Manuela Schapira was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1937 to James Mizrahi and Eliane Battino, both of whom were born in Egypt. Her father came from a family that was originally from Safed, while her mother was the daughter of Elio Battino, a native of Corfu, and Sara Filus, who was born in Egypt to a Livornese mother.
It is unclear what passport Manuela’s family held until World War II, when her father volunteered for the British army and obtained British citizenship. Although Manuela was only a child during the war, she recalls the tensions and bombings, especially after the German occupation of El Alamein, when the family temporarily took refuge in Kenya.
My father volunteered for the British army
Transcript
Manuela Schapira:
It started this way. My father enlisted in the French army, serving in Syria and other places I can’t recall. There are photos of him in a French military uniform. When the French were defeated, my father volunteered for the British army.
Interviewer:
In the Jewish Brigade, by any chance?
Manuela Schapira:
No, in the British army itself. He quickly became a captain and then a major, I’m not sure why. As a captain, they sent him to Kenya. When the German invasion of El Alamein occurred, my mother kept contacting with the British Consulate until she managed to secure our transfer to Kenya to join my father, who was the captain of an Italian internment camp. The Italians were delightful: they made a dollhouse for me and treated my brother and me for malaria. We even picked up a few Swahili words in that camp—we really had a very good experience
Interviewer:
And then you returned, I imagine…
Manuela Schapira:
We returned to Egypt with no problem.
Manuela Schapira grew up in a international environment, first attending secular schools run by the Alliance Française and later the English Girls College. Although the Mizrahi family considered themselves to be culturally French, Manuela also spoke Italian with her grandmother, communicated in Arabic with household staff, and improved her English during her secondary studies. The Mizrahi family lived on the Rue Fouad, opposite the town hall, in a large house in a neighborhood inhabited by other European families, right across from the Kom El-Dikka archaeological site.
I remained curious to understand this neighborhood that I had never seen
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Manuela Schapira:
It was opposite the municipal building, we were across from Kom El-Dikka. Kom El-Dikka was a restricted area, and I remained curious to understand this neighborhood that I had never seen. I remember when there were…maybe it was after storms, my grandfather Battino would come to comfort us because we were scared of the thunder, and then at dawn, there would be people shouting, “Laban! Laban! [Milk!]” or “Roba vecchia! Old things! [Old junk!].” We always remained curious about this Kom El-Dikka, which I recently read about—they have finally started to uncover what lies underneath, because it is an important archaeological site.
The Mizrahi family’s social life in Alexandria revolved around cafés, cinemas, and theaters, but also their home, where card games were a frequent pastime. Manuela and her family often spent their holidays at Lake Maryut, in the desert just outside Alexandria, and occasionally in Europe. Although they did not actively participate in the local Jewish community, the family attended the synagogue for major holidays and nurtured their Jewish identity within the family setting.
We went every Friday evening to my grandfather’s for dinner
Transcript
Manuela Schapira:
My grandfather ate kosher. Every Friday evening, we went to my grandfather Bohor Mizrahi’s for dinner. My grandfather Battino passed away when I was very young, perhaps no more than ten years old. Bohor lived much longer, and we went to his home every Friday night for dinner—it was all kosher, and we would kiss his hand after the blessings. As for the community…we attended the synagogue, also during holidays, but I don’t remember much about the community itself.
After finishing school at around seventeen, Manuela moved to Montreux, where she spent two years studying childcare, with the goal of becoming a nurse. Shortly after returning to Egypt, she embarked on a Mediterranean cruise with a friend and her family, but when the Suez War broke out in 1956, she was denied permission to disembark in Malta and was instead transferred to Naples. As her parents prepared to leave Egypt under the threat of expulsion, a new chapter opened for Manuela in London, where she continued her studies. Afterward, she settled in Milan.
In the early 1960s, Manuela married Andrea Schapira, and the couple had three children.
