Figure 1.--The Germans made an effort to attract Muslim support during World War II. While there was no significant Muslim population in Germany, there was in the areas occupied by the NAZIs duing the War: Soviet Union (Caucauses), Yugoslaviis (Bosnia and Kosovo), Albabia, and North Africa (Libya and Tunisia). The NAZIs achieved some success based on exploiting various thems. One theme they did not pursue in race, in part because of the similar ethnic heritageof Arabs and Jews. This photograph comes from an album of a German soldier, we think in Libya. He seems to have taken an interest in the local people. Here a boy is veing taught toread.

The Caliph (Ottomon Emperor) attempted to mke Islam a factor in World War I. He was unsuccessful, in part because the Arabs saw the Ottomons as an occypying power. The NAZIs had somewhat more success in World war II. A substantial number of Muslims made common casuse with the NAZIs during World War II. There was considerable sympathy for the NAZIs in the Middle East and North Africa. The Grand Mufti in Palestine provked anti-Jewish and anti British riots before the War. There was an anti-British coup in Iraq (1941). Anti-British forces gained considerable strength in Iran where the Soviers and British intervened (1941). There was considerable anti-British sentiment in Egypt which was oprepared to welcome Rommel and the Afrika Korps with open arms (1942). The NAZIs never conquered Egypt, but they did occupy areas with Muslim populations, including Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. Several Muslim SS units were formed to fight with the Wehremacht. All of these units after the War were accussed of commiting honredous attrocities.

World War I

The Germans welcomed the Ottomans as an ally in World War I. The Caliph (Ottomon Emperor) attempted to make Islam a factor in World War I. He was unsuccessful, in part because the Arabs saw the Ottomons as an occypying power. The Arabs saw the Allies as means of liberation from the Ottoman Empire. Famed Larence of Arabia was assigned by the British to assist the Arab Revolt. TheBritish wre astonished when the Arabs managed to seize Aqaba, Guerill operations drove the turks out of most of Arabia and when the British advanced into Palestine (1918), the Larence and Arab Army supported them. Another British offensive drove the Ottomons out of Mesopotamia.

Grand Mufti

Haj Amin el-Husseini had been an officer in the Ottoman Army. He turned to school teaching. The British sentenced him to 10 years of prison for fomenting anti-Jewish riots (1920). After his election to Grand Mufti of Jerulselum under suspicious circumstances he was bardoned by British High Commissioner Sir Herbert Sammuels. Until Husseini the Grand Mufti was a Koranic scholar, he turned the post into a political platform Husseini became a strident spokesmen against British rule and virulent anti-Semitism. He set up hit squads to attack both political opponents and isolated Jewish settlements. [Porch, p. 22.] The Palestinians Arabs have a notable record of choosing poor leaders and backing failed foreign groups (Hitler, the Soviets, and Saddam). This uneviable record began with Husseini. Reduced Jewish immigration in the 1920s, the rise of the National Party, and a new British administration caused a reversal of Husseini's fortunes. Renewed Jewish immigration because of the rise of Fascism in Europe resulted in renwed friction between the Arabs and Jews. Husseini helped to foment the communal rioting in Palestine (1935-36). When the British tried to arrest him he fled to Iraq. There he helped to organize an anti-British coup (1941). He then fled to Iran where he also tried to cause a coup. When the British and Soviets intervened he managed to escape to Germany. 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. He met with both Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler and Holocaust organizer Adolf Eichmann. After the War he eluded the Allies and was given refuge in Egypt (1945). He helped organize irregular groups in Palestinr to resist thecUN partition plan (1947).

Commitment

Muslims fought for both the Allies and the Axis as both conscripts and volunteers. It is not altogether clear what their motivation was and in any case this presumably varied from country to country. We have no idea what the attitudes were of the Muslims conscripted in the Red Army. It is likely that many were hostile, but had no way of expressing that hostility. The Mufti was active in recruiting Muslims to serve in the German military. His goal was a kind of Muslim NAZI army. I am not sure at this time just how effective the Mufti was in his recruiting efforts. He played varying roles in the formations of Geman units. I am not sure to what extent the men were influenced by NAZI doctrine. Yhey seem to have been more committed to local issues. Wecnote varying reports. The SS Handzar Division was reportedly responsible for killing about 90 percent of the Jews in Bosnia. This presumably was done at the direction of the German leadership. I am unsure about the attitudes of the Muslims soldiers in the division. Some reports suggest that the Muslims in the SS divisions were not interested in killing Jews. We note some unrest in the Muslem units. The SS in Yugoslavia killed about 40 Muslims partisans, including some who were relatives of those serving in SS divisions. A small mutiny resulted.

