Together: A Story of Paris, Nazis, Jews and Muslims, based on True Events

When one considers what happened in Paris last week it is perhaps an opportune time to show this short film which is based on true events.  Together (Ensemble in French and directed by Mohamed Fekrane) is set in 1942 at the height of the Nazi occupation of France.

The round-ups of Jewish people has begun but one small child, Isaac, escapes them.  He seeks refuge in a place which, over sixty years later, might make one incredulous – the Paris Mosque.

There he comes under the protection of Si Kaddour Benghabrit, the Imam of the mosque, together with a number of other children.  Faced with a terrible predicament, the Imam and his community must choose between giving up the children to certain death or risking their own lives: the Nazis are hot on the trail of the missing children.

It has been estimated that Kaddour Benghabrit and his brethren saved between 600 and 1500 Jewish lives.  This, surely, and not the atrocities committed in Paris last week, shows the embodiment of Islam in its truest form.