Historic Mellah of Marrakech: Jewish-Muslim Coexistence Remembered by Dwindling Community

The Mellah of Marrakech is one of the few neighborhoods that tells the story of the coexistence between Jews and Muslims. According to 2M.ma, in the 1940s, more than 27,000 Jews lived in this neighborhood out of the 35,000 settled in the region at the time. Today, the community is much smaller with barely 200 Moroccan Jews living in the ochre city. Among them are those who have been there since childhood and who live with the memory of what their life was like in this neighborhood.

Titi Halioua is a merchant. She was born in the Mellah of Marrakech and still lives there today. In an interview with 2M, she recounts how her childhood was and in what conviviality the two communities lived. She knows well that this moment will never return but she would give anything to relive it.

In 2017, on the decision of King Mohammed VI, the streets of the neighborhood have regained their former names. The aim is to preserve the cultural and historical heritage of the neighborhood, says Jacky Kadoch, president of the Jewish community in the region.

Like Titi Halioua, there are Moche Halioua and David Ohayon. Born in the Mellah, they are craftsmen. They live in the nostalgia of their childhood. For them, the Mellah remains one of the most striking memories of their lives.