World War II Country Trends

We note a range of Muslim countries and colonies affected by World War II. Here Islam played a varying role. Often nationalism was more important, but in the Muslim world nationalism and Islam are in fact intertwined in a complex relationship. Also some of the beligerant nations were involved in these countries. <

Albania

Albania was the only majority Muslim country in Europe. Mussolini occupied Albania an experienced little opposition (1939). As this time I know little about the role of Islam in Albania.

Algeria

Dutch East Indies/Indonesia

The Dutch East Indies was predominately Muslim with Christian and Hindu minorities. The nationalists in Indonesia saw the Japanese as useful in obtaining independence and cooperated with them. The result of Japanese occupation was a famine which caused massive starvation. Over 4 million Indonesians died. I am unsure about the role of Islam during the War.

Egypt

Germany

Hitler and the NAZIs after the fall of France thought that the War was won. For Hitler this meant that he could now proceeed with one of his most cherished objectives--thecseizure of Lebenraum in the East. This meant the invasion of the Soviet Union. Operation Barbarossa was planed as a massive stroke which would destroy the Red Army with one massive stroke, just as Poland, France, and the other occupied countries had been crushed. The Soviet Union proved a much more difficult undertaking. For the first time, massive German casualties were experienced. The Germans after the huge losses before Moscow (December 1941) found themsleves needing to look for additional manpower. One of the places they looked was amomg Muslims. Here they found willing recruits both in the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, Both the Wehrmacht and SS formed military units with Muslim recruits.

India

India is a predominatly Hindu country, but it also has the largest Muslim population in the world. At the time of World war II, India was a British colony moving toward self rule. The Congress Party was pressing for independence. Muslim members of Congress led by Jenna wanted a separate Muslim state. At this time I am unsure about Muslim attitudes toward the War. Subhas Chandras Bose who worked with both the NAZIs and Japanese was a Hindu nationalist.

Indonesia

Iraq

Iraq was a backwater of the war, but a very important backwater. Iraq was an imprtant in maintaining comminication lines between India and the British position in Egypt protecting the Suez Canal. Even more importantly, Iraq was the principle source of oil for the Desert Army and the Royal Navy Eastern Mediterranean Squadron. Iraq had been a Turkish Province until seized by the British during World war I. The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930 provided for a major British stake in Iraq. The British obtained a stake in the developing Mosul and Kirkuk oil fields and air bases near Baghdad in central Iraq and Basra in the south. To help protect the bases the British had a mixed force which included Iraqis recruited for this purpose. The British were also given transit rights. Britain with these guarantees granted independence to Iraq (1932). Nationalists criticized the treaty, but the Nuri es-Sa'id Governent was pro-British. The royal governent created a small army consisting of of five divisions, a navy consisting of river patrol craft, and a small airforce with obsolete aircraft. When war broke out in Europe (September 1939) Sa'id wanted to support Britain and declare war on Germany, but Iraqi nationalists oppsosed this. The Grand Mufti who fled Palestine appears to have been successful in stiring up anti-British sentiment in both army and government circles. The Sa'id Government did break off relations. A new Government led by Rashid Ali took power (March 1940). Ali was backed by the pro-Axis Golden Square. The fall of France (June 1940) dramatically changed the military ballance in the Mediterranean and thus the Middle East. Ali initiated various intrigues against Britain. British military successes in the Western Desert caused Ali to resign. The next primeminister acted to breakup the e Golden Square. A military coup placed Ali back in power (April 3, 1941). At the same time, spectacular German successes in Yugoslavia, Greece, and Crete convinced the Iraqi nationalists that the Germans would quickly defeat the British. Ali tore up the 1930 Treaty and struck at the British air base at Habbaniya. The French Vichy authorities controlling Syria assisted Ali by allowing the German and Italians to deliver some assistance. General Wavell, the British Middle East commander was hard pressed at the time. He had to contend with Rommel in the Wester Dessert and the disaterous intervention in Greece. He was reluctant to commit forces to Iraq, but Churchill insisted. An Indian division struck from the south landing at Basara. The Habforce (a British brigade and the Arab Legion) struck west from Jordan.

