SIDI AHMED (SIDI HAMED)
Likely at the beginning of January 1943, the Wehrmacht erected a labor camp for Jews in Sidi Ahmed, near Bizerte, which resembled a prisoner of war (POW) camp. The inmates had to perform forced labor at the airfield as well as on the railways and at the railway station. Following the destruction of the Bizerte railway station at the end of December 1942, the Sidi Ahmed railway station constituted the terminus of the railway from Tunis, by which the Wehrmacht received much of its supplies. On January 28, 1943, 250 Jewish men were interned in Sidi Ahmed. There were two Jewish camp bosses, Henry Bismut and Alex Bonan. The latter had received a 75 percent disability in a World War I POW camp but still had to report for forced labor. In addition, each work squad was led by a Jewish group commander. The result was that there was an influential group of internees who tried to use their influence for the benefit of the forced laborers.
On February 16, 1943, a Jewish forced laborer died in a truck accident on the road to Tunis. Another, Elie Saadoun, was executed by the Germans on February 9, 1943. Saadoun had repeatedly tried to escape from the camp. After the last attempt he was taken to Bizerte, around 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) away, and handed to the camp commander, Leutnant Elfess. He, in turn, ordered the German soldier with the nickname le Tueur (the butcher) to execute Saadoun. Saadoun was found with three bullets in the back, his chest open, and his heart ripped out.
The camp at the airport was fully evacuated on April 15, 1943, following a bluff (coup de bluff). Bonan, one of the Jewish camp bosses, asked the commanding Wehrmacht officer for a general front leave for the forthcoming Passover. The request was declined, but Bonan boldly told the noncommissioned officer that everything had been arranged and that the men had permission to go home, resulting in the dissolution of the Sidi Ahmed labor camp. Only the three group leaders were to remain, to guard important supplies.
