Nazi relations with the Arab world
Encyclopedia
During the era of Nazi Germany
(1933–1945), the relationship between the Nazi movement and leadership and the Arab world
encompassed contempt, propaganda, collaboration and in some instances emulation.
and the Nazis considered the Arabs to be an inferior race.
The "Nazis viewed the Arabs with contempt. Arabs in Germany received the discriminatory treatment consistent with Nazi racial theories."
Historian Bernard Lewis
explained that the Arabs, in Nazi Germany's classification, shared the inferiority ascribed by Nazi ideology to the Jews
, references to their inferiority were expressed from time to time, such as slurs – in a August 1939 speech by Hitler – on the peoples of the Middle East
, among other non-Europeans, as "painted half-apes, who want to feel the whip." Hitler's description of Arabs as "half apes." has been well publicized.
As the Führer had racist objections to Arabs, he declined to shake the Mufti's hand (in their 1941 meeting) and refused to drink coffee with him.
Massive programs of propaganda were launched in the Arab world, first by Fascist Italy and later on by Nazi Germany. The Nazis in particular focused in impacting on the new generation of political thinkers and activists.
Adolf Hitler
was celebrated in large parts of the Arab world, and some newspapers even likened him to the Prophet. Rommel
was almost as popular as Hitler. Arabs Shouting of "Heil Rommel" was a common greeting in Arab countries. After France's defeat to Nazi Germany in 1940, Arabs were chanting against the French and British around the streets of Damascus: "No more Monsieur, no more Mister, Allah's in Heaven and Hitler's on earth." Posters with Arabic sayings: “In heaven God is your ruler, on earth Hitler." were frequently displayed in shops in the towns of Syria
.
"Hitler himself was Islamicized on the radio and by word of mouth as Abu Ali, and in Egypt he was deemed as Muhammad Haidar. As such, he was prayed for in every village," say historians.
The founder of the Baath wrote in his memoirs about Fascism and Nazi ideology among some important founders of the Baath, that when it was still called the National Arab Party (1939–40) and led mainly by Zaki al-Arsuzi, Arsuzi believed in the "racial purity and nobility of the Arabs." He wrote: "We were racists. We admired the Nazis. We were immersed in reading Nazi literature and books that were the source of the Nazi spirit...We were the first who thought of a translation of Mein Kampf. Anyone who lived in Damascus at that time was witness to the Arab inclination toward Nazism."
Gamal Abdel Nasser
(who would become Egypt's second president in 1956) recorded his sympathy and his disappointment at Germany's defeat. Rashid Ali al-Gaylani was resuscitated as a hero in Saddam Hussein
's Iraq.
leadership to have worked with the Nazis and aiding them, the two most noted were: Haj Amin Al-Husseini the ex-Mufti, the spiritual leader of British Mandate Palestine, notoriously anti-Jewish, and the Iraqi prime minister Rashid Ali al-Gaylani.
The ex-Mufti had agents in Kingdom of Iraq
, Syria and in Mandate Palestine
.
On November 28, 1941, he met with Hitler.
In 1941 the Mufti orchestrated a coup d'état, with Nazi support and financing, led by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani.
Anwar Sadat
, who later became president of Egypt
, was a willing co-operator in Nazi Germany's espionage according to his own memoirs.
pogrom against the Jews of Baghdad
by pro-Nazi Arabs, which resulted in the death of 140 Jews and the injury of 700 more, was led by the Hitler youth
-modeled Iraqi-Arab Futuwwa
paramilitary group under pro-Nazi Iraqi minister of education Saib Shawkat
who praised Hitler for eradicating Jews.
At the Wannsee Conference
, Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler’s deputy and head of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Security Main Office, or RSHA), noted the numbers of Jews to be murdered, and officially listed the figure of 700,000 Jews for "France/unoccupied territory”, including by that the Jews in unoccupied France’s North Africa possessions, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
Sir Martin Gilbert, well-known historian and Holocaust scholar, makes the case in his Atlas of the Holocaust that “It was not only in Europe, but also in North Africa that Jews were at risk” (page 137). On page 85, in map 99 “Jews Marked Out for Death, 20 January 1942,” Gilbert specifies, “France Unoccupied Zone: 700,000 including French North Africa.” In his book The Holocaust: A Jewish Tragedy (published in the United States as The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe during the Second World War), Gilbert explains that “…700,000, a figure which included the Sephardi Jews in France’s North African possessions, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia… (page 282).”