Iran

Reza Shah's Government declared Iran neutral with the outbreak of World War II in Europe. The British suspected that the Shah was sympathetic with the NAZIs who were active diplomatically in Iran. The Iranians rejected British demands to expel Axis agents. After the NAZI invasion of the Soviet Union it became vital to open supply lines to the Soviets. The British and Soviets thus launched a coordinated invasion (August 26, 1941). The Soviets invaded from the north. The British from Iraq where they had defeated a pro-Axis rebellion and by troops landed along te Persian Gulf. There was only limitedd resistance. Reza Shah abdicated (September 16). His son ascended the throne as Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. At the time of the War, Iran had just begun to develop its petroleum indutry. It did not play an important factor in the War. Britain fought the War largely with American oil, although the 8th Army fought the War in the Western Desert largely with Iraqi oil. Iran's importance in the War was largely as a conduit for American Lend Lease shipments to the Soviets.

Libya

Libya was the only Arab/Muslim that was a part of the Axis world at the start of the War. NAZI propaganda had little impact on Libya which was an Italian colony. The Italian Fascists conducted a brutal colonial war in the 1920s, even employing poison gas. They then began to colonize the country with Italian settlers. The goal was to displace or Italianize the Arabs. This was simiklar to French policy in Algeria, but was very different from British policies. Thus the Libyans turned to the British for assistance. NAZIFAscist anti-British propaganda in Libya had little impact. They had experienced Fascist brutality before the rest of the world. The rest of the Arab world, however, did not seem to recognize the potential dangers of a Fascist dominated world or the the possibility that the Fascist would be a much more brutal colonial master. Even in neighboring Egypt where the British were in the process of withdrawing bfore the War, the dangers of Fascism had little impact. In fact important nationalist groups embrazed the NAZIs.

Morocco

Palestine

Plaestine was part of Ottman Empire for several centuries. The province has a largely Arab population. Zionism was founded in Europe during the 19th century and promoted emmigration to Palestine with the purpose of founding a Jewish homeland. The Ottomons permited small-scale Jewish emmigration. THe Ottomans joined the Cetral Powers in World War I seeking to regain lost territory in the Balkans. As part of the operations of the Arab Army and Col T.H. Lawrence and a 1917 Britih offensive undeder Allenby, Palestine fell. After the War, the British administered Palestine under a League of Nations trusteeship. The rise of Fascism in Europe encouraged many Jews to seek refugee and strengthened the Zionist movement. The British attempted to restrict Jewish immmigration. The expanding Jewish population also resulted in growing anti-Semitism among the Palestinians. This had opposition to British colonial rule caused many Palestinians to sympathize and seek support from the NAZIs. About 6,000 Palestinian Arabs served with the British, but about 26,000 Jewish volunteers also served.

Soviet Union

Muslim populations were brought into the Russian Empire between 17th and 19th centuries by a series ot Tsars beginning with Catherine the Great. With World War I and the Revolution, Muslims attended to break free of the Russians. There were efforts to form independent Muslim states which were assisted by the Turks and their German allies. The Young Turks dreamed of a Greater Turkey Sultanate. An Islamic Army appeared in the Caucasus, made up of Azeris, Ajars, and other Caucasian Muslims. They were assisted by a Turkish army commanded by Nuri Pasha, firmly committed to Pan-Turanian ideas. They besieged non-Muslims towns in the Caucasus and starved them into submissions. Some participated in the Armenian Genocide. With the Revolution and the collapse of Tsarist military power, Muslims rose up in Central Asia. The free government of Turkestan was announced in Central Asia. The Emirs of Khiva and Bukhara proclaimed their independence. The Turkish-Tartar peoples in Crimea and the Volga Basin rose up. This occurred after the fall of the Rsar and the commencement of the Civil war. The Bolshevicks emerged victorious from the Civil war and deployed the Red Army in the rebelious areas to being them back under Russian control--now Societ rather thsn Tsarist. The Muslim population simmered, some resisting Stalin's collectivization and atheist campaigns. Stalin's Soviet Union was an atheist state which waged a ceasless campaign against religion. Much of the campaign was focused on the Orthodox Church of Russia. Churches were destoyed or defiled and priests arrested and sent to the Gulag. Other religions were also attacked, including Islam which wascwell estanlished in the Caucauses and Central Asia. These attacks caused considerable resentment, but Muslims were powerless to confront the NKVD and Red Army. One attempt occurred in Chechnya. Hasan Israilov, a forner cimmisar, led an uprising which was ruthlessly supresssed. Muslim acquiessence changed when NAZI Germany invaded the Soviet Unioin (June 22, 1941). Barbarossa and the approach of the NAZIs there came the apportunity of resisting Soviet domination. Muslims were not the only Soviet citizens welcoming the NAZIs. There was considerable rejoicing in both the Baltics and western Uukraine. Catholics in the Ukraine also welcomed the NAZIs. The other major group was Muslims. The first Soviet Muslims to come in contact with the NAZIs were the vast number of Red Army soldiers taken prisioner in the opening phase of Barbarossa. The NAZIs were stopped at Vostock-on-Don in 1941, but the Whermacht 1942 summer offensive took the Germans into the Crimea and the Caucases.

