The Nazis Ordered This Sultan To Round Up All The Jews, But His Astounding Response Was Truly Heroic

Believe it or not, there was a time when being Jewish was something you could be persecuted and discriminated for. It was around that time when Vichy France regime took over Morocco, putting the Jewish community of Morocco under the scanner. A the time, Morocco’s leader- Sultan Mohammed V, was the only savior of the Moroccan Jews. In 1940, France was divided into two zones; one was the occupied zone and the other one was the Vichy zone. No matter which part of France the Jewish belonged to, they met with the same fate of persecution and discrimination. 150,000 Jewish from the Vichy zone took shelter in the free zone of France hoping for a better life, but they were sadly robbed of their hope. 40,000 Jewish businesses were ruined and they were sent to concentration camps. During this period, the power of Sultan was also very limited, but he still stood steadfastly for his people against the Vichy French backed by the Nazis. Sultan’s father, Sultan Yusef ben Hassan, was given the throne of Morocco in 1912 when France seized their part of Morocco. Sultan Mohammad was only 18 when he succeeded the throne upon the death of his father. The French selected him because they thought he was the softer one amongst the three siblings. However, the opposite happened and he proved to be the major roadblock for the French. In 1940, when the whole country was under the Nazi regime of persecuting the Jews, Sultan was the only one who stood against the Nazi law. He knew that Jews have played an important role in the history of the country and served loyally for the Royals.Sultan felt responsible for protecting his fellow citizens irrespective of whether they were Jewish or Muslims. In order to protect the Jews from persecution, he said that there is no Jewish in his country, only Moroccans live there. He was forced to sign the laws that suggested that the Jewish should reside in ghettos and they should not be allowed to take up certain professions. Though Sultan signed them he didn’t enforce the law on the 250,000 Jewish. In 1942, when the Vichy rule came to an end in Morocco due to the Operation Torch led by General George S. Patton, it swept away the Nazis. In 1957, when Morocco gained independence, Sultan was honored for saving the lives of the Jewish from the hand of Nazis.