The Great Mosque of Paris resistance

[Freeman]

"The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust" by Karen Gray Ruelle and Deborah Durland DeSaix presents this story in the form of a children's book.

I found out about this heart warming chapter in World War Two history from an anonymous reader who posted a comment on my Magdeburger Joe blog to an article that dealt with Jews in Arab countries. He wrote as follows.

"An unknown fact : The Mosque of Paris saved during the second world war thousand of jews by delivering them false certificates of birth and cards for food (cartes d'alimentation)
I have muslim background though atheist and i feel sorry that my country lost all his jewish cutural background. Remains happily the andalousian music."

French veterans’ magazine, Assouline wrote: “No fewer than 1,732 resistance fighters found refuge in its underground caverns. These included Muslim escapees but also Christians and Jews. The latter were by far the most numerous.” According to him, the senior imam of the mosque, Si Mohammed Benzouaou took “considerable risk” by hiding Jews and providing many (including many children) with certificates of Muslim identity, with which they could avoid deportation and certain death. Assouline recalled one “hot alert” when German soldiers smelled the odor of cigarettes and, convinced that Muslims were forbidden to smoke, searched the mosque looking for hidden Jews. According to Assouline, the Jews were able to escape via sewer tunnels that connected the mosque to nearby buildings.

What she finds is a story of a community that protected the unprotected from North African escapees from German POW camps to American and British paratroopers who found medical care and refuge in the French-Muslim hospital nearby.

The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust by Karen Gray Ruelle - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists
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