After the Nazis conquered France in 1940, the country fell under the control of the Vichy government. This regime supported Hitler’s plan to rid the world of Jews and other “undesirables.” In Paris, it was a terrifying time. No Jew was safe from arrest and deportation. Few Parisians were willing to come to their aid, as there was too much risk involved. Despite the deadly campaign, many Jewish children living in Paris at the time survived. Some of those children found refuge in the Grand Mosque of Paris, where heroic Muslims saved Jews from the Nazis.

The Grand Mosque of Paris is a fortress-like structure the size of a city block. It was built in 1926 as an expression of France’s thanks to the many North African Muslims who fought with the French during World War I. In 1940, it provided an ideal hiding place and escape route for Jews on the run.

The rescue involved an extensive network of men and women of all religions and political persuasions. Rescuers took the children from detention centers or homes. They got them false papers, found them temporary shelter in safe houses, and raised funds to pay for their care.

Rescuers kept records of the children’s real names and fake names, as well as their hiding places. They escorted the children to these locations in small groups. Many who participated were themselves arrested and deported.

The Grand Mosque was the perfect cover. Not just a place of worship, it was a community center. Visitors could walk through its doors without attracting a lot of attention. Under these conditions, it was possible for a Jew to pass as a Muslim.

Directly beneath the mosque’s grounds lay the sewer system of Paris. This complicated web of underground passages now served as a hiding place and escape route. It also reached the Seine. From there, barges were used to smuggle human cargo to ports in the South of France and then to Algeria or Spain.

Many believe that the “soul” of the rescue effort was the mosque’s rector, Si Kaddour Benghabrit. Benghabrit wrote out false birth certificates for Jewish children, claiming they were Muslim. He is thought to have set up an alarm system warning fugitives to run into the women’s section of the prayer room, where men were normally not allowed.

Other Muslims also took a stand against the Nazi oppressors by refusing to reveal the whereabouts of fugitives. Some helped Jews avoid detection by coaching them to speak and act like Arabs. Albert Assouline, a North African Jew who found refuge at the Paris mosque, wrote that in life and death situations, there are always people who can be counted on to do the right thing. There may not be a better way to describe the heroic actions of Paris’s Muslim community during a horrific time in world history.

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