Wednesday 14 May 2014. 8pm. Talk by famous French historian Georges Bensoussan (NB in French, but an English translation will be provided)
Why did Jews leave their homes in the Arab world in one generation? Why were they dispossessed, as well as ethnically cleansed?The history of the last Jews of Muslim lands has long been denied, sugar-coated or validated by multiculturalism. Why is it so difficult to write the history of Jews in Arab lands, crushed as ‘dhimmis’ and overshadowed by the Holocaust?
French historian Georges Bensoussan, author of Juifs en pays arabes: le grand deracinement 1850 – 1975 (Tallandier, 2012) comes from Paris especially to address these thorny questions, challenging not only thinking in the West but in the Arab world.
M. Bensoussan is the Editorial Director at the Mémorial de la Shoah (Paris), and has written Un nom impérissable? Israël, Le sionisme et la destruction des Juifs d’Europe (Seuil 2008), Europe, une passion génocidaire (Fayard/Mille et une nuits – 2006), Une histoire intellectuelle et politique du sionisme (Fayard 2002), and has co-edited the Dictionnaire de la Shoah (Larousse 2009).
Hampstead Garden Suburb synagogue, Norris Lea, London N2 0RE. Tickets £10. To book ring Harif on 07506033848 or Spiro Ark on 0207 289 6321