When Paris fell to the Germans in July 1940, the sultan, then 30, was put in a precarious position as Morocco came under the rule of the collaborationist French Vichy regime. Among their first acts, the new overseers sought to impose anti-Semitic laws in Morocco, as per Nazi protocol. Jews had lived in that part of the world since well before Carthage fell, and over a quarter of a million called Morocco their home in 1940. Members of the community had served the sultans' court as ministers, diplomats and advisors. Mohammed V took seriously his role as Commander of the Faithful, which he viewed to include all "people of the book," meaning everyone belonging to the Abrahamic faiths — Jews, Christians and Muslims. He bravely and publicly declined to assist in the persecution of his own Jewish citizens.
"There are no Jews in Morocco," he declared. "There are only Moroccan subjects."
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