LICA

The abbreviation for the League against German AntiSemitism, Association Formed by all Jewish Works and Institutions in Egypt.

LICA (Ligue contre l'Antisémitisme Allemand, Association Formée par Toutes les Oeuvres et Institutions Juives en Egypte) was founded in April 1933 as part of the mass protests organized by the Cairo B'nai B'rith against rising German antisemitism. Among the leading founders was Léon Castro, lawyer, journalist, and Wafd party activist. In September 1933, the organization joined the International League against German Anti-Semitism (also abbreviated as LICA), which had recently been formed in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with Castro as its vice-president. About the same time, a youth section, LISCA (Ligue Internationale Scolaire contre l'Antisémitisme; International Student League against Anti-Semitism) was founded in Egypt. By 1935, LICA counted about 1,500 members, and LISCA had about 650.

LICA organized an active campaign in Egypt's Hebrew- and European-language press. It also undertook a boycott of German goods and films. The boycott was most successful in barring German films from Egyptian theaters and in affecting the sale of a number of German products. Egyptian and British officials fearing possible disorders and financial repercussions, however, intervened to halt the boycott, which continued unofficially thereafter on an individual level.

Bibliography

Krämer, Gudrun. The Jews in Modern Egypt, 1914–1952. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1989.

norman stillman