Nazi Palestine: The Plans for the Extermination of the Jews in Palestine [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

What is the value of a history book? Its worth is contained within its ability to clarify the differing perspectives of the parties involved in its pages. It should not only state real facts but also thoughtfully analyze and synthesize them to present a good overall picture of what happened, why it happened and, how it affects us today.

Klaus Michael Mallmann's and Martin Cupper's NAZI PALESTINE: THE PLANS FOR THE EXTERMINATION OF THE JEWS IN PALESTINE attempts to bring into focus and clarify the genuine facts about the Jewish-Arab (and Moslem) dispute and its roots within all of the Middle-Eastern and some European countries, not just Israel/Palestine. Using previously available and recently uncovered documents from German, Israeli, British, American and Arab sources the writers put together a picture of what has happened in the region known as the Middle East, why it has happened, and how and why it affects us today in the formation of a mostly illiberal, anti-democratic and irrational Middle East. There is indeed a strange nexus between the interests of "National Socialism" aka Nazism and, Arab Nationalism as well as Islamic extremism in anti-Western and anti-Jewish (anti-Semitic) activities.

How the seemingly incompatible interests of the Nazis and the dominant forces of Arab nationalism and Islamic radicalism of the 1930's and 40's came together in a dangerous alliance and mixture against the Allies and the Jews is written of in this book. Such an alignment nearly turned that region of the world over to the Nazis and could have lead to the defeat of Great Britain and her allies, as well as the murder of the Jewish communities within Israel, and all of the nearby lands. Part of this common drive involved agitation by Nazi authorities and their friends within the Arab world which prompted the anti-Jewish expulsions in all of the Middle Eastern region, as well as attacks on the Jewish native, and immigrant community within Palestine. Many of these violent actions occurred even after the Nazis were beaten back and defeated.

Whether these anti-Jewish expulsions were from Arab lands or Germany and its occupied nations prior to the holocaust, they ironically would contribute to the build up of Israel as a Jewish state. Within the book Palestinian Arab newspapers of the 1930's are cited congratulating the Nazis for abusing the Jews as well as the Haavara Transfer Agreement, which lead many German Jews to flee into Palestine, taking a portion of their capital with them, thus contradicting the Palestinian Arab view against Jewish immigration to Palestine. (Mallmann & Cuppers 36-37) The Haavara Agreement itself seems to have been calculated by the Nazi government to avoid a damaging world wide boycott of German made goods, get Jews ejected from Germany to Palestine, as well as not be blatantly against British Palestine policy. It was indifferent to Arab rejection of this immigration, as Hitler was not for an alliance with this group at that point.

Later on when the Nazis could not gain an alliance with the British, but went to war against them, they wanted the Arabs as a potential fifth column in the volatile region. So, they cut off Jewish emigration as they were beginning the full-scale genocide of the Jews. They also propagandized against the British and the Jews using Arabs, particularly the Grand Mufti and Rashid Ali, through hate radio broadcasts to the region. Additionally, military attachments of Arabs and Moslems were organized by them to appeal these two groups while attempts were made to take their insane anti-Jewish genocidal policies to the Middle East through the SS, and probable Arab collaboration.

Notable in this writing was a poll from around 1940, taken by the Jewish Agency's news bureau of the non-Jewish community in Palestine showing that as many as 60% of that population was pro-Nazi. (Ibid 43) Even with less support for the German government of that time among Palestinian non-Jews the identification of most Jews in that territory for degradation and murder by victorious Nazi forces could have been accomplished. The book has brought to light the order for, and concrete evidence of, a special SS murder unit that was to become operational in Egypt and Palestine. (Ibid 116-118) This goes beyond previous accounts that mention Hitler and other Nazi leaders only making verbal statements to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem to destroy the Jews of the Middle East, or a "discussion" on the subject between SS leader, Walter Rauff, and Rommel, head of the Afrika Korps. Fortunately, British army intelligence coups and the successful follow up to this with the victory at El Alamein in Egypt by Montgomery's forces, American intervention in Western North Africa, and also independently Soviet counter moves and victory at Stalingrad led to the end of this probable genocide of the Jews throughout the region.

