Nazi Germany's propaganda aimed at Arabs and Muslims during World War II and the Holocaust: Old themes, new archival findings

Central European History

Volumn 42, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 709-736

  Herf, Jeffrey ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND   (United States)

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EID: 77951037561     PISSN: 00089389     EISSN: 15691616     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S000893890999104X     Document Type: Review

References (95)

1. This article draws on my forthcoming study, Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World, with Yale University Press in fall 2009
2. It also builds on Jeffrey Herf, The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda During World War II and the Holocaust (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006)
3. See the classic study by Lukasz Hirszowicz, The Third Reich and the Arab East (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966)
4. and the recent important work by Klaus Michael Mallmann and Martin Cuppers, Halbmond und Hakenkreuz. Das Dritte Reich, die Araber und Palästina (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2006)
5. Also see Robert Lewis Melka, "The Axis and the Middle East: 1930-1945" (unpublished Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota, 1966)
6. Francis R. Nicosia, The Third Reich and the Palestine Question (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1999)
7. Josef Schröder, "Die Beziehungen der Achsenmächte zur Arabischen Welt," in Hitler, Deutschland und die Mächte. Materialien zur Außenpolitik des Dritten Reiches, ed. Manfred Funke (Dü sseldorf: Droste Verlag, 1976), 365-382
8. Philip Bernd Schröder, Deutschland in der Mittlere Osten im Zweiten Weltkrieg (Göttingen: Musterschmidt, 1975)
9. Wolfgang Schwanitz, Germany and the Middle East, 1871-1945 (Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2004)
10. and Heinz Tillmann, Deutschlands Araberpolitik im Zweiten Weltkrieg (Berlin: Deutsche Verlag der Wissenschaften, 1965)
11. The phrase is from Raymond Williams, Marxism and Literature (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977)
12. On traditions and their reworking by intellectuals, see Edward Shils, Tradition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981), 195-261
13. Also see Edward Shils, The Intellectuals and the Powers and Other Essays (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1972)
14. For a recent discussion of the impact of Nazism on the Middle East, see Matthias Küntzel, Jihad and Jew-Hatred: Islamism, Nazism, and the Roots of 9/11, trans. Colin Meade (New York: Telos Press, 2007)
15. Also see Bernard Lewis, Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice (New York: W. W. Norton, 1986 and 1999)
16. On the anti-Semitic traditions within the religion of Islam, see Andrew G. Bostom, ed., The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred Texts to Solemn History (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2008)
17. Jeffrey Herf, Reactionary Modernism: Technology, Culture, and Politics in Weimar and the Third Reich (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984)
18. For recent examples, see Gerhard Weinberg, A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994)
19. and Horst Boog et al., The Global War: Widening of the Conflict into a World War and the Shift of the Initiative, 1941-1943, trans. Ewald Osers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)
20. The German original is Horst Boog et al., Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg. Vol. 6, Der Globale Krieg: Die Ausweitung zum Weltkrieg und der Wechsel der Initiative, 1941-1943 (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1990)
