Besa Presentation and Film- Les Hommes Libres/ The Free Men (2011)

This French war drama recounts the largely untold story about the role that Algerian and other Muslims in Paris played in the French Resistance and as rescuers of Jews during the German occupation (1940-1944).  The film features two historic figures: Si Kaddour Benghabrit, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, and Salim Halali, an Algerian Jewish singer.

Join Dr. Ethan Katz, Professor in the Department of History at the University of California, Berkeley and the author of The Burdens of Brotherhood: Jews and Muslims from North Africa to France, for an introduction of the film and a discussion of Muslim-Jewish relations in North Africa and France and the stories of Muslims saving Jews during the Holocaust.