Robert Satloff, in his book, “Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust’s Long Reach into Arab Lands” (New York: Public Affairs, 2006. pp. 18–19) firmly agrees with Gilbert’s statements, writing that “evidence of German ambition to target the Jews of these Arab lands can be found in the country-by-country plan for the extermination of Jews approved by Nazi leaders who gathered at the infamous Wannsee Conference in Berlin in January 1942. … The hugely inflated Wannsee number for the Jews of unoccupied France was no mistake, because it included the hundreds of thousands of Jews who lived in France’s North African possessions: the colony of Algeria and the two protectorates … of Morocco … and … Tunisia”
Thus, the SS had established a special unit in 1942 to "to Kill Jews in North Africa." It was led by SS Obersturmbannführer, Walter Rauff
, an experienced mass murderer who helped develop the mobile gassing vehicles the Germans used to murder Jewish people in Europe. The unit also established a network of labor camps in Tunisia where over 2,500 Tunisian Jews perished during a six months Nazi rule, the Tunisian Arabs' army was also involved in executions.
SS units carrying out Nazis' atrocities in the Balkans
.
The three divisions of Muslim ("holy warriors"
) SS soldiers involved in the region included: The Waffen SS 13th Handschar "Knife", the 23rd Kama "Dagger" and the 21st Skenderbeg
, Although it is not often mentioned, particularly in the growing tide of western anti-islamism, but local clerics actually discouraged Bosnian Muslims from joining these SS units. They were acting against Christians and against Jews.
and was "obviously Nazi in form" according to historian Bernard Lewis
. The Syrian Social Nationalist Party
(SSNP), one of the most prominent right-wing Syrian political parties, adopted the styles of fascism: its emblem, the red hurricane, was taken from the Nazi swastika
, leader Anton Saada was known as al-za'im (the Führer), and the party anthem was "Syria, Syria, fiber alles" sung to the same tune as the German national anthem. He founded the fascist SSNP with a program that Syrians were "a distinctive and naturally superior race."
the 'phenomenon of sympathy for Adolf Hitler and for Nazism in the Arab world.' She asserted that sympathy for Hitler takes two forms: popular admiration for his leadership and pseudo-intellectual sympathy. She cited as an example of admiration for Hitler in contemporary Arabia the justification by Islamic cleric Hussam Fawzi Jabar of Hitler's actions against the Jews in an Egyptian talk show, aired 2010.
In a broadcast which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on 28 January 2009, Egyptian Islamic theologian Yusuf al-Qaradawi
stated:
Scholars such as Robert Wistrich and Bernard Lewis have proposed the existence of ideological similarities between Islamic fundamentalism
and Nazism, specifically a shared anti-Semitism.
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
(1933–1945), the relationship between the Nazi movement and leadership and the Arab world
Arab world
The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
encompassed contempt, propaganda, collaboration and in some instances emulation.
Nazi perspective towards the Arabs
Despite the cooperation and association of some Arabs with the Nazis, Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and the Nazis considered the Arabs to be an inferior race.
The "Nazis viewed the Arabs with contempt. Arabs in Germany received the discriminatory treatment consistent with Nazi racial theories."
Historian Bernard Lewis
Bernard Lewis
Bernard Lewis, FBA is a British-American historian, scholar in Oriental studies, and political commentator. He is the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University...
explained that the Arabs, in Nazi Germany's classification, shared the inferiority ascribed by Nazi ideology to the Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, references to their inferiority were expressed from time to time, such as slurs – in a August 1939 speech by Hitler – on the peoples of the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, among other non-Europeans, as "painted half-apes, who want to feel the whip." Hitler's description of Arabs as "half apes." has been well publicized.
As the Führer had racist objections to Arabs, he declined to shake the Mufti's hand (in their 1941 meeting) and refused to drink coffee with him.
Arab reception of Hitler and Nazis
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
was celebrated in large parts of the Arab world, and some newspapers even likened him to the Prophet. Rommel
Rommel
Erwin Rommel was a German World War II field marshal.Rommel may also refer to:*Rommel *Rommel Adducul , Filipino basketball player*Rommel Fernández , first Panamanian footballer to play in Europe...
was almost as popular as Hitler. Arabs Shouting of "Heil Rommel" was a common greeting in Arab countries. After France's defeat to Nazi Germany in 1940, Arabs were chanting against the French and British around the streets of Damascus: "No more Monsieur, no more Mister, Allah's in Heaven and Hitler's on earth." Posters with Arabic sayings: “In heaven God is your ruler, on earth Hitler." were frequently displayed in shops in the towns of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
.
