Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World (37 page)

On January 11, 1944, Himmler addressed the Austrian and German commanders and the Bosnian members of the division in Neuhammer, Germany. In the course of a long (more than 3,000 words) speech, Himmler argued that the bond between Nazism and Islam was built on enduring common values as well as on shared enemies in the war. He also presented Hitler as a gift sent from God-and Allah.

It was clear: what should separate the Muslims in Europe and the whole world from us Germans! We have common goals. There is no more solid foundation for cooperation than shared goals and shared ideals. For 200 years, Germany has not had the slightest points of friction with Islam. In the past two centuries, Germany, its government, and leaders were friends of Islam on the basis of convictions, not opportunism or political expediency.

Today, we Germans and you in this division, you Muslims, share the feeling of thankfulness to destiny that almighty God-you say Allah, it is of course the same thing-sent the Fuhrer to the tortured and suffering people of Europe. It was the Fuhrer who first freed Europe and later will free the whole world from the Jews, this enemy of our countrywho took victory from our hands in 1918 and so that sacrifice of two million dead turned out to be for nothing. They [the Jews] are also your enemies for the Jew has always been your enemy.' 9

After the cooperation between Germans and Arabs in the propaganda offices in Berlin, the Bosnian SS division was the second locus of ongoing interac tion between National Socialism and ideologues of radical Islamism during the war. In April, Husseini, in cooperation with the SS, opened an "Imam-Institute" to train clerics for the troops. In an address at the opening of the institute, he spoke of "the success of cooperation between Muslims and the Great German Reich." The Islamic clerics working with the division worked closely with German officers on ideological issues. Indeed, the division's commander, KarlGustav Sauberzweig, reported that the Muslim recruits gladly adopted Nazi doctrine and even that "the Muslims, SS men in the Division, and the civilians are beginning to see in our Fuhrer the mission of a second prophet," that is, one following Mohammed. The political education of the troops included listening to lectures on "National Socialism and Islam;" "The Life of Our Fuhrer; and "The Meaning of This War." Husseini and the SS Main Office agreed that, rather than work toward a synthesis of National Socialism and Islam, the foundation for ideological education of the troops would be that "National Socialism will be conveyed as a volkisch-defined German world view while Islam will be presented as a volkisch-defined Arabic world view of the Muslims." Both had common enemies: first Jewry, then the Anglo-Americans, and third Commu- nism.20 Yet in a speech of October 4, 1944, to officers and imams associated with the division, Husseini stressed that "the parallels between National Socialism and Islam had become ever closer. These included: monotheism, defined as obedience to one spiritual, political, and military authority; an emphasis on obedience and discipline; and the celebration of battle and of labor." Islam and National Socialism, he continued, had also "moved very close to one another" regarding the need to fight against Jewry. In the war, "a victory for the Allies would constitute a victory for Jewry, and thus a great danger for the Muslims and for Islam in general. Cooperation of four hundred million Muslims with their real friends, the Germans, can have a great influence on the war. It is very useful for both. 1121

The division went into action in February 1944 and soon became known for its brutal and bloody methods of warfare against Jews, Communists, and partisans. By October 1944, as the tide of the war turned against the Germans, about 2,700 members of the division had deserted and joined Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslav artisans. In December, Himmler decided to dissolve the Bosnian SS division and send those volunteers still willing to fight among other units of the Wehrmacht or to be laborers in Germany. The SS admitted to the Foreign Office that there were, in fact, only 300 Arabs willing to serve in the "Arabic-Is lamic army" that Husseini and the SS hoped to create.22 Though a military failure, the Bosnian SS division produced photo opportunities for leaflets showing "the Grand Mufti" with the troops. In 1944, the Germans used their clandestine courier networks of fishing boats in the Mediterranean and railway employees in the Middle East to distribute thousands of copies.23

Himmler's remarkable effort to associate Hitler with divine intervention was an idea that had been percolating in the Reich Security Main Office. The institution that directed and implemented the Final Solution was heavily staffed with university graduates in law, the humanities, and social science. Its Orient Research Center (Forschungsstelle Orient) in Office VI (Amt VI) was located at the University of Tubingen and was directed by Walter Lorch. There, Otto Rossler, who had a doctorate and habilitation in Orient studies, cooperated with the SS on this project.24 On January a6, 1944, an RSHA official, Haupt- sturmfuhrer Zeischka, wrote to officials in the Propaganda Ministry about "the publication and distribution of leaflets in Arab countries." Himmler had requested research to determine "whether certain religious ideas of the Muslims regarding the Fiihrer can be connected to predictions in the Koran." The initial research had attributed "extraordinary importance" to religious ideas that could offer further detail to Himmler's comments about God's decision to send Hitler to Europe. Zeischka attached the text of a leaflet to be translated into Arabic and distributed. If the Propaganda Ministry and the Foreign Ministry were willing to produce the leaflet, the RSHA was ready to have its intelligence service connections in the Arab world distribute the leaflet "so that a mass action essential to achieve the desired propaganda impact can be accomplished." Zeischka continued, noting that a "rapid decision is requested" because the political situation in the Middle East, especially in Palestine, was "becoming increasingly tense" as the period of Jewish immigration allowed by the British White Paper of 1939 was coming to an end. Office VI thought this was a propitious moment to engage in this kind of leaflet propaganda. The memo from the RSHA research staff read as follows:

