L'Algerie sous Vichy

From 1940 to the summer of 1943, French Algeria enthusiastically embraced the national revolution championed by Petain. What many Europeans in Algeria had long dreamed of was finally achieved: the re-establishment of colonial order, the subjugation of the population, and the repeal of the Cremieux Decree, which in 1870 had granted French citizenship to Algerian Jews. By depriving Algerian Jews of their rights, the colonial regime also signaled to millions of Muslims that they should not expect to obtain any. Despite its efforts to divide Jews and Muslims, the authoritarian regime in Algiers failed. "By taking away the Jews' rights, you are not granting Muslims any new rights. The equality you have just achieved between Jews and Muslims is an equality from below," declared Messali Hadj, leader of the independence movement, in March 1941.