The Muslims who saved Jews during the Holocaust

Amid the rising Islamophobia, it’s of utmost importance to focus on the actions of the Muslims, often seen as enemies of Jews, who came together and saved the lives of hundred of Jews. But unfortunately, their actions haven’t been immortalized in movies and books unlike others and often less frequently remembered.

The Western Media has never glorified the actions and sacrifices of Muslims who risked their own lives to attempt to save Jews from persecution and genocide by the fascist regime. These group of people tried their best to uphold the humanity above all religious differences between Muslims and Jews. They practically implemented the verse of Holy Qur’an which states,

“ Because of that We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or (and) to spread mischief in the land – it would be as if he killed all mankind, and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind.” – Qur’an 5:32

In this article we bring you those fearless and brave Muslims who stood against the Jewish massacre by Hitler.

Khalid Abdul Wahab, a Tunisian wealthy man who saved 25 Tunisian Jews and sheltered them at his family’s farm and kept them there for 4 months, allocating small room to each family members, after he heard that Nazi German officers were planning to rape a local Jewish woman who was the wife of one of his acquaintance. The Jews remained under in his protection until the end of the Nazi occupation.

Abdul Wahab was an interlocutor between the Nazis and the population of the coastal town of Mahdia and used his position as means to save the lives of the Jews. He is popularly known as ‘Arab Schindler’. His name has been nominated for the “Righteous among the Nation” by Yad Vashem Commission that grants the honour to those who helped Jews during Holocaust.

Si Kaddour Benghabrit, was the rector of the Great Mosque of Paris. He helped around 500 local Jews disguise themselves as Muslims and arranged everything for them inside the Mosque and provided them safety and security.

In September 2013, Yad Vashem (Israel’s Official Memorial to the victims of Holocaust) declared an Egyptian doctor Mohammed Helmi, one of the “Righteous Among the Nations” for saving the life of Anna Gutman and her whole family, putting himself at personal risk for 3 years to survive the Holocaust.

Another man who saved the life of hundreds of Jews was Abdol Hussein Sardari. He was serving at the Iranian Counsular office in Paris in 1942. He used his position in the consulate and issued Iranian passports to the Jews and arranged their safe exit from the country.

To ensure the viability of his plan, Sardari acted secretly without the permission of Iranian government but later he was applauded for the same.

Selahattin Ülkümen was assigned as a Turkish consul on the Island of Rhodes in 1944. The Germans started deporting 17000 Jews to the Island. He was against it because under Turkish law all citizens are equal and there is no difference between Muslims, Jews or Christians. He saved 50 Jews, 13 of them were Turkish.

In retaliation of his subversion the Germans bombed the Rhodes, killed his wife and deported him to the Greek mainland and he remained there until the defeat of Axis power.

Behiç Erkin was another Muslim who helped Jews to survive Holocaust. He was serving as a Turkish ambassador in France under German occupation. He utilized his power and issued Turkish documentation to any Jew who could indicate even the weakest Turkish connection and later arranged their evacuation to Turkey. He was the man who saved the lives of thousands of Jews.

Namık Kamal Yolga was Turkish diplomat and statesman. He was the vice consul at the Turkey embassy in Paris during Second World War. The Nazis invaded France and started sending the Jews in the Paris area to the Drancy deportation camp and from there they were to be sent to concentration camp.

Yolga saved Turkish Jews one by one by picking them up in his car and hid them at a safe a place. In this way he saved hundreds of Turkish Jews using his powers.

According to the Albanian census of 1930, 24 Jews lived in Albania. In 1937, the Jewish community, which then numbered nearly 300, was granted official recognition in the country by King Zog. Before the war, Albanian Jews predominantly lived in the southern part of the country, mostly in the city of Vlorë, which had been approximately one-third Jewish in the 16th century. The Jewish community in Albanian-majority Kosovo, part of neighboring Yugoslavia, numbered approximately 500. In the late Ottoman era, Albanian national ideology had developed in such a way that it claimed affiliation with no one religion and aimed for reconciliation between the different faiths in the country. Following Albania’s independence in 1912, the country’s government began implementing an ideology of religious reconciliation, and this became marked under the rule of King Zog, who codified the equality of “all faiths” and promoted greater religious diversity.

During the 1930s, the Jewish community became increasingly integrated into Albanian society, with official government recognition on 2 April 1937, while King Zog went further and aided Jewish immigration to Albania and helped the integration of new Jewish arrivals. In 1934, Herman Bernstein, the American ambassador to Albania, who was Jewish himself, remarked that Jews were not discriminated against in the country because it “happens to be one of the rare lands in Europe today where religious prejudice and hate do not exist”. With the rise of Nazism, a number of German Jews and Austrian Jews took refuge in Albania, and the Albanian embassy in Berlin continued to issue visas to Jews until the end of 1938, at a time when no other European country was willing to do so. Bernstein played a critical role in persuading the Albanian government to continue issuing Jews tourist and transit visas. From 1933 onward, Bernstein’s efforts resulted in many Jews escaping from Germany and Austria as the Nazi Party consolidated power, some of whom used Albania as a transit point from which to escape to the United States, Turkey, or South America.

The Muslim families in Albania  played a crucial role in the rescue of Jews during the holocaust. The most famous amongst them was the Pilkus family in Albania who sheltered Johanna Neumann and her mother in their home convincing people that the women were relatives visiting from Germany.

In an interview to TIME,  the 88 years old Neumann said regarding them ,

“They put their lives on the line to save us. What these people did, many European Nations didn’t do. They all stuck together and were determined to save Jews.”

This is the teaching of Islam which makes Muslims different from others. May Allah make us strong enough to help all those who are in need and Save us from all shortcomings.