In 1952 (23 July) Gamal Abdel Nasser succeeded in a coup to overthrow the regime of King Farouk, which led to a new government
In February 1954 Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes Prime Minister of Egypt.
In 1956 (23 June) Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected President of Egy[t.
In 1956 (26 July) was the Announcement of the nationalization of the Suez Canal by Gamal Abdel Nasser. It led to the “Suez Canal Crisis” and eventual war conflict toward Egypt by France, the UK in collaboration with Israel to retake control of the Suez Canal in October 1956.
Changes and restrictions felt in daily life
Life on a daily basis seemed normal. I remember going to family gatherings, visiting Nona Rosa, Aunts, Uncles and cousins which I always looked forward to, enjoying the beach, going on family outings and celebrating birthdays and holidays.
Being of Sephardic descent, we had our own Orthodox traditions, and I remember going to the synagogue nearby enjoying the services and the melodies which resonated beautifully, Men davened downstairs, and women were upstairs in the gallery. We continued these traditions when we went to France and hooked up with the Jewish community in both Bordeaux and Marseille.
I remember Grandpa Soly leading prayers at all the holidays and Shabbat. The speed at which he read Hebrew was amazing. We would gather together on these beautiful occasions as a family and our door was always open for anyone who wanted to join.
Grandma Rachel's preparations with an abundance of traditional foods and sweets was always a sign of the Holidays, but food was plentiful at any other time. These were traditions which originated from Grandparents and had a mixture of middle eastern and spanish influence. There was always enough for an army. Food and homemade pastries were important at different Holidays,
As I reached the age of 6, Egypt had already started to undergo political changes. A coup to overthrow King Farouk and its dynasty had taken place and Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected President of Egypt.
As these events unraveled, the Jewish people living in Egypt were becoming targets of violence, and segregation. Fights between military groups and Jews erupted in Cairo, resulting in injuries and deaths. Many were imprisoned without a trial, on suspicion of being a Zionist.
The Egyptian government began to impose restrictions on Jews, confiscating assets, sequestering businesses owned by Jews, and freezing bank accounts. Strict regulations were imposed, abolishing civil liberties, followed by mass arrests without charge. Nasser also stripped away Egyptian citizenship from anyone he desired. Jews were all at the mercy of Nasser’s regime.
There were many Jews who had chosen to leave in 1948 and early 1950. A good portion would flee to Israel as it became a safe haven for Jews. Others chose to go back to their country of origin where they possessed citizenship. The majority remained in Egypt, hopeful that there would be an end to the crisis, but tensions grew worse.
As it became more and more unsettling, it was hard to reach the news and find out what was happening. There was government censure with respect to access to information and it became very risky for anyone caught reading a newspaper or discussing politics.
I could sense what used to be a normal routine; such as Grandpa meeting up in a cafe, conversing with friends, or reading a newspaper was not happening as it once did.
I remember we had a small shortwave radio in Grandpa and Grandma’s bedroom, settled in a tiny corner. Grandpa would listen to the radio (primarily BBC, British Broadcasting Corporation) usually in the evening. I was always perplexed why the sound was so low and muffled while Grandpa was sitting with his ear very close to the speaker. It made sense to me later that listening to the news was very risky. We were living in very fearful and scary times.
Slowly, it became evident that our life was being transformed especially in the months following Gamal Abdel Nasser coming into power as President of Egypt.
The announcement of the nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956 by Nasser was an inflection point which triggered an ensuing conflict against Egypt.
The environment
Following the Suez Canal conflict, the expulsion of Jews was imminent. Jews were considered enemies of the state and the Egyptian government undertook major efforts to force us to leave the country. The situation was under duress and the organization who helped facilitate our departure on board ships was the ICRC, the International Committee of the Red Cross. It was the agency involved in providing humanitarian help during our transition. Another agency which provided support was the HIAS, Hebrew Immigration Aid Society. They were very involved with the Jews who immigrated to Israel. The HIAS would play a major role in our own immigration efforts later when we applied for status to facilitate immigration to the US.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian police enforced a mandate by serving papers and by harassment toward Jews. The head of each household was required to report to the government offices after being served papers and obliged to sign that leaving the country was doing so out of our own volition. We had to agree to giving up our assets asserting no coercion from the Egyptian government.
