The fall of France to Hitler’s armies in June 1940 unleashed a stream of panic-stricken refugees fleeing Nazi terror that quickly overwhelmed Europe’s boundaries and spilled across the Mediterranean to North Africa. In Morocco, the arrival of thousands of uprooted people touched off a humanitarian crisis of dizzying proportions. Nelly Benatar, a highly-regarded Casablancan Jewish lawyer, immediately stepped out of her comfortable life into the role of rescuer. Almost single-handedly, she organized a sweeping program of refugee relief that quickly became the most effective of its kind in wartime Morocco. This talk, based on the recent book by the instructor, introduces a compelling personality enmeshed in the complex strands that shaped North African and world history at the mid-century.
Suggested reading: Vichy France: Old Geared and New Order by Robert Paxton (Columbia University Press)