"Hitler himself was Islamicized on the radio and by word of mouth as Abu Ali, and in Egypt he was deemed as Muhammad Haidar. As such, he was prayed for in every village," say historians.
The founder of the Baath wrote in his memoirs about Fascism and Nazi ideology among some important founders of the Baath, that when it was still called the National Arab Party (1939–40) and led mainly by Zaki al-Arsuzi, Arsuzi believed in the "racial purity and nobility of the Arabs." He wrote: "We were racists. We admired the Nazis. We were immersed in reading Nazi literature and books that were the source of the Nazi spirit...We were the first who thought of a translation of Mein Kampf. Anyone who lived in Damascus at that time was witness to the Arab inclination toward Nazism."
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
(who would become Egypt's second president in 1956) recorded his sympathy and his disappointment at Germany's defeat. Rashid Ali al-Gaylani was resuscitated as a hero in Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
's Iraq.
Cooperation
Among the ArabArab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
leadership to have worked with the Nazis and aiding them, the two most noted were: Haj Amin Al-Husseini the ex-Mufti, the spiritual leader of British Mandate Palestine, notoriously anti-Jewish, and the Iraqi prime minister Rashid Ali al-Gaylani.
The ex-Mufti had agents in Kingdom of Iraq
Kingdom of Iraq
The Kingdom of Iraq was the sovereign state of Iraq during and after the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. The League of Nations mandate started in 1920. The kingdom began in August 1921 with the coronation of Faisal bin al-Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi as King Faisal I...
, Syria and in Mandate Palestine
Mandate Palestine
Mandate Palestine existed while the British Mandate for Palestine, which formally began in September 1923 and terminated in May 1948, was in effect...
.
On November 28, 1941, he met with Hitler.
In 1941 the Mufti orchestrated a coup d'état, with Nazi support and financing, led by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani.
Anwar Sadat
Anwar Sadat
Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981...
, who later became president of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, was a willing co-operator in Nazi Germany's espionage according to his own memoirs.
Iraq
The 1941 Mufti-inspired FarhudFarhud
Farhud refers to the pogrom or "violent dispossession" carried out against the Jewish population of Baghdad, Iraq, on June 1-2, 1941 during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. The riots occurred in a power vacuum following the collapse of the pro-Nazi government of Rashid Ali while the city was in a...
pogrom against the Jews of Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
by pro-Nazi Arabs, which resulted in the death of 140 Jews and the injury of 700 more, was led by the Hitler youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
-modeled Iraqi-Arab Futuwwa
Futuwwa
Futuwwa is a Sufi term that has some similarities to chivalry and virtue. It was also a name of ethical urban organizations or "guilds" in mediaeval Muslim realms that emphasised honesty, peacefulness, gentleness, generosity, avoidance of complaint and hospitality in life. According to Ibn...
paramilitary group under pro-Nazi Iraqi minister of education Saib Shawkat
Saib Shawkat
Saib Shawkat was an Iraqi doctor and Arab nationalist leader.- Medical career :He was from an upscale patriotic Baghdadian family and studied at a medical school in Istanbul 1913-1918, completing post-graduate studies in general surgery in Germany...
who praised Hitler for eradicating Jews.
The Holocaust in North Africa
On January 20, 1942, 15 high-ranking Nazi Party and German government officials met at a villa in Wannsee, a Berlin suburb, to coordinate the execution of the "Final Solution” of the Jewish Question (Endlösung). In the Wannsee document, the word “Europe” included France’s three overseas Arab colonies of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, as per the term “unoccupied France.”At the Wannsee Conference
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference was to inform administrative leaders of Departments responsible for various policies relating to Jews, that Reinhard Heydrich...
, Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler’s deputy and head of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Security Main Office, or RSHA), noted the numbers of Jews to be murdered, and officially listed the figure of 700,000 Jews for "France/unoccupied territory”, including by that the Jews in unoccupied France’s North Africa possessions, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
Sir Martin Gilbert, well-known historian and Holocaust scholar, makes the case in his Atlas of the Holocaust that “It was not only in Europe, but also in North Africa that Jews were at risk” (page 137). On page 85, in map 99 “Jews Marked Out for Death, 20 January 1942,” Gilbert specifies, “France Unoccupied Zone: 700,000 including French North Africa.” In his book The Holocaust: A Jewish Tragedy (published in the United States as The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe during the Second World War), Gilbert explains that “…700,000, a figure which included the Sephardi Jews in France’s North African possessions, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia… (page 282).”