Each family was told that only a specific amount of money or “livres”, Egyptian currency, and a limited amount of personal belongings could be taken out of the country. I witnessed all of our furniture and belongings being sold at bargain pricing and very fast as we were limited on what could be carried out of the country.
We were allowed to take a couple of large suitcases (I remember the suitcases which were large, all leather, very heavy looking with wide straps to keep them from opening), two smaller suitcases, two canvas duffle bags as they called them “fourre tout”, meaning carry all or stuff all that could fit. I recall two metal trunks which were used to ship essential, personal items, and meticulously wrapped glassware. I remember they were shipped by sea and it took well over a year for the trunks to arrive in France. Despite all of the careful wrapping, much of the glassware did not make the tumultuous voyage, and most of the glassware did not survive.
The government forbade jewelry from leaving the country. We heard many stories and anecdotes on how jewelry was smuggled out of the country. Some succeeded in getting both money and jewelry out of Egypt but did so much earlier well before any signs of conflicts.
Despite all the creative ways that people took, once jewelry was discovered during searches at customs, it was immediately confiscated. I vividly remember an incident at customs checkpoint before boarding our ship when Aunt Laura had her wedding band taken off her finger. This was very hard to witness.
How we prepared to stay safe
We prepared in anticipation of air attacks. As we lived directly on the seafront, we needed to ensure that there would be complete darkness at dusk, and that no light could be seen from our high rise. We had to install thick black panels of material on every window to ensure light could not be seen from the outside.
Once the attack on Egypt was launched, air raid sirens could be heard every night at dusk. This was our warning to gather quickly, and I remember Grandpa leading us from our apartment into a shelter. I do not recall where this was located in our apartment building except that it was in a very dark space. Grandpa would hold us all together tightly and uttered the “Shema Prayer” softly. We could hear the rumbling of aircrafts flying which sounded very near, followed by serial detonations of bombs which resonated quite loud and shook the building. Daily bombings over the skies would occur every night at sundown and would last for what seemed endless hours. This went on until the cease fire which occurred on 29 October 1956.
The morning after the air raids and bomb attacks, I remember going to the quarter where Nona Rosa, Aunt Laura, Tino, Andre and Adrienne lived. It was near the downtown area of the city where the government infrastructure was located, and obviously an area targeted by the bombardiers. The site was devastating, with lots of destroyed buildings and debris. We would rush there to make sure everyone was safe.
I remember we had just recently installed a telephone, which was quite novel at that time, but It was very risky to carry any conversation by phone during these turbulent times.
Now that I look back, I know that there was hardly much time for our family to prepare until we left. From the time we were served papers by the government, and living through the active conflict, we barely had a matter of days to accomplish what seemed impossible. It is absolutely astonishing.
Preparing to leave
I described in an earlier segment that Nono (Grandpa) Samuel, Nona (Grandma) Rifka, and two of Grandma Rachel's brothers, Uncle David Sades, Uncle Isaac Sades and their spouses had already immigrated to Israel.
Grandpa Soly, being the eldest of his siblings, had to essentially take charge of Nona (Grandma) Rosa, his sister, Aunt Laura, and her three children, Tino (Albert), Andre and Adrienne, as well as our family. Grandpa Soly took on the responsibility for everyone’s wellbeing and safety while navigating the bureaucracy until our departure.
There were many government hurdles to overcome during our transition which were not easy feats. Under normal circumstances, it would be overwhelming, but imagine leaving all behind with barely the clothes on your back, little money with young children ranging from teenage years to barely a toddler towards an unknown destiny. It was an unpredictable chapter for which we had little control.
The police checkpoints seemed to be everywhere, with intense interrogation, checking documents, inhumane treatment as far as being treated as second class citizens, little to no dignity when it came to frisking (ripping clothes off) to determine if jewelry or money was being smuggled, and no regard for one’s personal belongings when searching and rummaging through luggage. Much of our belongings were left totally discombobulated.
All of this was coupled by confiscating jewelry and anything of value the officers came across. We had no say and were totally at the mercy of the government officers and customs patrol.
In the hangar with checkpoint passthrough, we could hear at times a lot of yelling, crying of adults and young children, and fighting while this was unfolding.
The process at customs was very unpleasant, with no regard for the individual whether elderly, young, man or woman. The officers were ruthless.
I will pause here and hope to continue this chapter of family and life in Egypt and our voyage across to France.
Thank you for your interest.