Majestic Hotel
An example of Art Nouveau architecture, L’Hôtel Majestic was Tunis’ first grand hotel. It was owned by Sauveur Kisraoui, a Tunisian Jew with British ancestry. The hotel opened in 1919 and swiftly became an important site for high society Jews who took part in gala dinners and charity balls. Requisitioned from November 1942 to May 1943 by the German army, L’Hôtel Majestic became the headquarters of the “Kommandantur”, offices which housed the major part of the German administration of Tunis. During the Second World War the Jews of Tunisia faced intense persecution, first by France’s Vichy government, who introduced discriminatory legislation to separate them from the rest of the population, and later by the Nazis who requisitioned Jewish assets and properties, set up forced labour camps for Jewish men, and introduced the Yellow Star in parts of the country. The Nazis also imposed huge fines on the Jewish community. On 21 December 1942, the head of the SD Einsatzkommando in Tunis, Walther Rauff called Moïse Borgel, the president of the Jewish community, to the Kommandantur to impose a fine of 20 million francs on Tunisia’s Jewish community who he held responsible for allied bombing. After the Liberation, L’Hôtel Majestic became the headquarters of the American army.
