Figure 1.--This photograph is unidentified, but is apparently two Wehrmacht officers with a Gypsey family. We do not know where the photograph was taken, but looks to have been taken during World War II, perhaps 1942. It looks rather like the northern Caucasus. |
Here we are unsure about the specifics of NAZI racial doctrine. We know that the NAZIs defined Jews in racial terms. We also know that the NAZIs made other Semites, the Arabs, allies in World War II. I do not know at this time, the racial theory they must have developed explaining why Jews were dangerous and Arabs acceptable. We suspect that had the NAZI won the War that the Arabs would have been very surprised at what the New Order meant for them. Arab and Jewish ethnic backgrounds are very similar. Most Arabs and many Jews are of the same ethnic family--the Semites. Hebrew and Arabic are related Semitic languages. Many Arab Palestinians and Israeli Jews have common ethnic origins. Some Arab Palestinians are related to Isreli Jews because some Jews converted to Islam after the Arab conquest. In the same sence some ancient Canaanites (an Arab people) had earlier converted to Judaism. Jews and Arabs are thus closely related ethnically. Interestingly the persecution of the Jews is traditionally defined as anti-Semitism or policies targeting semetic peoples. This actually is a flawed term. Because of the various diasporas, the Jewish people were spread out throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. While Jewish communities were successful in maintaining their religious identity for three millenia, there was always some degreee of assimilation and inter-marriage with the lasrger populatuon in which they lived. Thus Jews are much less ethnically Semetic than Arabs. This mixing of course made NAZI anti-Semitism particularly non-sensical. While they attacked European Jews, NAZI propaganda appealed to Arab nationalism and the Arabs were much more ethnically pure Semites than the Jews. The varied ethnicity of Jews is one reason the NAZIs decreed laws requiring Jews to wear yellow stars. Many Jews had varied ethnivity and did not look like the NAZIs though Jews should look. The Arabs on the other hand did have the Semetic features the NAZIs so despised. I do not know if DNA studies have addressed this subject. Notice that while the NAZI anti-Jewish propaganda (films, book and newspaper illustrations, and posters) often had distored images of Jewish "racial" features. The Arab anti-Jewish propaganda does not feature these images because they are also Arab facial features.
Here we are unsure about the specifics of NAZI racial doctrine. We know that the NAZIs defined Jews in racial terms. I do not know at this time, the racial theory they must have developed explaining why Jews were dangerous and Arabs acceptable. We suspect that had the NAZI won the War that the Arabs would have been very surprised at what the New Order meant for them. In NAZI eyes the Arabs were racial Semites and thus subhumans.
The NAZIs made other Semites, the Arabs, allies in World War II. The NAZIs were quite willing to make exceptions to their racial mythology when they found it convenient. Thus the Croats were made "honorary: Aryans. The Slovaks who were more accomodating than the Czechs were treated less harshly. And of course the NAZIs signed an alliance with the Japanese. NAZI propagand also sought to exploit the anti-British and French feeling of the Arabs as a result of colonial rule after World War I. NAZI propaganda was essentially an attack on colonialism, meaning the British and French. (Ignored were the Italian colonies.) NAZI propaganda promised the Arabs liberation" from the French and British. Of course the NAZI while anti-British and French were hardly opposed to colonialism. It happened that as a result of World War I that they had no colonies in the 1930s. The whole idea of World War II, however, was to create a vast empire for NAZI Germany. The Arabs like most people reacted to their immediate circumstances and thus even Arab leaders like the Grand Mufti consumed with hatred toward the British and Jews had no real understanding of what NAZI rule would have meant for a Semetic people.
The NAZIs did not fully capitalize on the opportunity achieved by the effectiveness of their propasganda. There were two reasons for this. First, The real opportunities to move into the Middle East came after the Balkan Campaign (April 1941). And at this time Hitler's focus was primarily own Barbaeossa, the planned invasion of the Soviet Union. As a result of the costly seizure of Crete, he was uninterested in any new adventures in the perifery of the NAZI empire. Thus when the Arab coup occurred in Iraq, German assistance was minimal. Second, Hitler had agreed to give his Axis ally Mussolini precedemce in the Middle East.
Arab and Jewish ethnic backgrounds are very similar. Most Arabs and many Jews are of the same ethnic family--the Semites. Hebrew and Arabic are related Semitic languages. Many Arab Palestinians and Israeli Jews have common ethnic origins. Some Arab Palestinians are related to Isreli Jews because some Jews converted to Islam after the Arab conquest. In the same sence some ancient Canaanites (an Arab people) had earlier converted to Judaism. Jews and Arabs are thus closely related ethnically.
Interestingly the persecution of the Jews is traditionally defined as anti-Semitism or policies targeting semetic peoples. This actually is a flawed term. Because of the various diasporas, the Jewish people were spread out throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. While Jewish communities were successful in maintaining their religious identity for three millenia, there was always some degreee of assimilation and inter-marriage with the lasrger populatuon in which they lived. Thus Jews are much less ethnically Semetic than Arabs. This mixing of course made NAZI anti-Semitism particularly non-sensical. While they attacked European Jews, NAZI propaganda appealed to Arab nationalism and the Arabs were much more ethnically pure Semites than the Jews. It was the Semetic ethnicity by which the NAZIs defined the Jews and not the European ethnic component. Thus by all logic it would be the Arabs that would be more degenerate than the Jews. But of course NAZI racism was never about logic or science.
The varied ethnicity of Jews is one reason the NAZIs decreed laws requiring Jews to wear yellow stars. Many Jews had varied ethnicity and did not look like the NAZIs though Jews should look. The Arabs on the other hand did have the Semetic features the NAZIs so despised. Notice that while the NAZI anti-Jewish propaganda (films, book and newspaper illustrations, and posters) often had distored images of Jewish "racial" features. The Arab anti-Jewish propaganda does not feature these images because they are also Arab facial features.
I do not know if DNA studies have addressed this subject. The Human Genome Project has determined that all human beings are, genomically-speaking, almost “identical twins”. This essentially means that the notion of “race” that the NAZIs used is scientifically inaccurate and an obsolete concept. There have been DNA studies conducted to assess demographic shifts and migration in pre-historic times. Such studies could assess the level of affinity between Jews and Arabs. There are, however, politucal concerns associated with such studies and I am unsure if they have been carried out.
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