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In response
to the Allies’ invasion of Algeria and Morocco, German and Italian
forces entered Tunisia on November 9, 1942. By early December, the
Axis forces there were in serious trouble. Relentless Allied aerial
attacks almost drove them out of Tunis on November 24. On December
6, the Germans dissolved the Tunis Jewish Community Board and
ordered Moise Borgel to establish a nine-member board in its stead.
The new panel was given 24 hours to induct 2,000 Jews for forced
labor. Despite its efforts, and even though the French authorities
intervened to grant a 24-hour extension, the board managed to
mobilize only 120 men. In response, the Germans took dozens of
community leaders hostage, made mass arrests in the Jewish quarter,
and threatened to blow up the main synagogue of Tunis. After another
extension, some 5,000 Jews were mobilized for forced labor and
dispersed among 30 locations and camps on the front. |
