Yad Vashem, official memorial to the Holocaust maintains extensive lists of non-Jews who helped Jewish people during the Nazi German implementation of the Holocaust. Among these, the names of some 70 Muslims are also recognised, for their role in helping Jewish people escaping their Nazi tormentors. At a time when relations between Muslims and Jews are strained due to the politics of the Middle East and the realities of occupation and terrorism, it is important to remember that Muslims were as moved as any others by the sentiment of solidarity and compassion which made non-Jews risk their lives to save Jews.
Si Kaddour Benghabrit
One prominent example of such a Muslim figure was Si Kaddour Benghabrit. An erudite man of Algerian origin, he was the founder of the Muslim Institute of the grand mosque in Paris, France. During the Nazi occupation of Paris, Benghabrit issued documents to many Jews in an effort to disguise them as Muslims and thus help them escape a horrific death in the gas chambers of the Holocaust. Benghabrit was also responsible for giving refuge to Jewish fugitives, within the mosque itself, to help them escape arrest by German forces and local French collaborators.
Another such instance was that of the “Iranian Schindler”, Abdol Hossein Sardari. An Iranian diplomat posted in Paris during the Nazi German occupation, Sardari’s responsibilities included protecting Iranian Jews from the racial extermination policies of the German forces. On his own initiative, he began to issue Iranian identity documents and passports to hundreds of non-Iranian Jews, so as to provide them an escape route from German forces.
