A great drama involving incredible courage took place during World War II in Morocco, but within all the momentous events happening during wartime, this story has been largely overlooked.
The bravery shown by one Sephardic woman in wartime Casablanca has never received much attention.
In addition to the millions of Jews and others who were decimated in the Nazi camps, and the millions of other displaced peoples and refugees who escaped from the claws of the Nazis, thousands of Jews were sheltered in Morocco by local Jewish communities.
Helene Cazes-Benattar, modern Morocco's first woman lawyer, became the guardian angel of refugees stranded in North Africa. She provided sustenance and shelter for thousands of Jewish and non-Jewish asylum seekers, continuing on as a human rights activist until her death in 1979.
She and the Moroccan Jews who helped shelter the European war refugees were themselves threatened by Vichy government authorities, who persecuted the Jews upon Nazi orders. Ultimately, the refugees were delivered to safety by the great American landing during Operation Torch in November 1942. Operation Torch was the first major involvement of American troops in the European/North African conflict.
(About the Author)
Raphael Israeli has taught Islamic, Chinese, and Middle Eastern history at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. A graduate of Hebrew University in history and Arabic literature, he earned a Ph.D. in Chinese and Islamic history from the University of California, Berkeley. Now retired, he has been a Fellow of the Harry Truman Research Institute at Hebrew University and the Jerusalem Center since the 1970s, and is the author of over 70 research books, a dozen edited books, and 100 scholarly articles about Islam.