21. Tillmann, Deutschlands Araberpolitik im Zweiten Weltkrieg
22. Hirszowicz, The Third Reich and the Arab East
23. Mallmann and Cuppers, Halbmond und Hakenkreuz
24. Also see Klaus Michael Mallmann and Martin Cuppers, "'Elimination of the Jewish National Home in Palestine': The Einsatzkommando of the Panzer Army Africa, 1942," Yad Vashem Studies 35, no. 1 (2007): 111-141
25. See J. C. Hurewitz, The Struggle for Palestine (New York: Schocken Books, 1976)
26. Benny Morris, Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001 (New York: Vintage, 1999, 2001), 128-135
27. and Yehoshua Porath, The Palestinian Arab National Movement: From Riots to Rebellion, Volume Two, 1929-1939 (London and Totowa, NJ: Frank Cass, 1977)
28. On Britain and Jewish emigration to Palestine, see Bernard Wasserstein, Britain and the Jews of Europe, 1939-1945, 2nd ed. (London and New York: Leicester University Press, 1999)
29. Tuvia Friling, Arrows in the Dark: David Ben-Gurion, the Yishuv Leadership, and Rescue Attempts during the Holocaust, trans. Ora Cummings (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2005), 64-65
30. In a speech in Palestine in 1942, Ben Gurion said, "The Nazis are not far away, but we are being threatened not only by Rommel in North Africa. We are also in danger of invasion from Syria and even Iraq and Turkey," 64. Robert Satloff has recently described policies of anti-Semitic persecution and the establishment of harsh labor camps during the North Africa occupation by Nazi Germany, Vichy France, and Fascist Italy. Yet as terrible as these policies were, the Nazis and their allies were unable to implement plans to engage in mass murder either in the region or via deportation to death camps in Europe. See Robert Satloff, Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Long Reach of the Holocaust into Arab Lands (New York: Public Affairs, 2006). In this sense, thanks to Allied military victories, the Holocaust was not extended to the Middle East
31. On Haj Amin el-Husseini and Nazi Germany, see Klaus Gensicke, Der Mufti von Jerusalem und die Nationalsozialisten. Eine politische Biographie Amin el-Husseinis (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2007)
32. Zvi Elpeleg, The Grand Mufti: Haj Amin al-Hussaini, Founder of the Palestinian National Movement, trans. David Harvey, ed. Shmuel Himelstein (London: Frank Cass, 1993)
33. and Joseph B. Schechtman, The Mufti and the Führer: The Rise and Fall of Haj Amin el-Husseini (New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1965)
34. and Anthony De Luca, "'Der Grossmufti' in Berlin: The Politics of Collaboration," International Journal of Middle East Studies 10, no. 1 (February 1979): 125-138
35. Husseini's major speeches in wartime Berlin have been published in German. See Gerhard Höpp, ed., Mufti-Papiere. Briefe, Memoranden, Reden und Aufrufe Amīn al-usainīs aus dem Exil 1940-1945 (Berlin: Schwarz, 2001)
36. See my examination of some of the texts in Herf, Jewish Enemy, 172-174, 179-180, and 243-244
37. Also see Philip Mattar, The Mufti of Jerusalem (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988)
38. One well-known announcer was Yunus Bahri. He has written a memoir in Arabic of his years in Berlin. See Yunus Bahri, Hunā Birlīn, ayy al-Arab (Beirut: Dār al-Nashr lil-Jāmi Tīyīn, 1955)
39. On the central role of the German Foreign Ministry in producing foreign-language propaganda, see Peter Longerich, Propagandisten im Krieg. Die Presseabteilung des Auswärtigen Amtes unter Ribbentrop (Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1987)
