Among the righteous : lost stories from the Holocaust's long reach into Arab lands

Thousands of people have been honored for saving Jews during the Holocaust -- but not a single Arab. Looking for a hopeful response to the plague of Holocaust denial sweeping across the Arab and Muslim worlds, Robert Satloff sets off on a quest to find the Arab hero whose story will change the way Arabs view Jews, themselves, and their own history. The story of the Holocaust's long reach into the Arab world is difficult to uncover, covered up by desert sands and desert politics. We follow Satloff over four years, through eleven countries, from the barren wasteland of the Sahara, where thousands of Jews were imprisoned in labor camps; through the archways of the Mosque in Paris, which may once have hidden 1700 Jews; to the living rooms of octogenarians in London, Paris and Tunis. The story is very cinematic; the characters are rich and handsome, brave and cowardly; there are heroes and villains. The most surprising story of all is why, more than sixty years after the end of the war, so few people -- Arab and Jew -- want this story told.

Thousands of people have been honored for saving Jews during the Holocaust—but not a single Arab. Looking for a hopeful response to the plague of Holocaust denial sweeping across the Arab and Muslim worlds, Robert Satloff sets off on a quest to find the Arab hero whose story will change the way Arabs view Jews, themselves, and their own history.

The story of the Holocaust's long reach into the Arab world is difficult to uncover, covered up by desert sands and desert politics. We follow Satloff over four years, through eleven countries, from the barren wasteland of the Sahara, where thousands of Jews were imprisoned in labor camps; through the archways of the Mosque in Paris, which may once have hidden 1700 Jews; to the living rooms of octogenarians in London, Paris and Tunis. The story is very cinematic; the characters are rich and handsome, brave and cowardly; there are heroes and villains. The most surprising story of all is why, more than sixty years after the end of the war, so few people— Arab and Jew—want this story told.

Praise 7 Title Page 2 Dedication 11 Epigraph 12 Table of Figures 6 Introduction 14 Chapter 1 - From Tunis to Dachau 24 Chapter 2 - The Holocaust’s Long Reach into Arab Lands 34 Vichy Across the Mediterranean 38 Libya’s Fascist Moment 52 Nazis in an Arab Land 55 Chapter 3 - Buchenwald in the Sahara 68 Chapter 4 - “Nobody Told Them to Do That” 83 Chapter 5 - “The Arabs Watched Over the Jews” 108 Chapter 6 - Anny’s Story 129 Chapter 7 - In the Heart of Europe 145 Chapter 8 - A Crack in the Wall 183 EPILOGUE: A POEM 215 POSTSCRIPT: THE CRACK BECOMES A CREVICE 218 APPENDIX: SITES OF LABOR CAMPS IN TUNISIA, ALGERIA, AND MOROCCO 229 Acknowledgements 236 NOTES 241 BIBLIOGRAPHY 271 INDEX 284 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 318 Copyright Page 323 "Thousands of people have been honored for saving Jews during the Holocaust--but not a single Arab. Did any Arabs save any Jews during the Holocaust? Seeking a hopeful response to the plague of Holocaust denial sweeping across the Arab and Muslim worlds, Robert Satloff set off on a your-year quest to find an Arab hero whose story would change the way Arabs view Jews, themselves, and their own history."--Publisher's description." Was there an Arab "Schindler?" The neverbefore- told story of the Holocaust in the Arab lands of North Africa, and one man's quest to find the truth Looks at the reaction of the Arab people to the Holocaust in North Africa, where thousands of Jews were forced into labor camps.