Benatar, Nelly

Helene (Nelly) Benatar (Rachel Hélène Cazès) (1898, Tangier – 1979, Paris) was Morocco’s first female lawyer. She was also a Zionist, and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee representative in Morocco during the Second World War. She was in charge of the Joint's aid activities for Jewish refugees from Nazi occupied Europe in Northern Africa. Before the war, in the 1930s, she was active in the aid organizations of the Casablanca community and joined the local branch of WIZO, the Women's International Zionist Organization. She also became its president. In 1948, she helped Zionist organizations that dealt with the immigration of Jews to Israel. In 1956 she became a member of the Unified Jewish Social Fund (FSJU), the French Jewish relief organization, and in 1967 she was appointed president of a Moroccan Jewish organization in Paris despite the opposition of several members, who did not approve of a woman being the head of the organization. The personal collection of Helene Benatar consists of materials related to her activities as head of the "Refugee Aid Committee" that she founded to supply aid for Jewish and non-Jewish refugees who arrived in Morocco during World War II: lists of the refugees who were imprisoned in various camps in Morocco and personal files of the refugees; records on the assistance with food for the refugees and on the aid for their migration overseas including extensive correspondence with different Jewish organizations and state institutions in Morocco. It contains financial papers; records on damage from the Djerata pogrom in 1948 and more. In addition, the collection includes interviews with Helene Benatar and articles related to her -- اقرأ أكثر