History of The Jews in Aden - The Last 40 Years of The Jewish Community in Aden

The Last 40 Years of The Jewish Community in Aden

See also: 1947 Aden pogrom and Operation Magic Carpet (Yemen)

In 1928, the Jewish Agency established an office in Aden. In the following years there were rare, religiously motivated, outbreaks of violence, and a relatively small riot in 1932. In 1933, anti-Jewish attacks occurred in Aden, with many Jews stoned and stabbed by Arab rioters. These outbreaks of violence were of minor significance when compared to the terror unleashed three days after the 1947 UN vote on the partition of Palestine when the lives of the Adani were irreparably shattered. The protests in Aden erupted into unrestrained bloody violence against the Jews, triggered by the false accusation of Jews for the murder of two local girls.

The pogrom that erupted on December 2, 1947, was devastating -- 82 Jews were murdered and 76 wounded; 106 out of the 170 existing Jewish shops in Aden were robbed bare and eight were partially emptied. Four synagogues were "burnt to the ground" and 220 Jewish houses were burned and looted or damaged. The Selim Girl's School in 1929 which was located next to King George V Jewish Boys School and was also gutted in the 1947 riots.

With no British troops in Aden at that particular time the Jewish community felt some relief when they heard that the Aden Protectorate Levies were to be bought in to protect them. But the Levies, being Arab Muslims, were seen to turn a blind eye to the violence and themselves fired indiscriminately on the Jews, killing many.

The final destruction of the community took place in 1967, shortly after the six-day war and after Aden had received independence from the British (Aden had been ceded to the British since 1839). There was murder, looting and new destruction to the synagogues. Jews were finally evacuated with the help of the British, when they discovered the Arabs were planning to massacre what remained of the Jewish community. The Jewry of Aden became virtually "the community that was."