The people in the Orient often actually believe that the Fiihrer is a Nebi (Prophet). The admiration for his personality is expressed in this naive form. However, we cannot make further use of the fact that [Hitler is called the prophet] because to do so would bring us into conflict with official Islamic theology, according to which another prophet cannot exist following Mohammed, who was called the "seal of the prophet." In the [Islamic] literature as well as in popular custom the idea of a superhuman form who will appear at the end of days to free the world from horror and to help Islam to final victory is widespread. Such belief refers to the idea of the Mahdi, whose roots are in the Koran, though the name "Mahdi" is not expressly used there. The Mahdi comes from the Prophet Mohammed's family to help bring about the victory of belief and justice and to dominate the Islamic empire. This idea ... is particularly popular among the common people and comes to the foreground especially in difficult times. Therefore, in the course of Islamic history, men have repeatedly come forward claiming to be the Mahdi. However, for our purposes the idea of the Mahdi is not usable because it is essential that the Mahdi descend from the Prophet. A non-Arab [such as Hitler] cannot be such a descendant.

However, the Muslim's mythic images of the future also include other details to which we can certainly connect. At the time of the Mahdi, Isa (that is, Jesus) will also appear and with his spear kill the awful Dadjdjal (the great liar, the Antichrist), symbol so to speak of the suffering of the last days. According to the famous Muslim historian Tabari, Dadjdjal is a giant and the king of the Jews who dominates and oppresses the whole world. Itwould notbe difficult to identify today's Jewish-capitalist world power with the mythic Dadjdjal who is overcome by Isa (Jesus), whom the Koran predicts will return. In this regard, it's also interesting that the North African Arabs play a word game with Rommel's name and render it as "spear."

From our perspective, it is admittedly odd to identify the Fiihrer with Isa-Jesus. However, for the Muslims, who have a completely different image of Jesus than ours, and for whom the returning Isa is more like an Arab knight, there is nothing odd about such an identification. It would be best to express this identity only indirectly. It would come from the Muslims themselves if we succeeded in popularizing the idea among them that world Jewry is the Dadj dj al. It is highly probable that this view would be well received not only among the common people. It would also be well received among the educated strata and the theologians or at least would not arouse disagreement and contradiction from them. 25

On February 7, 1944, Dr. Schmidt-Dumont replied for the Foreign Division of the Propaganda Ministry, writing that its officials agreed with the suggestion from the SS. The Arabic text should be read by "Dr. K. E. Galal," that is, Kamal ad-Din Galal, the editor of Barid al-Schark (Orient Post) for its adequacy in Arabic. Schmidt-Dumont would seek approval from the Foreign Ministry.26 By mid-March, Zeischka reported that Goebbels had approved publication of one million Arabic-language leaflets. The decision of the Foreign Ministry was pending. Galal read the initial draft and reported that it had "no content or meaning" and was composed of "disconnected sentences that ... belong in the wastebasket." Zeischka requested a new translation of the text.27 On April 6, 1944, Schmidt-Dumont reported that the Foreign Office agreed with distribution of a million copies of the revised text.28 In late June, the Propaganda Ministry paid 1,650 reichmarks to print them for distribution in the Arab coun- tries.29 The German Federal Archives hold the German and Arabic texts of the leaflet but do not indicate whether it was distributed, though the fact that a million copies were printed suggests that it was. In any case, the correspondence surrounding the leaflet vividly documents the efforts of the Research Office of Himmler's RSHA, of the Arabic-language propaganda divisions of the Foreign Ministry, and of the Propaganda Ministry to connect Hitler to Islamic tradi- tions.30 The translation of the Arabic text reads as follows:

We know that the Antichrist will appear at the end of days and he will enter and deceive ... and this time will be a time of great oppression for the believers.

Abu Jaafar Mohamed bin Jabir al Tabri, the famous Arab historian said that the Anti-Christ is a tyrant and Jewish king who will possess the whole worldMohamed bin Ismail Abu Abdallah al Jaafar al Bukhari said that the Antichrist is fat with curly hair.

