Migrations | The life of European immigrant communities: Egypt and Tunisia | Social and political life

European migrants carried with them their political ideas and organisational skills.

Migrants brought with them not only their technical and professional skills, but also their political opinions, organisational talents and cultural interests. Political exiles created local branches of national political organisations in order to continue their political battles. Workers who had been exposed to the experience of trade unionism in their home countries contributed to the creation of trade unions. Migrants also associated for business purposes or to support each other in case of need.

At the same time, migrants strove to preserve their languages and cultures, at times with the direct support of their home governments. Schools were a key tool to preserve languages and a sense of national belonging. For this reason, some home countries financed schools abroad for migrants’ children.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
IT1 104An Italian booklet printed in Tunis in 1898 by Socialist and Anarchist Typography on the trial against the Italian anarchist leader Enrico MalatestaState Library of Modern and Contemporary History1898This booklet testifies to the presence of a significant Italian anarchist community in Tunisia at the end of the 19th century. Errico Malatesta (1853–1932) was one of the most important Italian anarchist leaders. He spent a good part of his life in exile (in Argentina, Egypt, France, Lebanon, Syria, UK, USA and other countries).

IT1 107Receipt for a subscription among the Italians in Tunisia to buy Italy a planeState Archives of LivornoTunis, 15 April 1912Italy’s war against Ottoman Turkey for the colonial conquest of Libya had dramatic repercussions in Tunisia. In 1911, tensions over the war flared between Italians and Tunisians, causing violent clashes.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
IT1 087'Air force'State Library of Modern and Contemporary History1911Italy’s war for the colonial conquest of Libya was the theatre for the first aerial bombing, although primitive. This practice was strongly criticised by Italian opponents of the war, as can be seen from this cartoon.
IT1 108Gold to the country from the [Italian] colony in TunisiaState Archives of LivornoTunis, 1917Italians in Tunisia supported Italy’s war effort during World War I in different ways, including donating their items of gold.

IT1 113Italian military conscription office in TunisState Archives of LivornoNo date [early 1920s?]Under the 1896 agreements between Italy and France over the status of the Italian community in Tunisia, Italy could run a military conscription office in Tunis. After World War I, Italy also gained permission to open a war-pensions office in the city.

IT1 114In Tunis, the families of the Italian men drafted for the war waiting to get their daily allowance from the Italian governmentState Archives of Livorno1915–18Many Italian immigrants from North Africa joined the Italian army during World War I. Over 1,200 from Tunisia alone died while serving in the military during the war.

IT1 112The biweekly paper Spettatore Egiziano was the first Italian-language newspaper to be published in EgyptState Archives of Livorno24 July 1856In 1845, in Cairo, Italian political exile Giacomo Castelnuovo founded the biweekly paper Spettatore Egiziano, the first Italian-language newspaper to be published in Egypt. He later also founded Il Progresso d’Egitto, a bulletin aimed at keeping the Italians in Egypt informed about Italian political news.

FR 153Le Petit Tunisien. Voice for French interests and communities in Tunisia.National Library of France 21 July 1889With the increasing influx of migrants into North Africa, a local press catering for their needs soon developed. This French newspaper was addressed to the different European communities living in Tunisia under the French protectorate.

FR 152Colonial EducationNational Library of France 7 August 1898La Dépêche Tunisienne was one of several French newspapers that addressed the local French community living under the Protectorate in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

IT1 103The Italian-language newspaper L’Unione (1886–1943), printed in TunisState Library of Modern and Contemporary History19 September 1915The Italian community gave a great impetus to the development of the press in Tunisia. It is thought that the very first newspaper to be published in the country was Il Giornale di Tunis e Cartagine, in 1838, thanks to the initiative of two immigrant typographers from Naples. From that date to 1956, 123 Italian language papers were published in Tunisia.

