The Negus 1930–1942 17
capital and drive them out into the fi elds like rabid dogs.’^21 And
so, shortly after the crushing defeat of the French Army by the
Germans, the ‘National Revolution’ called for by Marshal Pétain
found more than favourable ground in Algeria. In the absence of
any German occupation, local leaders showed considerable zeal: to
satisfy anti-Jewish sentiment, anti-Semitic measures were applied
more quickly and thoroughly than in metropolitan France.
The law of 3 October 1940 forbade Jews from practising a certain
number of jobs, especially in public service. A numerus clausus of
2 per cent was established for the liberal professions; the following
year, this measure would be made even stricter. On 7 October, the
Minister of the Interior, Peyrouton, repealed the Crémieux Decree.
For this entire population, which had been French for seventy years,
the measures passed by the Vichy Government constituted ‘a ter-
rible surprise, an unexpected catastrophe’. ‘It was an “inner” exile,
expulsion from French citizenship, a drama that turned the daily
lives of the Jews of Algeria upside down.’^22
Even though he was only ten, Jackie too suff ered the consequences
of these hateful measures:
I was a good pupil at primary school, more often than not top
of the class, which allowed me to note the changes that resulted
from the Occupation and the rise to power of Marshal Pétain.
In the schools of Algeria, where there were no Germans, they
started getting us to send letters to Marshal Pétain, to chant
‘Marshal, here we are!’, etc., to raise the fl ag every morning
at the start of class, and they always asked the top of the class
to raise the fl ag, but when it was my turn, they replaced me by
someone else. [.. .] I can’t make out, now, whether I was hurt
by this intensely, dimly, or vaguely.^23Anti-Semitic insults were henceforth authorized, if not encouraged,
and they erupted at every moment, especially among the children.
As for the word Jew, I do not believe I heard it fi rst in my family
[.. .]. I believe I heard it at school in El Biar, already charged
with what, in Latin, one would call an insult [injure], injuria, in
English, injury, both an insult, a wound, and an injustice [.. .].
Before understanding any of it, I received this word like a blow,
a denunciation, a de-legitimation prior to any legality.^24The situation rapidly deteriorated. On 30 September 1941, follow-
ing the visit to Algeria of Xavier Vallat, the General Commissioner
for Jewish Aff airs, a new law established a numerus clausus of
14 per cent for Jewish children in primary and secondary educa-
tion, a measure that had no equivalent in metropolitan France. In