The Lost World of the Egyptian Jews: First-person Accounts from Egypt's Jewish Community In the Twentieth Century (Paperback)

~ Liliane S Dammond (Author)
Key Phrases: Lycée Français, kosher house, mixed tribunal, Port Said, New York, Suez Canal (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Jews lived in Egypt without interruption since Biblical times. The community knew an apogee in the first half of 20th century. Political events during the second half of the 20th century caused the Jews to leave Egypt and disperse throughout the world. This book contains 28 interviews of middle class Egyptian Jews describing their life in Egypt in their own voices just before their final departure. They bring to life the charm and diversities of the lives they led with its many contradictions. A cosmopolitan life they shared with many other groups living in Egypt at that time.

“As a professional historian, I found the material of immense potential scholarly value. As a Jew who left Egypt during the 1956 Suez crisis, it touches me in a deep and personal way. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the forces that affect cultural dynamics, political conflict and, last but not least, human nature.”

—Jean Marc R. Oppenheim, PHD

Teachers College, Columbia University

“We have been given an extraordinary gift in this compilation of poignant memories of an Egypt of long ago. These oral histories not only capture the rich way of life of Egyptian Jews, but they also inform of their caring for this land and its people.”

—Nimet Habachy

Author, Broadcaster (WQXR)

About the Author

Liliane S. Dammond:

I left Egypt in 1950 but Egypt never left me. After I retired from my business career, I renewed my commitment to Egypt and fanned the fire under my dormant roots. This book and the collection of interviews are the culmination of these efforts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 326 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (January 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595399304
• ISBN-13: 978-0595399307
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #406,396 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A touching memorial, March 30, 2007

By	Daniel Nadler - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In the first half of the 20th century the "foreign" communities in both Cairo and Alexandria had developed into a sophisticated, well educated group.
Following the creation of Israel in 1948, Arab nationalism expulsed and dispossesed this entire class of people. Many of these were Jews who were forced to leave, without their livelihood and savings.
More than a generation later, Lilianne Dammond has interviewed some of those who were obliged to create new lives for themselves in many new countries. These individuals recount their memories in the first person, lending a touch of pathos and affection to their wistful recollection of a country which ejected them.
It is a touching work, which I heartily recommend.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating history, April 10, 2007

By	Alexia Lalli (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The world of the Egyptian Jewish community would be lost to us if it were not for Lilliane Dammond's efforts to preserve their memories. Like it's authors, it reflects the emotions, issues and foibles relating to families, friends, and identity. I highly recommend it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Missing Memories, Brought To Life, October 25, 2008

By	Denny (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Full disclosure: I've known the author my entire life, and I also know/knew several of the people she interviewed, including some relatives.

Liliane Dammond spent literally years gathering taped interviews of a cross-section of the long-scattered but once thriving Jewish community in Egypt. What this compilation of their first-person narratives does is bring to life a diverse group of people with shared memories of a time and place that is no more.

This could easily have been a repetitious series of gripes by people forced to leave the only country they'd ever known. It's not. The people's opinions of the events that forced them out reveal more than anything their different personalities and world views.

What moved me most were the details about everday life for the members of this community. I never got to meet my sephardic grandparents (they were long dead when Liliane began her research), my own father (who's mentioned in the book) died when I was 12, and my mother (the Alexandria-born daughter of an Ashkenazi couple who themselves were immigrants to Egypt) has never spoken much about her memories of growing up in Cairo before and during the war. (In fact none of her friends and relatives spoke much about the old days.)

So for me, the book felt very much like the family album I never had. I was moved to tears by some of the narratives, and whenever I closed the book I always felt a sense of loss and poignance.

Not everyone may make such a personal connection with the book. But it's a surprisingly good and quite fascinating read. For the few hours it takes to go from cover to cover, the book and its stories of Egypt's working and wealthy Jews alike bring Dammond's lost world back to life. I am extremely grateful to her.