Max Régis
| Max Régis | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Massimiliano Régis Milano 8 June 1873 Sétif, Algeria |
| Died | 1950 Hautes-Pyrénées, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Journalist, politician, hotelier |
| Known for | Antisemisitism |
Max Régis (8 June 1873 – 1950), was a French journalist and politician who promoted anti-semitism in French Algeria during the late 1890s. He was elected mayor of Algiers during 1898but was soon dismissed from office. He campaigned unsuccessfully for election as a national deputy during 1901 as an antisemitic candidate. He lived the rest of his life in obscurity.
During the later part of the 19th century the civil territories of Algeria, dominated by settlers, were officially part of France and had many of the same laws and political features as metropolitan France. Jews had lived in Algeria for centuries, including some who came from Spain in the late 15th century. The 35,000 Jews spoke Arabic but were oppressed by the 2.5 million Arab Muslims. The Jews welcomed the French as liberators, and by the 1870 Crémieux Decree were made full French citizens, while the Arabs had no civil rights. Antisemitism became a feature of politics after 1870. There were violent anti-Jewish incidents between 1881 and 1884, and during 1889. During the 1890s Algeria was affected by an economic depression. Further incidents began during 1894 in response to the Dreyfus affair. This scandal rousing antisemitic passions in metropolitan France and among the Pied-Noir French colonists in Algeria.
Massimiliano Régis Milano was born on 8 June 1873 at Sétif in French Algeria. His family was Italian in origin. Max Régis, as he became known, was brought up in a comfortable middle-class home near to Algiers. At the age of 10 he went to study at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, then returned to the High School of Algiers, and finally passed his baccalaureate in Montpellier. He spent a year studying at the Law Faculty of Algiers, then became chief editor of his home town newspaper Le Progrès de Sétif. At the age of 21 Max Régis fought a duel with an officer named Perroux, and relocated to Tunis for two months to avoid arrest. He was ordered to military service with the 12th artillery regiment in Oran. After his discharge he returned to Algiers to continue his legal studies.
At the start of 1897 Max Régis and his brother Louis organized student protests against the appointment of a Jewish professor of Law named Lévy. Max Régis gained the nickname "beau Max". He was "tall, handsome, strong and energetic", and charismatic. As a result of his activism he was suspended from university for two years. Soon after he was named president of the Ligue Antijuive (Anti-Jewish League), and on 14 July 1897 initiated the antisemitic newspaper L'Antijuif d'Alger.L'Anti-Juif had a print run of 20,000 copies, a large number for Algeria at this time. The Algiers Anti-Jewish League became important among the settlers. It organized petitions and demonstrations against Jews and government officials. Max Régis directed the Fighting Radicals, an anti-capitalist and socialist political group.
...
Wikipedia