Robert Satloff, in his book, “Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust’s Long Reach into Arab Lands” (New York: Public Affairs, 2006. pp. 18–19) firmly agrees with Gilbert’s statements, writing that “evidence of German ambition to target the Jews of these Arab lands can be found in the country-by-country plan for the extermination of Jews approved by Nazi leaders who gathered at the infamous Wannsee Conference in Berlin in January 1942. … The hugely inflated Wannsee number for the Jews of unoccupied France was no mistake, because it included the hundreds of thousands of Jews who lived in France’s North African possessions: the colony of Algeria and the two protectorates … of Morocco … and … Tunisia”
Thus, the SS had established a special unit in 1942 to "to Kill Jews in North Africa." It was led by SS Obersturmbannführer, Walter Rauff
Walter Rauff
Walter Rauff , was an SS officer in Nazi Germany, attaining the grade of Colonel in June 1944...
, an experienced mass murderer who helped develop the mobile gassing vehicles the Germans used to murder Jewish people in Europe. The unit also established a network of labor camps in Tunisia where over 2,500 Tunisian Jews perished during a six months Nazi rule, the Tunisian Arabs' army was also involved in executions.
Eastern Europe
The Mufti Haj Amin Al-Husseini led MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
SS units carrying out Nazis' atrocities in the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
.
The three divisions of Muslim ("holy warriors"
) SS soldiers involved in the region included: The Waffen SS 13th Handschar "Knife", the 23rd Kama "Dagger" and the 21st Skenderbeg
21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg (1st Albanian)
The 21st Division of the SS Skanderbeg was a Mountain division of the SS set up by Heinrich Himmler in March 1944, officially under the title of the 21. Waffen-Gebirgs Division der SS Skanderbeg...
, Although it is not often mentioned, particularly in the growing tide of western anti-islamism, but local clerics actually discouraged Bosnian Muslims from joining these SS units. They were acting against Christians and against Jews.
Arab incorporation and emulation of fascism
The 1930 saw many movements in the Arab world emerging in fascist and Nazi forms. The Young Egypt Party ("Green shirts") most resembled Hitler youthHitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
and was "obviously Nazi in form" according to historian Bernard Lewis
Bernard Lewis
Bernard Lewis, FBA is a British-American historian, scholar in Oriental studies, and political commentator. He is the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University...
. The Syrian Social Nationalist Party
Syrian Social Nationalist Party
The Syrian Social Nationalist Party , is a secular nationalist political party in Lebanon and Syria. It advocates the establishment of a Syrian nation state spanning the Fertile Crescent, including present day Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Israel, Cyprus, Kuwait,...
(SSNP), one of the most prominent right-wing Syrian political parties, adopted the styles of fascism: its emblem, the red hurricane, was taken from the Nazi swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
, leader Anton Saada was known as al-za'im (the Führer), and the party anthem was "Syria, Syria, fiber alles" sung to the same tune as the German national anthem. He founded the fascist SSNP with a program that Syrians were "a distinctive and naturally superior race."
Contemporary relationship
In August 2010, Iman Al-Quwaifli, a liberal Saudi columnist condemned in Al-WatanAl-Watan
-Anthems:*"Ardulfurataini Watan", the former national anthem of Iraq*"Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo", an Indian patriotic song written in Hindi*"Nahnu Jund Allah Jund Al-watan", the national anthem of Sudan*"Rasamna Ala Al-Qalb Wajh Al-Watan", the Army anthem of Egypt...
the 'phenomenon of sympathy for Adolf Hitler and for Nazism in the Arab world.' She asserted that sympathy for Hitler takes two forms: popular admiration for his leadership and pseudo-intellectual sympathy. She cited as an example of admiration for Hitler in contemporary Arabia the justification by Islamic cleric Hussam Fawzi Jabar of Hitler's actions against the Jews in an Egyptian talk show, aired 2010.
In a broadcast which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on 28 January 2009, Egyptian Islamic theologian Yusuf al-Qaradawi
Yusuf al-Qaradawi
Yusuf al-Qaradawi is a controversial Egyptian Islamic theologian. He is best known for his programme, ash-Shariah wal-Hayat , broadcast on Al Jazeera, which has an estimated audience of 60 million worldwide...
stated:
Scholars such as Robert Wistrich and Bernard Lewis have proposed the existence of ideological similarities between Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...
and Nazism, specifically a shared anti-Semitism.