In November 1945, the Jewish community of Tripolitania — the northwestern region of Libya centered around Tripoli — faced one of the most brutal anti-Jewish outbreaks in North Africa’s modern history. Over a few chaotic days, more than a hundred Jews were murdered, synagogues burned, and centuries of coexistence torn apart. The violence became known as the Tripolitania 1945 pogrom, and it marked the beginning of the end for Libyan Jewry, one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world.
A Long and Complex History
The Jews of Libya traced their roots back more than two thousand years, living under successive empires — Roman, Arab, Ottoman, and Italian. By the early twentieth century, the Jews of Tripolitania were an integral part of Libyan society. They spoke Arabic, worked as merchants, artisans, and professionals, and shared many aspects of life with their Muslim neighbors.
When Italy colonized Libya in 1911, the Jews found themselves under a European power that initially promised modernization but gradually introduced the racial and antisemitic policies of Fascism. During the late 1930s, Mussolini’s regime imposed racial laws that restricted Jewish education, employment, and property rights. Some Jews were deported or forced into labor camps during World War II.
British Rule and Post-War Uncertainty
After Allied forces expelled the Axis powers in 1943, Libya came under British military administration. The war had left the country impoverished, with food shortages, unemployment, and political instability. At the same time, Arab nationalism was spreading rapidly, and the question of Palestine — where Zionist immigration was growing — fueled anger and resentment in Arab lands.
Tripolitania in 1945 was a place of confusion: Italian colonists had lost power, Libyans demanded independence, and British authorities struggled to maintain order. Amid this tension, communal relationships frayed.
The Eruption of Violence
The pogrom began on 5 November 1945 and continued for about three days. What started as local disturbances quickly spiraled into mass violence. In Tripoli’s Jewish quarter, mobs attacked homes and shops, looting and burning everything in sight. Synagogues were desecrated, and entire families were slaughtered.
Contemporary reports estimated that between 120 and 140 Jews were killed, with hundreds injured. Thousands were left homeless, and more than a thousand homes and businesses were looted or destroyed. The violence spread to nearby towns such as Zawia, Tajura, and Amrus.
British military forces, responsible for maintaining order, were slow to intervene. By the time they restored calm, the damage was irreparable. Many Jews felt abandoned by the very authorities who were meant to protect them.
Aftermath and Consequences
In the wake of the pogrom, Tripoli’s Jewish community lay in ruins. Entire neighborhoods were devastated, and survivors struggled with trauma and poverty. Around four thousand Jews were rendered homeless.
The riots also shattered the sense of security that Libyan Jews had once felt. Many concluded that their future in Libya was no longer possible. Within a few years, the first waves of emigration began — first to Italy and later, after the establishment of Israel in 1948, to the new Jewish state. By the 1960s, nearly all Jews had left Libya, ending more than two millennia of continuous Jewish presence.
Searching for Causes
Historians point to several interlocking causes behind the pogrom:
Economic desperation: Post-war hardship and unemployment created resentment toward minorities perceived as wealthier.
Arab nationalism: Growing anti-colonial and anti-Zionist sentiment encouraged hostility toward local Jews, who were sometimes associated with Zionism or Western powers.
Colonial legacy: Decades of Italian racial policies had already divided communities and normalized discrimination.
Administrative failure: The British military’s sluggish response allowed the violence to spread unchecked.
Some contemporary reports claimed that the riots were pre-planned or influenced by agents from outside Libya, but historians generally agree that they reflected broader social and political tensions rather than a single organized conspiracy.
The Broader Significance
The Tripolitania pogrom was more than a local tragedy; it symbolized the fragile position of Jewish minorities in the changing Middle East and North Africa. In the years following World War II, as European colonial powers withdrew and nationalist movements rose, Jewish communities across the Arab world faced persecution, dispossession, and exile.
For Libya, the pogrom marked a turning point in its multicultural history. For the Jewish world, it became one chapter in a larger story of displacement that reshaped the demographics of Jewish life in the twentieth century.
Remembering and Recording
Despite its scale and impact, the Tripolitania 1945 pogrom remains little known outside specialist circles. Yet it deserves remembrance as a key moment in both Jewish and North African history — a reminder of how fragile coexistence can be in times of upheaval and how the collapse of political order can unleash deep social resentments.
sources
https://www.yadvashem.org/articles/general/the-jews-of-libya.html
https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/november-1945
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1945_anti-Jewish_riots_in_Tripolitania
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