40. Anne H. Fuller, "Memorandum on Radio Reception in the Near East and India" (August 18, 1941), National Archives and Record Administration, College Park (hereafter NARA), Record Group (hereafter RG) 208, Records of the Office of War Information, Informational Files on the Near East, 1941-1946, Box 417
41. See "Egypt" and "Libya," World Survey of Education, vol. 1 (Paris: UNESCO, 1955), 216 and 424
42. On literacy in Palestine, see Ami Ayalon, Reading Palestine: Printing and Literacy, 1900-1948 (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2004), 16-17. By contrast, the literacy rates for Christians in Palestine in 1947 were eighty-five percent for men and sixty-five percent for women
43. On the courier network, see "Enemy Courier Systems in Turkey and Syria," NARA, RG 226, Records of the Office of Strategic Services, Cairo SI/X-2, Box 4
44. Alexander Kirk, "Telegram Sent, September 13, 1941, 8 p.m., to Department of State from Cairo Legation, Number 1361," 1-3, NARA RG 84, Foreign Service Posts of the U.S. Department of State (hereafter RG 84), Cairo Legation and Embassy, Secret and Confidential General Records, 1939, 1941-1947, 1941, 820.02-830, Box 4, Folder 820.02 1941
45. On some examples of the distribution of the Kirk dispatches to other agencies of the United States government, see Shlomo Aronson, "Dimensions of Allied Response to Hitler's 'Jewish Politics' and the Deepening of the Trap," in Aronson, Hitler, the Allies, and the Jews (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 54-64
46. Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, trans. Ralph Mannheim (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1943 and 1971), 658-659
47. On these discussions, see "Zugehö rigkeit der Ägypter, Iraker, Iraner, Perser und Türken zur arischen Rasse, Bd. 1, 1935-1936," Politisches Archive des Auswärtiges Amt (Berlin) R99173
48. Werner Schipps,Wortschlacht im Äther. Der deutsche Auslandsrundfunk im ZweitenWeltkrieg (Berlin: Haude and Spenersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1971), 16
49. 27"Auswärtiges Amt, Politische Abteilung," PAAA R67478 Referat Ru Pers. Ru HS, Bd. 3: Haushalt, Personal (Handakte Bartsch), 1939-1943, Bde. 3-4
50. "Haushaltsvoranschlag der Rundfunkpolitische Abteilung des Auswärtigen Amtes vom 1.4.1942 bis 31.3.1943, PAAA Rundfunkpolitische Abteilung, R67477 Referat Ru Pers. Ru HS, Bd. 1: Verwaltung Organisation 1941-1943, Bde. 2-3
51. "Anlage 1: Zahlenmäßige Übersicht über den Inlandspersonalbestand der Abteilung Ru., Stand vom 1.9.1942," PAAA Rundfunkpolitische Abteilung, R67477 Referat Ru Pers. Ru HS, Bd. 1: Verwaltung Organisation 1941-1943, Bde. 2-3
52. "Personalbestand der Rundfunkpolitische Abteilung (Berlin, August 14, 1943), PAAA Rundfunkpolitische Abteilung, R67476 Referat Ru Pers. Ru HS, Bd. 1: Verwaltung Organisation 1939-1945, Bde. 1-2
53. "Ü bersicht über die Arbeitsgebiete der Rundfunkpolitischen Abteilung und ihrer Referat, Anlage 6," PAAA Rundfunkpolitische Abteilung, R67477 Referat Ru Pers. Ru HS, Bd. 1: Verwaltung Organisation 1941-1943, Bde. 2-3. The leading officials in the Foreign Ministry dealing with the Middle East included Erwin Ettel, Fritz Grobba, Werner Otto von Hentig, Wilhelm Melchers, Carl Prüfer, and Ernst Woermann
54. "Abteilung Ru, Anlage 1a," R67477 Referat Ru Pers. Ru HS, Bd. 1: Verwaltung Organisation 1941-1943, Bde. 2-3
55. and "Anlage 1a, Abteilung Ru, Zahlenmäßige Übersicht über den Inlandspersonalbestand der Abteilung Ru., Stand vom 1.9.1942," PAAA Rundfunkpolitische Abteilung, R67477 Referat Ru Pers. Ru HS, Bd. 1: Verwaltung Organisation 1941-1943, Bde. 2-3
