From the time of his capture by French soldiers May 1945 to his “escape” to Egypt in May 1946, Haj Amin al-Husseini was held under house arrest near Paris by the French government. This chapter draws on files of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to offer a detailed account of Husseini’s conversations with French officials; France’s rejection of Britain’s modest efforts to have him extradited; the French Foreign Ministry’s hopes that lenient treatment of “the Mufti” would meet with approval in the Arab states; and Husseini’s expression of gratitude to France.

In France, the most important source of support for Zionist aspirations came from two Socialist ministers, Edouard Depreux, and Jules Moch, in the shifting cabinets of the Fourth Republic. In 1947 Depreux was minister of the interior, in charge of police and visa regulations. Moch was minister of public transport, with control over harbors crucial for immigration, such as the port of Marseille. The files of the French Interior Ministry reveal Depreux and Moch’s efforts to resist British efforts to stop French assistance to Jewish immigration to Palestine. The issues came to a head in the Exodus affair of summer 1947.