Abdelkader Mesli

Abdelkader Mesli (1902 – 21 June 1961) (in Arabic: عَبْد ٱلْقَادِر مَسْلِي, ʿabd ʾal-Qādir Maslī) was an Islamic imam and resistance member during the Second World War. Through his actions at the Grand Mosque of Paris, at the Fort du Hâ, and within the Army Resistance Organization (ORA), he contributed to the rescue of several hundred Jewish individuals from the Holocaust. He also extended assistance to escaped African soldiers. Having survived Dachau, he returned to France after the war but passed away in relative obscurity.

Abdelkader Mesli
Born1902
Khemis, French Algeria
Died21 June 1961
Paris, France
NationalityFrench
Occupation(s)Islamic imam, resistance member
Known forResistance activities during World War II, helping rescue Jews

His actions were rediscovered long after his death, in the early 21st century. Historians' estimates of the number of people saved vary, but they range between 500 and 1600 individuals only for those of Jewish faith.

Biography

Birth and rise to the imamate

Abdelkader Mesli was born in 1902 in Khemis, French Algeria.[1] At the age of 17, he left his native country for Metropolitan France and arrived in Marseille.[2] He worked as a docker, carpenter, mine worker and salesman.[1] In the early 1930s, he was appointed imam of the Grand Mosque of Paris, a position he held on a voluntary basis.[1][3] At the same time, he was listed in the records of the North African Affairs Service of the Paris Prefecture, which was responsible for spying and monitoring the activities of North Africans in mainland France.[4]

Second World War, Resistance and deportation

When the Second World War started, he got involved with Kaddour Benghabrit, rector of the mosque, in rescuing Jews by issuing false certificates of Muslim faith.[1] This technique saved between 500 and 1600 people according to historians.[1][2][5]

In 1942, Abdelkader Mesli was sent to Bordeaux as Muslim chaplain at the Château du Hâ by Kaddour Benghabrit after Abdelkader Mesli was suspected by the German authorities.[1][6] He organized escapes there and continued to issue false certificates, despite the suspicions of the Kommandatur.[1] From February 1943 onwards, he became involved in a French Resistance[1][2][3] organization by joining the Army Resistance Organization (ORA).[6][7] In this capacity, he handled forged documents and provided shelter for escaped African soldiers.[6] He had connections with Paul and Roger Valroff, who were his friends and provided assistance.[4] Paul Valroff wrote numerous letters to him, invited him to take care of his son Roger, and expressed his gratitude. For example, on September 6, 1943, Paul Valroff wrote to Abdelkader Mesli:[4]

"I apologize for imposing on you, and I thank you in advance for whatever you will do for a son. I hope to come to Bordeaux very soon and will be delighted to see you again. My dear friend, I send you all my friendship. The staff of the mosque asked me to send their regards to you."

On 5 July 1944, he was denounced and arrested alongside Roger Valroff in a restaurant in Bordeaux by the Gestapo and his home was raided by the French collaborationist police.[1][4] They confiscated from his home "three suits, an overcoat, two pairs of shoes, six shirts, three pairs of underwear, a dozen handkerchiefs, a gold watch, a gold ring with a stone, and a batch of goods reserved for Muslims."[4] He was deported to Dachau concentration camp, then transferred to Mauthausen.[1][3] At Dachau, he was assigned the prisoner number 94020, while at Mauthausen, his number was 98671.[4][8]

Despite extensive interrogations and torture, he did not denounce any resistant comrades.[1]

Return to France and last years

He was released on 24 May 1945, greatly weakened physically; he then weighed only 30 kg.[2] He then resumed his activity as an imam at the mosque of Bobigny (near Paris) and took care of the Muslim cemetery of Bobigny.[1][3]

He married Aïcha Mesli on July 24, 1951, at the Grand Mosque of Paris. They had two children together: Yamina Mesli (born in 1950) and Mohamed Mesli (born in 1951).[4] Mesli was appointed as an officer of the Order of the Ouissam Alaouite by Mohammed V, the King of Morocco.[4][6] He also received the Order of Liberation, the Combatant's Cross, and the Medal for Deportation and Internment for his role in the Resistance.[4] However, he never mentioned these honors during his lifetime, and it was only after his death that his family rediscovered his decorations.[4] On June 22, 1952, he visited the Douaumont ossuary, near Verdun, and took part in a ceremony organized there by Marshal Alphonse Juin as a representative of Kaddour Benghabrit.[9]

He died on 21 June 1961.[1]

Acknowledgement

His actions were forgotten after the Second World War. It was not until 2010 that his son, Mohamed, rediscovered his father's past and undertook to safeguard this family heritage.[1] Despite Abdelkader Mesli having remained relatively discreet about his involvement in the Resistance, he left behind a substantial body of written work and archives. Dozens of archival documents and testimonies are documented in the files he bequeaths to his children.[4]

Mesli has not been awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations because precise research has yet to be done by the Yad Vashem memorial.[2] On 12 March 2020, the council of Paris voted unanimously for a street in the French capital to bear the name of Abdelkader Mesli.[10] On 15 October 2021, the forecourt in front of the Grand Mosque of Paris bears his name.[3] A street has been named Abdelkader Mesli in Bobigny in his honor.[11]

On 16 October 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron gave an hommage to Abdelkader Mesli.[12][13]

Decorations

See also

Notes and references
  1. de Bengy, Raphaël (18 February 2015). "Mohamed Mesli : « Mon père, l'imam sauveur de juifs »". leparisien.fr (in French). Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  2. Cloarec, Glenn. "Abdelkader Mesli, l'imam parisien qui a sauvé des Juifs pendant la Shoah". fr.timesofisrael.com (in French). Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  3. "2021 DU 95 Dénomination parvis Abdelkader Mesli (5e)". paris.fr. 18 October 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  4. Aïssaoui, Mohammed (2012). L'étoile jaune et le croissant. Paris: Gallimard. ISBN 978-2-07-013891-3.
  5. "Une « résistance oubliée » : quand la Grande Mosquée de Paris venait en aide aux juifs". Middle East Eye édition française (in French). Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  6. Bouju, Marie-Cécile (2 October 2021), "MESLI Abdelkader", Le Maitron (in French), Paris: Maitron/Editions de l'Atelier, retrieved 25 October 2023
  7. Lefebvre-Filleau, Jean-Paul (2022). Les résistants de Dieu: chrétiens, juifs et musulmans unis contre le nazisme en France occupée. Éditions du Rocher. ISBN 978-2-268-10737-0.
  8. "98671 - Monument Mauthausen III". monument-mauthausen.org. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  9. "La Dépêche de Constantine : journal politique quotidien". Gallica. 22 June 1952. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  10. "Interview Crif – Une rue de Paris au nom d'Abdelkader Mesli, Imam et résistant : le mot de Karen Taïeb, adjointe à la mairie de Paris". Crif – Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France (in French). 22 March 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  11. Délibération du Conseil municipal de Bobigny, 6 July 2023, https://www.bobigny.fr/fileadmin/images/PDF/Conseils_municipaux_et_Actes_Administratifs/CM_2023/CM_du_06.07.2023/11_060723_C%C5%93ur_de_Ville_-_Convention_de_garantie_d_emprunts_accord%C3%A9e_%C3%A0_la_SA_HLM_Batig%C3%A8re.pdf
  12. "Grande Mosquée de Paris : "un havre de paix" selon Emmanuel Macron". Linfo.re. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  13. La-Croix.com. ""On peut être français et musulman, harmonieusement, indissolublement" déclare Emmanuel Macron". Documentation catholique – La Croix (in French). Retrieved 28 April 2023.
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