Agim Sinani, holding a photograph of his father. His family sheltered a Jewish family of
three during the war. Above right, scenes from the documentary God’s House following the
photographer’s journey.
Jew interned in an Italian camp in Giado. “The Arab camp guards fied how when “Jewish goods were put up for public auction,
opted out of the sadistic torture inflicted on Jews and other pris- an instruction went round the mosques, ‘Our brothers are
oners by the Italians. Of the 2,600 Jews in the Giado camp 562 suffering misfortune. Do not take their goods.’ Do you know
died in less than a year. The Italian guards treated the Jews with other examples of such an admirable, collective dignity?”
brutality; the attitude of the Arab guards under the Italians was In Morocco, Satloff identifies Sultan Muhammad V as a sav-
excellent. They even found secret ways to ease our discomfort.” iour of the Jews. Though he had little independence from the
In Algeria, pro-Jewish sympathy was led by religious schol- French, in his view the Vichy anti-Jewish laws breached a fun-
ars like Abdel Hamid Ben Badis, founder of the Algerian League damental tenet of Islam. “Muhammad V offered vital moral
of Muslims and Jews who was an “intensely devout man with a support to the Jews of Morocco. When the French authori-
modern, open and tolerant view of the world.” Shaykh Taieb el- ties ordered a census of all Jewish-owned property, the sultan
Okbi was another leader who had close ties to the Jews. When arranged a group of prominent Jews to sneak into the palace,
French pro-fascist groups were urging Algerian Muslims to per- hidden in a covered wagon so he could meet them away from
secute the Jews, Shaykh Taieb issued a fatwa prohibiting that. the prying eyes of the French. He promised the Jews he would
And from pulpits of Algerian mosques imams issued instructions protect them.” Once in a public gathering the sultan declared,
to their followers to defy the fascists and behave honourably “I must inform you that, just as in the past, the Israelites will
towards the Jews. remain under my protection. I refuse to make any distinction
The Jewish resistance leader in Algiers, Jose Aboulker, testi- between my subjects.”
36 emel magazine |
www.emel.com
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