56. See Ludmila Hanisch, Die Nachfolger der Exegeten. Deutschsprachige Erforschung des Vorderen Orients in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003), 199
57. "Ü bersicht über die Arbeitsgebiete der rundfunkpolitischen Abteilung und ihrer Referat, Ref. VII Orient," 4
58. and "Rundfunkabteilung Inland, Personalstand 1.9.1942, Referat VII Orient," 16, PAAA Rundfunkpolitische Abteilung, R67477 Referat Ru Pers. Ru HS, Bd. 1: Verwaltung Organisation 1941-1943, Bde. 2-3
59. Personnel of the Orient office in the Foreign Ministry's Rundfunkpolitischen Abteilung. Also see Kurt Munzel, Ägyptischer-arabischer Sprachführer (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1958 and 1983)
60. Kult.R.Ref. VIII (VII) (Orient) Mn/P/B Kultureller Talk vom 3. Dezember 1940, "Ein Blatt über die Besetzung der Englander in Ägypten," Berlin (December 3, 1940), Bundesarchiv Berlin (BAB), R901 Auswärtiges Amt, R73039 Rundfunkabteilung, Ref. VIII Arabische und Iranische Sendungen, vorl. 39, Dez. 1940-Jan. 1941, 2
61. Herf, Reactionary Modernism (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984)
62. Bundesarchiv Berlin, [Lichterfelde] (BAB) R901 Auswärtiges Amt, R73039 Rundfunkabteilung, Ref. VIII Arabische und Iranische Sendungen, vorl. 39, Dez. 1940-Jan. 1941, Kult.R, Ref. VIII (Orient), Mu/Scha "Religiö serWochentalk vom 12. Dez. 1940 (arabisch) Die Freigebigkeit," broadcast on December 12, 1940, 14-16. Although most of the Division of Radio Policy files are Political Archive of the German Foreign Ministry, these files from 1940-1941 are in the Bundesarchiv in Lichterfelde
63. "Zur Regierungserklärung fü r die Araber," Talk vom 12. Dezember 1940 (arabisch), (BAB) R901 Auswärtiges Amt, R73039 Rundfunkabteilung, Ref. VIII Arabische und Iranische Sendungen, vorl. 39, Dez. 1940-Jan. 1941, Kult.R, Ref. VIII (Orient), Mu/Scha, 11-13
64. On Haj Amin al-Husseini and Rashid Ali el Khilani in Berlin, see Elpeleg, The Grand Mufti
65. Gensicke, Der Mufti von Jerusalem und die Nationalsozialisten
66. See Longerich, Propagandisten im Krieg
67. "No. 515, Memorandum by an Official of the Foreign Minister's Secretariat, Record of the Conversation between the Führer and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem on November 28, 1941, in the Presence of Reich Foreign Minister and Minster Grobba in Berlin," Berlin (November 30, 1941)
68. Documents on German Foreign Policy (DGFP) Series D (1937-1945) Volume XIII, The War Years, June 23-December 11, 1941 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1949-1984), 881-882, 884
69. Alexander Kirk to Secretary of State, "Telegram 340, General Summary of Tendencies in Axis Broadcasts in Arabic," Cairo (April 18, 1942), NARA, RG659, United States Department of State, Central Decimal File, 1940-1944, 740.0011/EuropeanWar 1939, Microcopy No. M982, Roll 114, 21414
70. "Despatch No. 502 from the American Legation at Cairo, Egypt, Axis Broadcasts in Arabic for the Period July 3 to 9, 1942, Cairo, July 21, 1942," 1, NARA, RG 84 Foreign Service Posts of the Department of State, General Records, Cairo Embassy, 1942, 815.4-820.02, Box 77
71. Fritz Grobba, "Juden sind die Drahtzieher der Amerikaner," Berlin (July 2, 1942), PAAA, R60690 Kult Pol, Orient. Juden um Roosevelt, 1941-1942, Bd. 1
72. Preikecher, "Aufzeichnung für die BFP im Stabe des Herrn Reichaussenministers Herrn Dr. Magerle," (March 16, 1943), NARA, RG242, Records of the German Foreign Office, Microcopy No. T120, roll 1015
73. See Nicosia, The Third Reich and the Palestine Question
74. On Nazi Germany and anti-Zionism, see Jeffrey Herf, "Convergence: The Classic Case Nazi Germany, Anti-Semitism, and Anti-Zionism during World War II," in Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism in Historical Perspective, ed. Jeffrey Herf (London and New York: Routledge, 2007), 50-71
