BIZERTE
The Germans established a labor camp on December 11, 1942, in the Philibert Garrison in Bizerte, the most important harbor on the northern Tunisian coast. It was under Wehrmacht control and functioned as a center for labor for Bizerte. The camp held only Jewish men. They loaded and unloaded ships, and they worked on fortifications and on numerous construction sites within the city. They built roads, searched for unexploded ordnance, and worked on a wharf. Over and above that, they worked in Ferryville (today Menzel Bourguiba) and at Djebel Kebir. Prisoners who were assigned light duties had to work within the camp.
In December 1942, there were around 500 Jews in the Bizerte camp. By January 6, 1943, the number had increased to 1,050. After that, the number gradually declined, because many of the forced laborers fled, died, or were murdered, while the Germans sent others, whom they regarded as incapable of working, to Tunis. Moreover, some well-off people were able to buy their family member’s freedom. New prisoners were not available in sufficient numbers to make up for these losses. On the other hand, separate work groups from other camps were sent to Bizerte. This happened, for example, with a labor group of 65 men from Mornag, together with a group leader, on January 15, 1943. When the Allies liberated Bizerte on May 7, 1943, there were not even 200 of the Jewish forced laborers still there.
The German camp command is suspected of having executed 4 Jews for attempting to escape. On top of that, at least 6 forced laborers were beaten to death or died as a result of mistreatment. Another 10 died during Allied bombing raids, and 1 forced laborer died in an accident. Thus, of the 1,400 prisoners sent to Bizerte, at least 21 died. Although this camp was regarded as the worst one, the death rate of 1.5 percent corresponded to the general average for all the camps. This was due not least to the fact that the internment lasted for only six months. Had the detention lasted longer, more Jews would have been executed (on May 1, 1943, two forced laborers were sentenced to death, but the sentences were not carried out) or would have died in some other way. Liberation in May also prevented the deaths by starvation of undernourished forced laborers.
Jacques Cacoub was appointed as chief Jew of the camp (chef Juif de camp) in Bizerte by camp commander Elfess. Additionally, there were other Jewish camp leaders who were in charge of several groups. These formed a council. The members of the council included a Jew named Bedoucha as well as Kako Habib, Jacques Krief, Victor Sitbon, Gilbert Taïeb, and Lucien Zarka. They were the most influential group in the camp, organizing matters with the “termites” (regional [End Page 582] representatives of the Committee for Recruitment) as well as with the camp commander and his deputy. Below these groups there were 21 Jewish leaders who were responsible for the individual work groups. They too held a special position. All these group leaders lived under better conditions than the regular prisoners. For example, they did not have to do physically demanding work. There was also a Jewish camp police force, which had been created to maintain order. The police officers wore their own armband and carried a riding whip. They also had a privileged position within the camp society, due to their role in maintaining order.
The possibility that some forced laborers’ freedom could be purchased changed the inmates’ social structure: above all, men from poor and less influential families remained in Bizerte. This was especially so, moreover, for Jews who were ill or incapable of working, because the ill but well-off prisoners were sent to Tunis. This unequal treatment resulted in tensions among the internees and disputes between family members and the Committee for Recruitment (Comité de Recrutement), which increased over time.
The killing of prisoners in Bizerte by the guards is exemplified by the murder in March 1943 of the forced laborer Victor Lellouche. Though Lellouche worked as a trained bookkeeper in the camp administration, on March 24, a German officer assigned him to construction work. On the following day, he returned to the camp and reported that a German soldier had tried to shoot him while he was working. On March 26, three German soldiers took him away. At midday, a truck returned with the forced laborer’s disfigured body: a bullet had gone through his right leg, a second through his left wrist and an eye. The body had been smashed. The motives for the murder are unclear. However, witnesses reported that an SS officer wanted to kill Lellouche for personal reasons. The camp administration stated, to the contrary, that he had been sentenced to death for attempting to escape. A second forced laborer, Emile Hababout, was shot by a German guard during the night of January 23, 1943.
The commander of the Bizerte camp was Oberleutnant Elfess; his deputy was Feldwebel Thild. Former forced laborers describe Elfess as being a fanatical National Socialist who also robbed the Jews in the camp. His deputy, on the other hand, was known as a man who did not mistreat anyone, but who, on the contrary, treated the Jews in a friendly and understanding manner. Wehrmacht soldiers guarded the camp. Among them were many former members of the French Foreign Legion and Alsatians, who presumably had been chosen because of their ability to speak French.
Because of the catastrophic conditions in Bizerte, the “termites” Henry Sfez and his deputy Victor Bismut tried very hard to improve conditions in the camp. As early as January 1943, Sfez was able to convince the camp commander to release 50 forced laborers, who were unfit for work, back to Tunis. Another 25 were released in February 1943. Two Jewish doctors worked in a small hospital barracks. The “termites” organized medical supplies for them. They also organized other supplies for the internees. Well-off inmates, who were able to bring valuables into the camp or to smuggle things in through their relatives, used these items to bribe the guards to secure better treatment.
The internees in the Bizerte camp committed numerous small spontaneous acts of sabotage. For example, coal that had to be loaded off ships was shoveled into the sea. A few forced laborers emptied cement sacks that had been delivered to the harbor into the sea instead of loading them onto trucks.
Many people were informed of the inhuman conditions, the mistreatment by the guards, and the poor supplies in Bizerte, since the “termites” reported on these facts, as did the forced laborers whom the Germans released as unfit for work. Additionally, a few family members were able to get to Bizerte and to speak to the forced laborers at the camp entrance and give them food and other necessities.
During the camp’s entire existence, and especially after February 1943, many Jews fled from the labor camp and attempted to survive the remaining days and weeks until liberation in hiding. By February 1943, around 200 Jews had managed to escape from Bizerte or forced labor. Additionally, on May 4, 1943, it was determined that 30 Jews had escaped from the labor camp overnight. Shortly before liberation by the Allies, Elfess ordered that the camp be evacuated. The Jewish leader, Bedoucha, remained in the camp with a group of men, while other groups made their way in the direction of Tunis, where they arrived just as British troops entered the city. On May 8, 1943, the American army liberated the last forced laborers in Bizerte.
