Daniel Timsit (1928–2002) was born in Algiers on January 16, 1928 to a traditional Jewish family. His parents had both spoken only Arabic as children, and none of his grandparents knew French; his paternal grandfather, the chief rabbi of Constantine, had never worn European dress. The neighborhood where Timsit grew up was adjacent to the Casbah, and because of his family’s Arabic-speaking heritage he felt a certain rapport with the country’s Muslims.

In 1940 the Jews of Algeria were deprived of French citizenship by the Vichy government. Their citizenship was restor…