Figure 1.--.

When the British and Soviets intervened in Iran, Husseini escaped first to Italy, finally reaching Berlin. He was enthusiastic received by the "Islamische Zentralinstitut" and the small Islamic community of Germany which with due deference to the NAZIs pronounced him the "Führer of the Arabic world." Husseini was received by Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. He then met with Adolf Hitler (November 28,1941). Hitler at the time was on the verge of victory in Russia. The Germans establish an administrative office or bureau. It was here that the Muftis war time activies were planned and conducted. He assisted the NAZIs in a variety of ways. 1) He made extensive propaganda broadcasts. 2) He organized espionage and fifth column activities in Muslim populated areas of Europe (the Soviet Union and the Balkans) and the Middle East. 3) He lelped form Muslim Waffen SS and Wehrmacht units in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Kosovo-Metohija, Western Macedonia, North Africa, and NAZI-occupied areas of the Soviet Union. 4) He set up schools and training centers for Muslim imams and mullahs who would accompany the Muslim military units. He was especially active in Bosnia and Kosovo-Albania. He spent much of the War in Berlin making anti-British propaganda for the NAZIs. He also supported NAZI efforts to promote Muslim resistance to the Soviets and British. He helped form Muslim military inits in the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. Defeats in the East creating a need for manpower. The Wehrmacht had formed Muslim units in the Soviet Union. Himmler had an interest in Islam and decided that the SS should also form Muslim units. The assignment was given to Gottlob Berger, head of the SS Main Office in control of recruiting. He met with both Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler and Holocaust organizer Adolf Eichmann. Arab supporters of the NAZIs seemed to have blithy assumed that they would be liberated by the Axis and thus achieve independence. It is difficult to see how any minimally educated observer in 1940-41 could have reached that conclusion, especially given Italian conduct in Libya and German conduct in the Occupied East.

NAZI Contacts

The Grand Mufti is first believed to have made contacts with NAZI agents through the German Press Agency in Jerusalem (1937). The NAZIs had conceived of cultivating Muslim leaders as aay of undermining both Sovier interests in the Caucasus and British interests in the Middle East. Notably both areas offered oil resources, perhaps the absence of which was perhaps the greatest weakness of NAZI Germany. The NAZIs are believed to have provided the Mufit financial and material support in the Arab revolt in Palestine (1936-39). The Mufti helped instigate the pro-NAZI Iraqi coup (1941) and was trying to do the same in Iran when the Soviets and British intervened (1941). The Mufti managed to reach Albania through either Afghamistan or Turkey. Having extensive contacts in many Muslim countries, the Mufti could have obtained help in eother. Albania had been occupied by the Italians. He thus easly traveled to Italy and from there on to the Reich.

Strategic Assessment

After spending two decades resisting the British with nothing to show for it, the NAZIS must have seemed a god-send to the Mufti. Not only were the NAZIs successfully standing up to the British and French (who also had Arab colonies), but they were supressing the Jews. The secret NAZI financial and material support helped to convince the Mufti that Palestine's future lay with the NAZIs. Hitler successes before the War (such as the Anschluss and Munich) and even more his success in the first 2 years of the War must have convinced the Mufti that he had made the right choice. What does not seem to have occurred to the Mufti was wha would have been the future of Palestine in a NAZI-controlled world. The British had tried to make steps toward self-givernment in Palestine, but they were resisted by the Mufti, apparently because of their secular nature. He seems to have just assumed that after the NAZI victory that Palestine and other Arab countries would have been liberated and in control of their natural resources. Certainly he must have asked himself,if the NAZIs would be easier to deal with than the British. But we just do not know if he considered this eventuality. As far ss we can determine, by the 1930s his hatred of the British and Jews were such that any country offering aid was accepted without much consideration of the long-term consequences. Arab supporters of the NAZIs seemed to have blithy assumed that they would be liberated by the Axis and thus achieve independence. It is difficult to see how any minimally educated observer in 1940-41 could have reached that conclusion, especially given Italian conduct in Libya and German conduct in the Occupied East.

Reception

The Mufti upon reaching Berlin was enthusiastic received by the "Islamische Zentralinstitut" and the small Islamic community of Germany which with due deference to the NAZIs pronounced him the "Führer of the Arabic world." Husseini was received by Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. He then met with Adolf Hitler (November 28,1941). Hitler at the time was on the verge of victory in Russia.

Bureau

The Germans establish an administrative office or bureau for the Mufti. It was here that the Muftis war time activies were planned and conducted. He assisted the NAZIs in a variety of ways. 1) He made extensive propaganda broadcasts. 2) He organized espionage and fifth column activities in Muslim populated areas of Europe (the Soviet Union and the Balkans) and the Middle East. 3) He lelped form Muslim Waffen SS and Wehrmacht units in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Kosovo-Metohija, Western Macedonia, North Africa, and NAZI-occupied areas of the Soviet Union. 4) He set up schools and training centers for Muslim imams and mullahs who would accompany the Muslim military units.

