03/08/2026
History changes its place. But the mechanism repeats itself.
First, a narrative is created against Jews.
Then people are told that Jews are guilty, dangerous, or enemies.
And when violence comes, many have already been taught to see it as a “response”.
Constantine, French Algeria.
August 3–5, 1934.
It began after an incident near the Sidi Lakhdar Mosque. What could have been contained became fuel for rumors, accusations, and hatred.
The tension spread. Mobs attacked Jews, Jewish homes, and Jewish businesses. Families hid. Shops were looted. People were beaten and murdered.
On August 5, the violence reached its most brutal point.
In the end, 25 Jews were dead. Around 200 people were injured. The Jewish community was marked forever.
But to understand this pogrom, we need to look at the context.
Algeria was under French colonial rule. From 1870, the colonial system began treating Jews and Muslims differently under the law: many Algerian Jews were incorporated into French citizenship, while most Muslims remained in an inferior colonial condition, without the same rights. This division was not created by Jews. It was imposed by France.
In Constantine, resentment, rumors, and provocations were directed against the Jewish community. Jews were turned into the symbol of an injustice they had not created.
It was not just a “local disturbance”.
It was not just “ancient tension”.
It was a pogrom.
And, as so many times in history, before the blood came the narrative.
Jews were turned into targets.
The lie prepared the ground.
Hatred did the rest.
Constantine reminds us of a hard truth: antisemitism rarely begins with murder. It begins with words, accusations, caricatures, slogans, and excuses.
When a story is created to justify attacking Jews, the violence has already begun.
Source: Berkeley Center for Jewish Studies.
Photo: Jewish Cultural Center collection.