200,000
Before the war almost 200,000 thousand Jews live in the French occupied regions of Morocco. Contact between Jews and Muslims has generally speaking been good. This changes when the French army surrenders to Germany in 1940. Now France has a pro-German government and the French officials in Morocco have to obey that new government.

Treat the Jews well
Anti-Semitism in Morocco increases. Anti-Jewish legislation is enforced: Jews are not allowed to sell on markets, work for governmental institutions and not live anywhere they want. Sultan Mohammed V opposes these measures. He says: ‘I recognise all inhabitants as my children and that includes the Jews.’ The sultan asks everybody to treat the Jews well. However, he cannot prevent that hundreds of Jews are being fired.