Ruelle, Karen The Grand Mosque of Paris

Ruelle, Karen The Grand Mosque of Paris
Holiday House 2009 unp 17.95 978-0-8234-2159-6 elm/ms

During the Nazi occupation of France, all Jews were in danger of being rounded up and sent off to the concentration camps. Some found help from an unusual source: the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris. During the Nazi occupation of France, all Jews were in danger of being rounded up and sent off to the concentration camps in Eastern Europe and most civilians were unable or unwilling to help or shelter them. Some found help from an unusual source: the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris. This Mosque was built in 1926 to honor those North Africans who fought and died for France in the first World War and was both a place of worship and an Islamic community center. The staff sheltered a number of Jewish refugees as well as escaped prisoners-of-war and Resistance fighters.
This moving story is told in a simple straightforward way and highlighted by the beautiful photo realistic paintings of Deborah DeSaix. Extensively researched and documented, the book ends with an afterword by the author discussing the difficulty of finding information in the official archives of this clandestine operation, a glossary, acknowledgments, references, an extensive bibliography, and an index. SO