“In Search of Special Sensations”: Moïse (Maurice) Zekri's Disorderly Life between Algeria and France (1879–1942)

Abstract

Abstract This article presents the biography of a little-known Algerian Jew, Moïse (Maurice) Zekri (1879–1942), whose life illuminates several themes not normally associated with Algerian Jewry or French colonial history. An immigrant to Paris who opened one of the city's first gay venues, Maurice's Bar, in 1906, he also contributed to the rise of international organized crime in Montmartre, a development more commonly attributed to Corsicans. While based in Paris, Zekri traveled widely (to England, Belgium, Italy, Argentina, and the United States) and maintained close ties with Algeria, where he returned periodically. His social and professional circles included a diverse cohort of people ethnically and religiously, but his Jewish roots defined the end of his life. During the German Occupation of France, he was deported from his Paris home to Drancy, and in 1942, he was murdered in Auschwitz.