Census in 1906

Moïse Nahon (Alger) reported in " Les Israèlites du Maroc" some statistics from "Une enquête approfondie de l'Alliance Israèlite en 1904 a fixè à 109.712 le total des habitants juifs du Maroc."

RegionDescriptionNumber of people
Nord et Nord-Est(5 communautès de quelques villages au Rif)9550
Ouest(10 ports et 4 localitès s'y rattachant)34020
Centre(Règion de Fez, Taza, Debdou, 6 communautès)22220
Sud(Règion de Marrakech, 1 grande communautè)15700
Sud(64 petites localitès)10952
Extrême-Sud(Vallèe du Sous, Drâ, Tafilelt) 128 petites localitès)17270
Total 109712

Jews in the Moroccan census in 1936

Overview

The best census data of Morocco were collected in the census op 1936. France was in control of most of the Maghreb. Of the present area of Morocco a small part in the North was controlled by Spain. The rest was in control of France. The census of 1936 included a part in the south that was previously not covered in a French national census. It did not cover the complete southern part of Morocco.

If we compare the Jews in the 1936 census with that of 1906 in the regions that are covered in both (Ouest, Centre and Sud), we see an increase in population of 81%. The largest growth is in the coastal cities in the west (102%) and the smallest growth is in the center (47%). This is a large increase in 30 years, and is probably similar as the population growth of the Islamic Moroccans in this period. It is a period of strong increase of urban population in Morocco.

By comparing the numbers of Mogador on the Recensement and the Jewish namelist in 1942 it is confirmed that the census of 1936 is a recent definition of a census: counting all living people. One can see that out of the 6506 Jewish people in Mogador in 1942 about 200 persons did not have a Moroccan nationality. This was probably the result of Jews escaping the Ashkenazi countries near the start of WW II.

Census documentation of 1936 in Morocco

CityJewsTotal people in census
Azadir5034007
Azemmour4597745
Casablanca38806184668
Elksar1500in Spanish Protectorate, approx.
Fez10507134801
Larache1200in Spanish Protectorate, approx.
Marrakesh25646183465
Mazagan352522597
Meknes952163392
Mogador615114399
Oujda204819246
Rabat669857123
Safi363423328
Sale260030733
Sefrou438211680
Tangier10000in Spanish Protectorate, approx.
Tetuan6000in Spanish Protectorate, approx.
Rest in census495105142148
Southern area??
Total in census1619425880086

Language by region


Below is an overview of the report in the census with an emphasis on the language.

The table reports the names of the census regions and the number of Jews and Muslims, and those that speak monolingual Berber.
The census data counted in total 24462 (15%) of the Jews in Morocco as monolingual Berber. One area (Marrakech) is the main contributing area that is indicated as Berber monolingual. This is also the region that has the highest monolingual Muslims (60%). The region of Marrakech has 49054 Jews. 16853 lived in the rural areas and 32201 in the cities and villages. These villages included small villages of size of 200-300 people (Muslims and Jews). The largest group lived in the city of Marrakech (25646 Jews, which was 14% of the population of Marrakech). In Marrakech the report gives 13235 Jews who spoke Berber monolingual and 12411 who were bilingual. The numbers for the Muslims were 80495 and 77324 respectively.
The Jews in the Marrakech region outside the city of Marrakech spoke 5033 Arab monolingual, 7778 Berber monolingual and 10597 bilingual. In the census one can see that a tribe in a rural environment or village is often categorized as "Arab language", "Berber language" or "bilingual". The Jews who had their home in those villages are often reported in the same language as the Muslims in those villages.
One question is sometimes raised: what is the accuracy of the language registration of the Jews in the rural areas, and how was it determined? Was it registered by people who could speak Arab, Berber (or a Jewish language) or were they French without knowledge of these languages? The region of high percentage of the Berber languages among the Islamic Moroccans in the census is still the region of the high percentage of Berber languages in present Morocco, which gives confidence in a correct registration of the language in the census data.

