Salvator Cicurel (; ; 3 March 1893 – 15 February 1975) was an Egyptian Olympic foil and epee fencer, and later the president of Cairo's

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

Community Council from 1946 until 1957.

Personal life

Cicurel was born in

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...

, in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, and was Jewish. His father was Moreno Cicurel, and he had two brothers, Solomon and Joseph. The family immigrated from Smyrna to Cairo, Egypt in 1870. He was educated in Switzerland. His father first opened a textile store in Cairo, and then a department store Au Petit Bazaar, which eventually became Les Grand Magasins Cicurel, a grand emporium. After their father died in 1919, the three sons ran the family business. Solomon was stabbed to death at home in his bed in Cairo in March 1927. Following his brothers’ deaths, Salvator led the family business, owning Les Grands Magasins Cicurel & Oreco S.A.E., which was a favorite shopping destination for the Egyptian royal family. In addition to his prowess in fencing, he was also an elite Egyptian golfer. In 1933, his niece, Solomon Cicurel’s daughter Lili, married

Pierre Mendès France Pierre Isaac Isidore Mendès France (; 11 January 190718 October 1982) was a French politician who served as prime minister of France for eight months from 1954 to 1955. As a member of the Radical Party, he headed a government supported by a c ...

who later became Prime Minister of France from 1954-55. He was a leader of the Cairo Jewish community in the first half of the 20th century. He was President of the Cairo Sephardic Jewish Community Council from 1946-57. In a meeting with the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a civil rights group and Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the wi ...

in New York in October 1948, he stated his belief about the 1948 Cairo bombings “the recent anti-Jewish outbreaks …

ere Ere or ERE may refer to: * ''Environmental and Resource Economics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal * ERE Informatique, one of the first French video game companies * Ere language, an Austronesian language * Ebi Ere (born 1981), American-Nigeria ...

connected with the existence of Israel and the defeats of the Egyptian Army there.”Beinin, Joel (1998)
''The Dispersion Of Egyptian Jewry Culture, Politics, And The Formation Of A Modern Diaspora''
University of California Press, c1998. Amer Univ in Cairo Pr, 2005, During the 1956 Suez Crisis his store was placed under government control. After the war, Cicurel was forced to sell his interest to Egyptian Muslims, and he emigrated to Paris in 1957.

Fencing career

Cicurel won the Egyptian national épée fencing championship in 1928. Cicurel was captain of the Egyptian fencing team and competed in the individual (coming in tied for 7th) and team

épée The (, ; ), also rendered as epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contains a ...

and team

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

events at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

in Amsterdam at the age of 35.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cicurel, Salvator 1893 births 1975 deaths Egyptian male épée fencers Egyptian male foil fencers Olympic fencers for Egypt Egyptian Sephardi Jews Fencers at the 1928 Summer Olympics Jewish épée fencers Jewish foil fencers Egyptian people of Turkish-Jewish descent Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Egypt Egyptian emigrants to France Sportspeople from İzmir Smyrniote Jews 20th-century Egyptian Jews 20th-century Egyptian sportsmen