IT1 006A book on the activities of the Italian community in Tunisia, published by the Italian Chamber of Commerce of Tunisia for the 1906 International Exhibition in MilanItalian Geographical Society (SGI)1906In 1884, in Tunis, a group of Italian traders set up the Associazione Commerciale Italiana (Italian Trading Association). In 1887, a decree by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Trade created the Italian Chamber of Commerce of Tunisia, with the aim of supporting Italian economic activities in Tunisia and encourage trade between Italy and Tunisia.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
IT1 007The Committee of Tunis for Milan Exhibition 1906Italian Geographical Society (SGI)1906In this photo one can see some of the “big men” of the Italian community in Tunisia: Giuseppe Di Vittorio, Luigi Rey, Cesare Trionfo, Ugo Moreno, and a few others. International exhibitions provided them with a welcome opportunity to make their work known in Italy.
IT1 116The Students’ Benevolent Fund of the Società Dante AlighieriItalian Geographical Society (SGI)First years of the 20th centuryThe Italian community in Tunisia included not only wealthy entrepreneurs, professionals and merchants, but also impoverished labourers, the unemployed and other destitute individuals. Some of the wealthy immigrants set up benevolent organisations to care for the poor members of their community.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
IT1 115Clothing, sheets and blankets distributed by the Students’ Benevolent Fund to destitute Italian children in TunisItalian Geographical Society (SGI)c. 1905The benevolent fund had distributed 169 pairs of shoes, 210 shirts, 269 dresses, 110 hats, 17 woolen blankets, and so forth. One can thus infer that in Tunisia, at the time, there were quite a few Italian migrants who could not afford buying basic items of clothing.
IT1 118The female surgery division of the Italian hospital in TunisItalian Geographical Society (SGI)First years of the 20th centuryIn 1890, the Italian community in Tunisia set up the first Italian hospital in a rented building. In 1900, the hospital moved to a new facility and in 1907 took the name Ospedale Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
TN 040Hôpital Habib-Thameur19th centuryAfter World War II, the French authorities changed the name of the Italian hospital in Tunis, Ospedale Giuseppe Garibaldi, into Hospital de la Libération. After independence, it took the name of Hôpital Habib Thameur.
TN 038Hôpital Charles Nicolle19th centuryBuilt in 1897 with the goal of catering for the needs of the growing French population in Tunisia, this hospital was initially known as the Hôpital Civil Français. It superceded a smaller community hospital (Hôpital Saint Louis), founded in 1843 by François Bourgade.

IT1 120Italian Workers Friendly Society (Tunis)Italian Geographical Society (SGI)First years of the 20th centuryCommon in Italy since the mid-19th century, workers’ friendly societies soon also flourished in Tunisia and other countries of immigration. In the absence of public welfare, friendly societies helped members to cope with hardship due to illness, accident, unemployment or death. Members regularly paid a fee and received help in case of need.

IT1 117Third-grade pupils of the Italian state-funded Giovanni Meli primary school in TunisItalian Geographical Society (SGI)First years of the 20th centuryIn 1831, Italian political exile Pompeo Sulema and his sister Esther opened the first Italian primary school in Tunisia. By the end of the 19th century, in Tunisia the Italian state ran 11 primary schools, 5 secondary schools and 5 kindergartens (including an orphanage).

GR 029Lesson at the Benaki Orphanage in Alexandria EgyptBenaki Museum1888–1921PhotographIn Egypt, the Greeks formed the largest European community, numbering about 100,000 by the late 1920s. The Benakis – who set up this orphanage in Alexandria – were one of the most prominent and economically successful families of the Greek diaspora.

IT1 005The stand of the Italian Community in Tunisia at the International Exhibition held in Turin in 1911State Archives of Livorno1911On the 50th anniversary of the Italian unification as a nation state, the Italian government organised different international exhibitions. In Turin, one building hosted the stands of the Italian communities abroad. Celebrating the activities of the Italian migrants was instrumental in strengthening their loyalty to their home country.

IT2 074L.A. Balboni, The Italians in the Egyptian Civilization of the XIX Century, Alexandria, Egypt, 1906; title pagePrivate collection1906This book, intended to celebrate the role played by the Italian community in Egypt, was published on the occasion of the 1906 Milan International Exhibition, when the Italian government encouraged Italian communities abroad to make their activities known to the Italian and international public.