In 1940, the Nazis invaded France and thus inherited the French colonial empire, which included present-day Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The Vichy government of France, which controlled French colonies in North Africa, actively collaborated with the Nazis and many Jews in France were sent to extermination camps. However, in 1942, Allied forces invaded Vichy-controlled Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, defeating the Nazis and their Vichy collaborators. The Jews of North Africa viewed this invasion as a heaven-sent miracle that spared their communities from suffering the same fate that the Jews of Europe were forced to endure.
At the time of the Allied invasion, 330,000 Jews were living in French-controlled North Africa and under Vichy rule, Jews had been stripped of their civil rights, had their property confiscated, endured violent pogroms by Muslims, and numerous North African Jewish men were also sent to forced labor camps. The Vichy regime had also sought to deport the Jews of North Africa to extermination camps, yet Morocco’s King Mohammed V refused to cooperate in this, resulting in delays in the deportation of Moroccan Jews. In the end, due to the Allied intervention, the Jews of North Africa were not sent to extermination camps................
FULL ARTICLE HERE: Purim History 1942: "Hitler Purim" in Morocco | United with Israel
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