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In the winter of 1930-31 the Egyptian magazine al-Dunya al-Musawwara ran a series of articles documenting Cairo's underworld - "Hidden Cairo" - and delving into the city's murky underbelly. [Thread]
![In the winter of 1930-31 the Egyptian magazine al-Dunya al-Musawwara ran a series of articles documenting Cairo's underworld - "Hidden Cairo" - and delving into the city's murky underbelly. [Thread]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eq4S4AYXIAEn3Kj.jpg "In the winter of 1930-31 the Egyptian magazine al-Dunya al-Musawwara ran a series of articles documenting Cairo's underworld - \"Hidden Cairo\" - and delving into the city's murky underbelly. [Thread]")
The first (pictured in previous tweet) was a tour through the bars and brandy joints of Ezbekiyya from the high class to the low life. But the journalist was only easing himself in to the assignment.
The second article sent the correspondent on a tour of the drug infested slums of Boulaq, just north of the elegant downtown, a den of drug dealers and users, full of heroin and cocaine. He sits in a cafe with his guide and is almost immediately offered a "sniff" by a dealer.
The third installment looks at the White Slave Trade and the magazine tours the legal and semi-legal sex trade in Cairo, where women from all over the world can be seen. Many of them were trafficked against their will or tricked into the business and found themselves trapped.
The fourth part looks at international hashish smuggling rings who bring their products over sea to Alexandria or across the Sinai peninsula and eventually to Cairo, where they camp out in the cemeteries of the City of Dead to avoid the police.
Part five covers gambling: illicit street games of Three-Card-Monte, gambling in bars, closed doors illegal gambling dens and the licensed clubs, bars, and cafes where people gambled legally.
The sixth part goes to Boulaq again, which is known as the home of all kinds of criminals - theives, murderers, killers for hire. Though the designation "criminal" hid several prejudices against the poor, "gypsies" and Upper Egyptians.
The final part is about Manzoul (called "Chocolata" by its users) a kind of Hashish that is dissolved in a hot drink and then passed around and makes you feel "like you are swimming in another realm". The drug was available under the counter from many shops to people in the know.
To read these articles you can find them digitised by @TranslatioBonn here https://digitale-sammlungen.ulb.uni-bonn.de/ulbbnioa/periodical/structure/7296130 (last 7 editions of 1930)
PS I am very willing to work as a historical consultant on the Cairo equivalent of Babylon Berlin when Netflix eventually commissions it!
