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Allied Forces Saved 400,000 Jews in North Africa in World War II

(Jerusalem Post) Edith Shaked - During World War II, 400,000 Jews living in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco came under the German sphere of influence, as French North Africa came under control of the new Vichy regime of Field-Marshal Petain, who collaborated with Hitler. Jews living in French territory on both sides of the Mediterranean were identified, ostracized, discriminated against, and deprived of their civil rights and property as the machinery to implement the "Final Solution" was set for them. On Nov. 8, 1942, U.S. and British forces in Operation Torch landed on the beaches of North Africa and fought against Vichy French forces. U.S. Gen. Eisenhower wrote in his memoir Crusade in Europe: "Underground resistance forces staged a coup d'etat in Algiers and were able to neutralize the French XIX Army Corps....Of the 377 participants in the coup, 315 were French Jews." On Nov. 9, the Allied landings triggered the invasion of Vichy Tunisia by Hitler's forces. An Einsatzkommando unit led by SS commander Walter Rauff, who was responsible for the murder of Jews in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe using mobile gas vans, also entered Tunis to implement the "Final Solution" there. During its six months of occupation, the Nazi regime created a local Judenrat, forced Jews to wear a yellow badge, and sent more than 5,000 Jews to forced labor camps. In May 1943, the Allies liberated Nazi-occupied Tunisia, liberating the 100,000 Jews there after 260 had died in the forced labor camps.
2020-12-03 00:00:00
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