Modern Times

To Later instances of forced conversion occurred in *Persia . From 1622 to 1629 the Jews of *Isfahan were compelled to accept Islam, and in 1656 Abbas II issued a decree ordering all Persian Jewry to convert, despite open protest and petitions. The specific ceremonies attending their acceptance into Islam and the name by which they were known, *Jadid al-Islam (New Muslims), show that a typical anusim existence and society was created there. In 1839 the entire Jewish community of *Meshed was forced to convert in similar circumstances. Outwardly devout Muslims, they meticulously continued to observe the Jewish rites in secret, as did their descendants, who were also known as the Jadid al-Islam.The lot of European Jews, particularly Jewish children, who outwardly embraced Christianity in order to save their lives during the Nazi persecution between 1939 and 1945 was in many ways similar to that of the anusim of former ages. It has proved impossible to assess the number of conversions among the Jewish people in this period. Research into this question has been further complicated by emotion and anger on the part of Jews against those who tried "to steal souls" during the *Holocaust on the one hand, and on the other, of gratitude to those who had endangered their lives to save the children.