2. The Parisian mosque that saved Jews
During the holocaust, France was home to thousands of Jews and Muslims from North Africa. Both spoke Arabic, had similar traditions, similar dietary restrictions, their males were circumcised, spoke a similar language, prayed in a similar fashion, had the same names and even looked alike.
Against this backdrop, stood the Grand Mosque of Paris, a tiled, walled fortress the size of a city block which served as a place to pray, but also as a place of sanctuary where visitors could eat, relax and bathe during the Vichy occupation of France.
As the two people were so similar French Algerian partisans were able to provide assistance to Jewish families, by hiding them in the mosque, while Si Kaddour Benghabrit (the mosque’s imam and founder) issued them with Muslim certificates of identity.
With these papers between 500 and 1,600 Jews were able to escape Nazi France and seek refuge in nations where they wouldn’t face certain death.