"There Are No Jews in Morocco"

The German invasion of France in 1940 also had consequences for the French colonies. Morocco had been a French protectorate since 1912, with Sultan Mohammed V at its head. The decree of the French Vichy government of 30 October 1940 forbidding Jews to hold public offices also applied to Morocco. Morocco had always had a fairly large Jewish community, traditionally protected by the sultan. So the sultan refused to carry out these (and later) measures with the words: "There are no Jews in Morocco, only Moroccan subjects." The Dutch photographer Joh. de Haas visited Morocco in 1939, and reported from several cities. He noted on his photos of the Jewish Mellah (ghetto) in Fes: "Where time stood still."