ABSTRACT During the 1950s and 1960s of the twentieth century, many of the Tunisian Jews emigrated from Tunis to Paris. A significant number of them, especially those educated and raised in francisés environments, experienced difficulties resulting from feelings of loss, displacement, and disappointment, as expressed in the mental maps of their life stories. The study examines memoirs of four men and three women, who were educated and raised in a francisé environment and emigrated from Tunis to Paris during the studied period. It seeks to answer the question: “How do the francisés immigrants in Paris shape the memory of the Jewish home in Tunis, while referring to the space in Paris?” Based on memory and home space theories, the article tries to answer the research question by breaking down home space into Jewish and non-Jewish, and by comparing the home in Tunis with the one in Paris. A main conclusion: the pillar of support changed from the Jewish religious space in Tunis to non-Jewish education in Paris, which decreased the weight of communalism in the immigrant’s life.
issue 27 / n.1 (2025)
