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Sephardic Genealogy in Morocco

Captured 2025-11-22

21

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Sephardic Genealogy in Morocco

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This webpage is a comprehensive genealogical resource dedicated to researching Sephardic Jewish ancestry in Morocco, part of Jeff Malka's larger SephardicGen project. The page serves as a specialized hub for genealogists seeking to trace their Moroccan Jewish heritage, addressing the unique challenges researchers face when investigating families from a region that was home to approximately 250,000 Sephardic Jews in the first half of the 20th century. The site acknowledges the significant difficulties inherent in Moroccan Jewish genealogy, primarily due to the historical absence of systematic government record-keeping that researchers rely on in European contexts. The page provides crucial historical context explaining why traditional genealogical records are scarce in Morocco. Until well into the 20th century, Moroccan rulers—including French colonial administrators—controlled only about half the country, known as the "bled el makhzen" (land of the treasury), while local chieftains governed the remaining "bled el siba" regions. This fragmented political control meant that standardized birth, death, and census registrations simply didn't exist until very recently, forcing genealogists to seek alternative documentary sources. The site emphasizes how these local conditions created a documentation gap that makes Moroccan Jewish genealogy particularly challenging compared to research in other countries. To address these research obstacles, the webpage offers an extensive compilation of alternative archival resources and specialized collections. Key repositories highlighted include the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem, which houses community records ("Pinkassim") from major Moroccan cities like Casablanca, Fes, Meknes, and Mogador spanning 1710-1963; the Archives diplomatiques de Nantes containing French civil records from Morocco (1925-56); and the Alliance Israelite Universelle Archives in Paris, which maintains records from 19th-century Jewish schools established throughout Morocco. The page also features the University of Alberta's Bension Collection, noted for containing valuable correspondence between Moroccan rabbis discussing various individuals, providing genealogists with unique primary source material. The webpage functions as both an educational resource and practical research tool, offering multiple databases, family pages, and cemetery records specifically focused on Moroccan Jewish communities. Notable features include searchable databases for Jewish deportees from Morocco during WWII, extensive family tree collections from Meknes containing over 22,000 entries, and digitized cemetery records from cities like Essaouira (Mogador) and Tangier. The site targets both novice and experienced genealogists with its mix of beginner guides explaining Sephardic genealogy basics and advanced archival resources, making it an invaluable starting point for anyone researching Moroccan Jewish ancestry despite the inherent documentation challenges.

Citation (APA Style)

Sephardic Genealogy in Morocco. (2025, 11 22). www.sephardicgen.com. https://www.sephardicgen.com/morocco.htm

Technical Metadata

Domain www.sephardicgen.com
File Size 164 KB
Archived 2025-11-22T00:23:22.213921
Document ID #21
Languages 5 available