Propaganda Broacasts

The Mufti pent much of the War in Berlin making anti-British propaganda for the NAZIs. He made extensive broadcasts to Arab countries attacking both the British and Jews. Fawzi El Kaukji also made propaganda broadcasts for the NAZIs.

Espionage

The Mufti organized espionage and fifth column activities in Muslim populated areas of Europe (the Soviet Union and the Balkans) and the Middle East.

Muslim Military Formations

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims fought in the War, many on the NAZI side. The Mufti role in the formation of these units varied. The Mufti helped form Muslim Waffen SS and Wehrmacht units in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Kosovo-Metohija, Western Macedonia, North Africa, and NAZI-occupied areas of the Soviet Union. He was especially active in Bosnia and Kosovo-Albania where he had contacts made before the War. Defeats in the East created a need for manpower. The Wehrmacht had formed Muslim units in the Soviet Union. Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler had an interest in Islam and decided that the SS should also form Muslim units. The assignment was given to Gottlob Berger, head of the SS Main Office in control of recruiting. Himmler made the Mufti a part of the SS apparatus and give an office in the SS main office (May 1943). From here he was deeply involved in recruiting Muslims for SS units and operations. The Grand Mufti assisted in the formation of Muslim formations in both the Waffen SS and Wehrmacht. The SS recruited Muslims extensively in the Balkans and here thre Mufti was especially involved. There were two Bosnian Muslim Waffen SS Divisions, an Albanian Waffen SS Division (in Kosovo-Metohija and Western Macedonia), the 21st Waffen Gebirgs Division der SS ìSkanderbegî, a Muslim SS self-defense regiment (in the Rashka--Sandzak region of Serbia. Many other units were formed, especially in the Soviet Union. Other Muslim units fighting with the NAZIs included: the Arab Legion (Arabisches Freiheitskorps), the Arab Brigade, the Ostmusselmanische SS-Regiment, the Ostturkischen Waffen Verband der SS made up of Turkistanis, the Waffengruppe der-SS Krim, formations consisting of Chechen Muslims from Chechnya,Ý and a Tatar Regiment der-SS made up of Crimean Tatars, and other Muslim formations in the Waffen SS and Wehrmacht, in Bosnia-Hercegovina, the Balkans, North Africa, and Nazi-occupied areas of the Soviet Union. The Mufti's involvement in the formation of these units varied.

Islamic Schools

The Mufti set up schools and training centers for Muslim imams and mullahs who would accompany the Muslim military units

The Holocaust

The NAZIs had an ally in the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. He aplauded Hitler's seizure of power in Germany (1933). He was enthusiastic received by the "Islamische Zentralinstitut" and the small Islamic community of Germany which due deference to the NAZIs pronounced him the "Führer of the Arabic world." Husseini's first speech in Berlin denounced the Jews as the "most fierce enemies of the Muslims" and an "ever corruptive element" in the world. Husseini was an honored guest of the NAZI's in Berlin. He met with both Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler and Holocaust organizer Adolf Eichmann. Husseini is reported to have visited Auschwitz and encouraged the SS staff operating the gas chambers to work harder. Husseini was exploited by Goebbels' propaganda machine and made numerous broadcasts in Arabic to the Middle East promoting the NAZIs and giving virulently anti-Semitic sermons. Another largely ignored question is the fact that the Arabs are also semmites. NAZI racist science claimed that the Jews had genitically carried diseases. One wonders why the Arabs did not carry these diseases. Of course the NAZI racist science was a pseudo science so they could invent an Arab people free of such contamination. Husseini was an honored guest of the NAZI's in Berlin. He was received by Hitler twice. He pressed Hitler on the last group of Jews left in NAZI hands--the Hungarian Jews. He did not want them to be allowed to escape, fearing they would come to Palestine. Adolf Eichman at the time was attempting to negotiate with the British to exchange 5,000 Hungarian children for German POWs. Husseini's point of view prevalied. The SS were dispatched the children to the NAZI death camps in Poland. Husseini is reported to have visited Auschwitz and encouraged the SS staff operating the gas chambers to work harder. Husseini was exploited by Goebbels' propaganda machine and made numerous broadcasts in Arabic to the Middle East promoting the NAZIs and giving virulently anti-Semitic sermons.

Refuge in Egypt (1945)

After the War he eluded the Allies and was given refuge in Egypt (1945). There he strongly influenced men like Yasser Arafat, Gamel Abdul Nassar, and Anwar Sadat.

Created: 3:22 AM 5/20/2007
Last updated: 3:22 AM 5/20/2007