History and Cultural Memory Forum - ملتقى التاريخ والذاكرة الثقافية

A still from al-muznibon or The Guilty (1975) by Said Marzouk   Many who served in Egypt’s army during the 1967 war, forced to walk home because the military could not afford to shuttle them , tell harrowing stories of vicious attacks by civilians disenchanted by the resounding defeat and how the “people’s army” betrayed its people by losing morale and strategic resolve as Israel invaded and occupied Egyptian territory. The defeat marked the end of the post-independence project as fashioned by Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Free Officers. The Arab socialist republic that inspired colonized nations in the region and beyond, and that fuelled dreams of millions for a united, free Arab land, was crushed. Not just a strategic defeat, but a morally crushing defeat that would redefine the shape, orientation and mood of the Egyptian state and society for decades to come. In the third History and Cultural Memory Forum seminar, which took place in November, we looked at the c...

Egyptian Alexandria Jewish girls during Bat Mitzva. - Courtesy: Nebi Daniel Association photo collection  The Jewish human condition was defined by the absence of a homeland. To have been able to stand outside all social relationships was something extremely beautiful — this complete openness and lack of prejudice that I experienced with my mother, it was something charming. But for freedom you pay dearly. This condition could not continue in the hour of liberation (the foundation of the state of Israel) for more than five minutes. — Hannah Arendt (edited excerpt from this 1964 interview with Günter Gaus ) Perhaps the greatest lesson the history of Egyptian Jews can teach us is how fragile identity is in the face of the modern state, nationalism and ideology. It demonstrates how a set of extrem...