Description

Report dated 22 December 1934. The investigation was carried out by Mr. MIQUEL, Police Central Superintendent and the report addressed to the Prefect of CONSTANTINE. It follows the riots of August 5, 1934 during which “most of the Israelite stores were looted, ransacked and the fabrics thrown in the street or torn”.

The 14-page document focuses on the fabric trade from August to December 1934, which appears to be the main source of income for the people of the city of Constantine. During the fortnight which followed the riots, the businesses of the Israelites remained closed and the natives bought their fabrics from the Mozabite (Berber) traders. When they reopened, a call for a boycott was organized and spread among the Arab population. However, the Mozabite traders failed to shop at the only Catholic wholesaler in Constantine, and they turned to the Israelite wholesalers despite the boycott of the small traders. The names of the main wholesalers, both Mozabites and Israelites, are cited as well as the volume of transactions from August 9 to December 16. This amounts to more than 337 tonnes of tissue.

Appended to the report, over 50 pages, are the tables of “statements of verification operations”, the result of the surveillance of the traders involved, carried out by the police services.