Syria

After the fall of France. French authorities in Syria, recognized the authority of Vichy Government. This included a military force totling about 40,000 Legioneers and Muslim soldiers backed by 90 tanks and prepared fortifications. Admiral Darlan provided logistical support to the Germans and Italians in efforts to support the Rashid Ali revolt in Iraq. This was a clear violation of Vichy's neutrality. Syria located in the Eastern Mediterranean was of some strastegic importance. The British feared that Vichy would allow the Luftwaffe to establish air bases in the country. This would have threatened the British position in Egypt as well as provided a jumping off point to seize the oil fields in Iraq. Churchill thus ordered Wavell after putting down the Iraqii Revolt to seize Syria (June 1941). Degualle assured Wavell that the Vichy garison would come over to the Free French with little resistance. They did not. The British and Free French forces entered Syria from Palestine. There was toughh fighting, but the Allies reached Damascus (June 17).

Tunisia

The French established a protectorate over Tunisia (1881). Although supported by the British, the action was protested by Italy which also had designs on Tunisua. The French colonial era had a modernizing influence on the country, but also also served to foment Tunisian nationalism. Nationalists founded the Young Tunisian Party (1907) which worked for Tunisian autonomy. Another group Destour ('constitution') demanded independence (1920). The Bey endorses Destour (1922), but the French make few concessions. With the rise of Mussolini in Italy, the French fortify the Libyan-Tunisian border. More assertive nationalists led by Habib Bourguiba break away from Destour and form Neo-Destour (1934). As in the other French colonies, the fall of France shocked Tunisian nationalists (June 1940). One of the reasons Italy entered the War was to gain Tunisia. Hitler refused, however, to countenance the transfer. Tunisia then played a role in the final chapter of the World War II struggle for North Africa. Hitler seized Tunisia before the Allies could take the ports, but was unable to supply the Axis units there as the Allies cloed in.

Turkey

Turkey was an independent Muslim state at the time of World War II. The country's modern founder, Kemal Atatürk , had created Turkey out of the old Ottoman Empire as a secular state. Perhaps more important for Turkey at the time were Pan-Turkish ideals which still had great sway. And of course it is impossible to completely separate Pan-Turkism and Islam. Both the Allis and Axis attempted to enduce Turkey to enter the War on their sides. President Inönü appears to have been firmly committed to neutrality. The Germans as World War I allies had considerable contacts. They also had a great deal to offer the Turks--in effect an expansive Pan-Turkic empire streaching into Soviet Central asia. Of course this could be achieved only as long as the German military could deliver the needed military victories. In the end the survival of the Red Army decided the issue and Turkey remained neutral throughout the War.

Yugoslavia--Bosnia

Most of Bosnia was assigned to the NDH Croayian puppet state. This was in part to compensate Croatia for Dalmatia and other Croatian populated areas assigned to Italy. It was also away of controlling the Bosnia Serbs who were preceived as anti-Axis. The Germans formed a SS division in Bosnia. It was fornmed from Croat Muslims in Bosnia and ethnic Germans in Croatia, but not Croatian Christians. The division was responsible for terrible attrocities.

Yugoslavia--Kosovo

Albania was the only majority Muslim country in Europe. Muslims also lived in neighboring Yugoslavia (mostly Kosovo and Bosnia). Italy occupied Albania and experienced little opposition (1939). The NAZIs and their Axis allies invaded Yugoslavia (April 6). The invasion began with the terror bombing of Belgrade. Within 12 days the country was in NAZI hands. The NAZIs carved up Yugoslavia, parceling out portions to their Axis allies, especially the Italians. The Italians had earlier invaded Albania (1939). A large area of southern Yugoslavia were anned to Albania, then in Italian habds. This included Kosovo and Metohija which at the time were part of Serbia. Included was territory southwest of Lake Scutari which was part of Montenegro. Finally the western region of Macedonia, which was then southern Serbia (Juzna Srbija) was included in the territory given to Albania. Italy and the Aklbanians attempted to drive ethnic Serbs out of Kosovar and neigboyting regions. After the Italian surrender, the Germans were increasingly streached to control the Balkns. They formed the 21st Waffen SS Division Skanderbeg, mostly of Kosovar Muslim recrits, to aid in security operations.

Created: 6:32 PM 5/2/2007
Last updated: 5:55 AM 5/14/2008