Small reports of Judeo-Berber speaking Jews were reported in Israel after the migration to Israel. It is likely that the language disappeared (2020).

Census
Region		Present
region		MuslimsJewsMuslims
Berber
monolingual		Jews
Berber
monoligual
Casablanca688322641576316020
Fes36412031687937911262
Marrakech7164927749054100408421013
Meknes325816610855962629
Oujda2192987490495440
Rabat43076659385161870
l' Atlas central52109603258135270901
Confine de Dra878019616223390
Mazagan6372269399300
Port-Lyauley42583969746020
Sali44899389949893342083
Tafilalt8181263583076123184
Taza332560917493915210
Total in census588008616194215585024462

Language in Marrakech region

Below are the resports in the census of 1936 in the Province of Marrakech with the emphasis on the language.

JewsJewsJewsMuslimsMuslimsMuslims
RegionArabBerberbilingualArabBerberbilingual
Ville Marrakech0132351241108049577324
I.- Ville Marrakech0132351241108049577324
1e Marrakech-Banlieue1610109041196621142427
2e Rehamna4210011994900
3e Srartna-Zemrane1987001467170465
4e Chichaoua290966223034827
II.- Territoire Civil de Marrakech2598011862770086621177719
1e Ville d'Agadir50300035040
2e Agadir-Banlieux068034574737750
3e Ida-ou-Tanane0000258830
4e Cercle de Tiznit048365236017758410324
5e Cercle de Taroudannt67915913392066312155121000
III.-Territoire d'Agadir118271019915559740229731324
1e Ouarzazate5632593165786758327917532
2e Cercle de Dades-Todrha014999069515157492
3e Cercle de Zagora69023771640362473665896
IV.-Territoire du Ouarzazate1253297933634910618216030920
1e Bureau Aït-Ourir0206349307986520084
2e Bureau Demnate0376342385221915574
V.- Annexe Aït-Ourir024393916813208435658
1e lmi'-n-Tanoute035400734243645
2e Argana012300169060
VI.- Annexe lmi'-n-Tanoute047700903303645
Amizmiz011731411073505275811
VII.- Amizmiz011731411073505275811
Total in Marrakech region503321013230083827921004104262401

The movie on Tinghir - Jérusalem: Les echos du mallah goes back to Tinghir, which is in 2e Cercle de Dades-Todrha in the Territoire du Ouqrzazate. The census reports 477 bilingual Jews in this region; they lived in the villages of Ait-Igourtane and Tinerhir (Tinghir). In the total area (about 12000 people) the main language was monolingual Berber. All Jews were bilingual (477) and a small group Muslims were bilingual (456).

On the history of Judeo-Berber Jews

After reading the description of M. Nahon (1906) on "Les Israelites du Maroc" it is clear that the Berber monolingual Moroccan Jews had a culture close to the Islamic Berbers in the south of Morocco (Toshavim), and very different from the culture and Jews in the large cities at the coast (Megorashim). "La rèclusion plusieurs fois sèculaire a dèprimè les moeurs. La polygamie domine, ainsi que l'institution des mariages prècoces. La femme est traitèe en être infèrieur, rèpudièe sous les prètextes les plus lègers. Une vèritable dèchèance physiologique en rèsulte.". He thought ("Une seule hypothèse logique") that the Berber speaking Jews were originally local people who became Jewish. M. Nahon describes in 1906 how Jews from small villages migrate to Marrakech and others migrate from Marrakech to cities at the coast. With the result of DNA-research it became clear that the majority of the male lines of the Berber speaking Jews were from the Middle East, while the Berber Islamic Moroccan were in large majority E-M81 (E-Z5009; descending from Massinissa), who had their population expansion in the Maghreb. One remaining questions is still open: were the ancestors of the Berber Jews in this region before the arrival of the Arabic Conquest of the Maghreb or did they arrive with the Arabs at the arrival of the Arabic Conquest of the Maghreb?