Arlette Fishman was born in Cairo in 1926, the daughter of Albert and Grety Sussman, both of European descent. Her father, who was born in Romania, moved to Egypt after working in the textile industry in England for several years, attracted by the country’s economic opportunities. Although Arlette’s mother was born in Cairo at the end of the nineteenth century, her roots were Austrian; her parents had also settled in Egypt for economic reasons. The family’s national identity was further complicated by their official nationalities. Grety had a Greek passport, obtained by her father for his military service after World War I. In contrast, Albert, who was Romanian, acquired a Portuguese passport after moving to Egypt, allowing him to travel more easily for work. Consequently, Grety, Arlette, and her brother Edwin were officially Portuguese nationals.
The Fishman family lived in the affluent Kasr El-Nil neighborhood, which was primarily inhabited by wealthy Europeans, and their social life was heavily influenced by European culture. They enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle, and although they were secular and not strictly observant of religious practices, they respected major Jewish holidays and ensured Edwin’s religious education so that he could prepare for his bar mitzvah.
Arlette first attended French schools, then the English Mission College, and finally the American College for Girls, which was affiliated with the American University of Cairo, where she studied English, history, and philosophy. During Arlette’s teenage years, Edwin became involved with the Jewish Maccabi sports club and became a Zionist activist. Following Edwin’s example, Arlette also joined the Maccabi, even traveling with her brother to Palestine to experience life in a kibbutz. Together with Edwin, she came into contact with Haganah cells that were active in Cairo and also engaged in volunteer work, helping the poorer Jewish communities in the city, particularly in the Jewish quarter of Haret-el-Yahud.
My life truly began there.
Transcript
Interviewer:
So, at what age did Edwin join the Maccabi?
Arlette Fishman:
Edwin must have joined at around seventeen, and I followed a few months later.
Interviewer:
Was it a political or a sports association?
Arlette Fishman:
It wasn’t really a sports club, but it had a bit of everything: sports, conferences, outings. In fact, I have a picture from a trip to the desert. But we talked about…
Interviewer:
Israel?
Arlette Fishman:
Yes, that’s where I learned the hora and some Hebrew
Interviewer:
Was there an effort to encourage aliyah as well?
Arlette Fishman:
Yes
Interviewer:
Were there young people who had made aliyah at that time?
Arlette Fishman:
Yes, not at first, but later. It was only when we went to Palestine and experienced kibbutz life with so many people that so many things opened up for us, things we didn’t even realize…
Interviewer:
What struck you during those years?
Arlette Fishman:
Kibbutz life was what struck me. My life really began there. As a person, I started to understand because I had been so distant from all of this.
Interviewer:
From what?
Arlette Fishman:
From everything, from…life, kibbutz, youth…because the English school didn’t prepare you for this kind of life
Interviewer:
So, you lived in a different reality?
Arlette Fishman:
A completely different reality. In fact, the following year, they approached me and asked if I wanted to join the Haganah. I asked, “What is the Haganah?” And that’s how I got involved.
On the night of May 14–15, 1948, just after the founding of the State of Israel, Arlette was arrested by the Egyptian authorities, seemingly unrelated to her Zionist activism, and was imprisoned in the women’s section of the Prison des Étrangers. During her months in prison, she formed close bonds with the other detainees until her release on June 3, 1949.
After her release, Arlette married Isaiah “Izzy” Busnach, an Italian citizen of Ashkenazi origin, whom she had met shortly before May 1948 at the Tawfikiya Tennis Club. Izzy had also been arrested and detained in Camp Huckstep in 1948 due to his involvement with the Maccabi club.
After their marriage, Izzy managed the family’s musical instrument store, and together they had two children. However, the January 1952 uprising, during which Arlette witnessed the massacre of several British citizens, terrified the family. They began discussing the possibility of leaving Egypt, but the uncertainty of their future in a new country made it difficult to make an immediate decision.
There was also a fear of leaving Egypt
Transcript
Interviewer:
At that time, did Izzy think it was time to leave Egypt? Was that even considered?
Arlette Fishman:
Yes, we thought about it, but it wasn’t easy because we didn’t have the means. Yes, he worked in their store, and we lived well because we were doing fine, it was a good family…but there was also a fear of leaving Egypt. We thought about going to Italy, but without any guarantees. In fact, it was very hard.
The tensions of the 1956 Suez Crisis once again affected the family, as Arlette and Izzy were arrested once more. Thanks to the intervention of the Italian consulate, they were released after forty days in prison and were reunited with their children at the port of Alexandria, just minutes before boarding a ship bound for Italy.
There was this terrible anguish
Transcript
Arlette Fishman:
“Where are the children? Where are the children?” There was this terrible anguish. I remember we were standing by the ship, and we feared we would board the ship without the children. At a certain moment, I saw a small woman walking with two children, and one of them was dragging a teddy bear. He was so small, only two years old, and always dragged that teddy bear by its ear. At that moment, I lost my mind because I realized…I was trembling with emotion…even now, it hurts a lot.
After their voyage, the Busnach family arrived at the port of Brindisi, and from there, they reached Milan, where Izzy’s brother and his family welcomed and supported them in their early days. Izzy began working for a business founded by another Egyptian exile, while Arlette eventually found work as an English teacher, first in a commercial institute and later at the Swiss School in Milan.