Oh Arabs, have you seen that the time of the Antichrist has come? Do you know him? This the fat [curly-haired] Jew that deceives the whole world and who lords over the whole world and steals the land of the Arabs. He is the ally of the devil. We know that the kingdom of the Antichrist is not eternal. Abdallah bin Masr al Bidawi said that God sends his servant, and he will kill the Antichrist with his lance and fight his palaces.

Oh Arabs, do you know the servant of God? He has appeared in the world and turned his spear against the Antichrist and his allies and has injured them deeply, and he will kill the Antichrist as it is written and will fight his palaces and his allies will fall into hell.31

In addition to the above effort to identify Hitler as "God's servant" now on earth to "kill the Dadjdjal," the RSHA also intended to distribute a series of fifteen photos showing Husseini with the Bosnian Muslim soldiers of the SS Mountain Division Handschar through its network of agents in Syria, Iraq, and Palestine.32

Husseini's involvement with the Muslim SS division, and the division itself, became a point of pride in German Arabic leaflets distributed in the Middle East. The following text was aimed directly at the Muslim soldiers fighting in Yugoslavia in 1944. "Go forth lightly armed and heavily armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of God. That is best for you if you but knew the Quran al Karim, the struggle against the enemies of Islam who act brutally against Muslims, and who follow ... Judaism, is a duty of all Muslims. `You will find the most vehement of mankind in hostility to the believers to be the Jews,' the Quran al Karim. 1133 In the face of setbacks on various battlefields, the German propaganda offensive on the radio continued unabated. On the evening of January 31, Berlin in Arabic commented on Hitler's speech of the previous day. Rather than translate the speech, which focused on events in Europe, the broadcast stated that the war would end either in a German or Bolshevik victory. "In the former case, the Arabs would have complete freedom and would be masters of their own destiny; in the latter, the Jews would master the world." In the same broadcast, the station attacked Iraq's prime minister, Nouri El Said, for supposedly agreeing to open Iraqi markets to Jewish citrus fruits. It reported, typically without offering a source, that "the Jews regard Nouri El Said as their firm friend who helps them in all their difficulties." '131 The guilt by association in that statement was clear to the station's regular listeners. On February 3, Berlin in Arabic reported that the United States Senate had approved the abolition of restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine established in Britain's White Paper and had "opened the gates of Palestine to unrestricted Jewish immigration."35 The following evening, Berlin in Arabic reported that the German press "repudiates the demands of Weizmann the Jew for sending two million Jews more into Palestine." It quoted the Volkischer Beobachter, the Nazi Party and regime's official newspaper, that Germany's stance on Palestine was "very clear and unalterable.... Palestine must enjoy her full freedom and sovereignty after the German victory."36

In the course of the war, American and Soviet power grew both absolutely and relative to that of Britain. Nazi propaganda, which noted the shift beginning with the American landings in North Africa in fall 1942, continued to do so in early 1944. On February 6, Berlin in Arabic discussed a speech about "Arabism" by Alfred Rosenberg, a leading anti-Semitic ideologue and the editor of the Volkischer Beobachter. The British, he said, were now "uncertain and fearful" of what to do in Palestine because they realized "that the existence of their Empire depends on Zionism and the Jews." Yet, if they ignored "Arab rights," there would be "no end to their troubles." Therefore, the Jews had "turned to the United States and the Bolsheviks" to aid them in realizing their "illegal aims ... directed towards the usurpation of Arab rights in Arab countries." Rosenberg stated that it was "obvious that the United Nations [that is, the Allies] had become toys in Jewish hands and were completely under the influence of Jewish parasitic organizations." Yet he was confident that "the persistent Jewish parasitical demands would be checked so that humanity could rid itself completely of the Jewish plague." As Ribbentrop had stated, supporting Arab indepen dence remained "a vital factor in German policy."37 The following evening, Berlin in Arabic attacked another apparent sign of American support for the Jews when it reported that William Green, president of the American Federation of Craftsmen [i.e., American Federation of Labor], said that the "British government" should acquiesce to Jewish demands because Jews are more important than Arabs."38 On the fourteenth, VFA repeated a familiar theme in "Jews Dominate Anglo-Saxons." America was "under the thumb of the Jews ... Roosevelt and his collaborators are the servants of the Jews." Along with Churchill, Roosevelt had fabricated a conspiracy to cancel the White Paper's restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine, but this was in vain because "Arabism will defeat the Jews whether the Anglo-Saxons desire it or not."39 Nazi broadcasts sought to accustom listeners to habits of thinking or rather, nonthinking. They strung together one false, undocumented assertion after another about the power of the Jews that were supposed to prove the truth of an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that then culminated in a prediction of Arab victory. In addition to providing various interpretations of the course of events, the broadcasts indicated an inclination to think in conspiratorial terms about political events, as has been noted by scholars of postwar Arab politics.40