"The Grand Mosque of Paris" by Karen Gray Ruelle and Deborah Durland DeSaix

The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust by Karen Gray Ruelle and Deborah Durland DeSaix

Even in the midst of wartime horror and human atrocity, examples of altruism and compassion exist.  The Grand Mosque of Paris relates such a tale of human connection and kindness in Nazi-occupied Paris.  As in other German-controlled European countries during World War II, the Jewish citizens of occupied France faced grave peril.  “In France 11,402 Jewish children, toddlers, and even tiny babies, were deported to death camps.  Only about three hundred of them survived the war.”  Some French citizens hid their Jewish neighbors and worked to smuggle them out of France to safety. 

This richly illustrated picture book tells the role of Algerian-born Si Kaddour Benghabrit, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris.  With his staff, the rector hid Jews within the mosque and in the vast tunnels underneath its foundation.  The Kabyle people from the Atlas Mountains of Algeria were the majority Muslim population in Paris.  They spoke a distinct language that they used to communicate as a form of code.  The Kabyles organized a complex operation to transport Nazi opponents out of France.  The Grand Mosque was a Kabyle station where French Jews waited until safe escort could be arranged through its catacombs and out to the banks of the Seine.  Refugees were then hidden in huge wine barrels and smuggled away on transport barges to safety. 

The Grand Mosque of Paris is a print-rich text that would prove a valuable resource for upper elementary students.  Ruelle and DeSaix have included extensive detail and background notes that allow for further study.  Much of this tale remains lost to history.  Participants have now perished and records were not maintained during the operation in order to protect the identities of the rescued and rescuers alike.  The authors include one telling artifact unearthed in their research.  Written in Kabyle, the letter states:

 “Yesterday at dawn, the Jews of Paris were arrested.  The elderly, the women, and the children.  In exile like ourselves, workers like ourselves.  They are our brothers.  Their children are like our own children.  Anyone who encounters one of his children must give that child shelter and protection for as long as misfortune – or sorrow – lasts.

Oh man of my country, your heart is generous.”