75. "Office of War Information, Overseas Operations Branch, Washington, D.C., 'Weekly Propaganda Directive, Palestine,'" (November 14, 1942), NARA, RG165 Records of the War Department General and Special Staff, Military Intelligence Division (hereafter MID)
76. "Regional File." 1922-1944 Palestine, Box 2719, Folder 2930
77. See, for example, (George) Wadsworth, "United States Office of War Information, Beirut to SecState,Washington," (February 17, 1943), NARA RG84, Lebanon: U.S. Consulate and Legation and Embassy, Classified General Records, 1936-61, 1943: 110.2 to 1943-891 Box 8, 2-3
78. and George Britt, United States Office of War Information, Beirut, "Political Notes on Lebanon and Syria," (February 13, 1943), NARA RG84, Lebanon. U.S. Consulate Legation and Embassy Beirut, 1936-1941, Classified General Records 1943: 1943 110.2 to 1943 - 891, 1
79. and George Britt, "Beirut September to June" (June 1943) NARA RG84, Lebanon. U.S. Consulate Legation and Embassy Beirut, 1936-1941, Classified General Records 1943: 1943 110.2 to 1943 - 891, 7
80. "Berlin in Arabic," September 8, 1943
81. "Talk: The Ambitions of the Jews," Alexander Kirk to Secretary of State, Cairo (September 23, 1943)
82. "No. 1313, Axis Broadcasts in Arabic for the period September 2 to 8, 1943," NARA, RG 84, Egypt: Cairo Embassy General Records, 1933-1955, 820.00-822.00, 1943, Box 93
83. On Goebbels's "Do You Want Total War?" speech
84. Voice of Free Arabism, November 3, 1943, 8:15 p.m., "Palestine between the Bolsheviks and the Jews," Alexander Kirk to Secretary of State, Cairo (November 19, 1943), 6-7
85. Voice of Free Arabism, September 24, 1943, 8:15 p.m., "What are the Aims of International Zionism?," Alexander Kirk to Secretary of State, Cairo (October 5, 1943)
86. "No. 1410, Axis Broadcasts in Arabic for the period November 3 to 9, 1943," 1-2, NARA, RG 84, Egypt: Cairo Embassy General Records, 1933-1955, 820.00-822.00, 1943, Box 93
87. Voice of Free Arabism, November 5, 1943, 6:30 p.m., "The Protests of the Moslems of Europe against the Balfour Declaration," Alexander Kirk to Secretary of State, Cairo (November 19, 1943)
88. "No. 1410, Axis Broadcasts in Arabic for the period November 3 to 9, 1943," 3-4, NARA, RG 84, Egypt: Cairo Embassy General Records, 1933-1955, 820.00-822.00, 1943, Box 93
89. Haj Amin el-Husseini, Rede S. Em. [Sein Eminenz] Des Grossmufti anlasslich der Protestkundgebung gegen die Balfour-Erklärung am 2. November 1943 (Berlin: Islamische Zentral-Institut, 1943), PAAA R27327, Grossmufti, 1942-1944, 297878-886
90. "Berlin in Arabic," January 28, 1944
91. "Talk: Arabs and Moslems at War with Jewry," Alexander Kirk to Secretary of State, Cairo (February 6, 1944)
92. "No. 1581, Axis Broadcasts in Arabic for the Period January 22 to 28, 1944," NARA RG 84, Cairo Embassy General Records, 1936-1955: 1944, 820.02-822, Box 112
93. "Weekly Review of Foreign Broadcasts, F.C.C., No. 118, 3/4/44, Near and Middle East," NARA, RG165 MID
94. "'The Near East and the War Crimes Problem': Office of Strategic Services, Research and Analysis Branch, R and A, No. 1090.116, 23 June 1945, Situation Report: Near East, Analysis of Current Intelligence for the Use of OSS," 1-28, in NARA, RG 84, Syria: Damascus Legation, Confidential File, 1945: Vol. 1-2, 030-800B, Classified General Records, Box 4, Vol. II, 711-800B
95. "Hassan Al-Banna and the Mufti of Palestine" in "Contents of Secret Bulletin of Al Ikhwan al-Muslimin dated 11 June 1946," Cairo (July 23, 1946). NARA, RG 226, Office of Strategic Services, Washington Registry SI Intelligence, Field Files, Entry 108A, Box 15, Folder 2