The authors also emphasize, that making up excuses for this historical pro-Nazi, and anti-Jewish hatred by the Arabs and Moslems, resulting in collaboration because it is supposedly derived from "anti-imperialist" motives or by labeling it "anti-Zionism", is not acceptable. All people must be held accountable for holding to the ideas of the Enlightenment with its stress on the "universal value of individuals regardless of religion, gender, or wealth."(Ibid 217) Such beliefs allowed for the beginnings of progress towards today's tolerant civil societies. By contrast, the polar opposite, or religious ethnic-racial animosity could have resulted in the loss of World War II by the allies with a spread of the holocaust to the Middle East. It has caused the forced emigrations of the Jewish communities around the area. Also, it continues to drive the Arab and Moslem war against Israel and its Jewish community, as well as an idealization of violence against non-Moslem and pro-liberal democratic ideas by important groups within this region of the world.

Ironically, Germany, as the nation that got the Holocaust started by rejecting the ideals of universal rights of individuals, was partially de-Nazified and mostly reeducated against irrational hatred and back to the ideas based in the Enlightenment; still, a significant part of the Arabs and Moslems that collaborated destructively, where they could with them, or were born after the Nazi era, has not admitted to this past. All too many of them have rationalized, made excuses, or given misleading or false explanations for why the multiple tragedies occurred in Europe and in the Middle East decades ago. Sometimes they have denied these events. They have even obtained some "supporters" in the outside world who engage in this type of pseudo-historical explanation process as well. While Germany continues to make progress by rejecting the insane thinking of 70 years ago, many Middle Easterners, who are stuck in and glorify this irrational thinking, are currently not moving into a better future and are on a constant collision course with the rest of the world. It can only be hoped that this significant book, and its message will lead to introspection and not be lost on people, especially within the troubled Middle Eastern countries.

In 1941-1942 Nazi Germany appeared poised for an overwhelming military victory over the British in North Africa and the Soviets in Eastern Europe. A German victory in Egypt would mean that German forces would invade and occupy Palestine.Very definite plans were being drawn up by the Nazi regime in Berlin to exterminate the Jewish population in Palestine, some of whom had lived there for hundreds of years and other who had recently returned to their ancient homeland with the birth of the modern Zionist movement. There was strong Arab support from the 1930s for Nazi Germany and the Middle East and North Africa were flooded with anti-Jewish propaganda against Jews and incitement to violence.

Until recently there have been few comprehensive and scientific analyses of the relationship between Nazi Germany and the Arabs, the ideological affinity between the Nazis and Arab and Islamic nationalists and their joint plans.
Generally studies have ended with the outbreak of war in 1939 or sometimes with the pro-Nazi coup in Iraq in March 1941, thus leaving out the vital phase of 1941-1942, the period of impending German occupation of the Middle East. furthermore many authors downplay the relationship between Nazi Germany and the Arab nationalists and dismiss the Islamic and Arab anti-Jewish agitation of this time as an expression of cultural differences and accuse those who wish to explore the details of the Nazi-Arab nationalist relationship and the ideological relationships between the two as 'Eurocentric. This amounts to an ideologically based cover up and apologia for Arab anti-Semitism and violence against Jews.
Books like this one and others get to grips with the closeness of the relationship and the ideological affinities that led to this.
Other important works on the Nazi roots of Islamic Jihad and Jew-hatred include Icon of Evil: Hitler's Mufti and the Rise of Radical Islam, The Nazi Connection to Islamic Terrorism: Adolf Hitler and Haj Amin al-Husseini, History Upside Down: The Roots of Palestinian Fascism and the Myth of Israeli AggressionA Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad Jihad and Jew-Hatred: Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11 and Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World.

Chapter 1 entitled 'Jihad in Palestine: "The Arab Rejection of the Jews" documents Arab agression against the Jews in the Holy Land following the First World War up to 1939, and the beginning of co-operation between the Palestinian Arabs and the Axis powers. The Arab-Israeli conflict essentially began in late 1919 when Arab Bedouins carried out attacks against Jewish pioneers in the Galilee. In March, 1920, eight Jews were murdered in an Arab attack on Tel Hai, including Jewish nationalist hero, Joseph Trumpeldor. What was far greater in proportion was the Muslim pogroms against Jews in Jerusalem in April, 1920. On 4 April three religious holidays coincided, the Jewish Pesach, the Christian Easter, and the Muslim Nebu Musa.

Arab masses streaming into the City of David were urged to unite with Syria, which had just declared it's independence . The Muslim mobs thundered "Palestine is our land. The Jews are our dogs". They then crossed into the Jewish quarter and attacked and pillaged the Jews there, over a period of four days. 5 Jews died and 216 were injured. Those who refer to these attacks as Arab resistance and part of campaign for national liberation are glorifying terrorism and ignoring anti-Semitic aggression.

In 1921 a new round of pogroms in Palestine took place, begun by Arabs protesting against the appointment of a Jew as high commissioner. In Jaffa Arab mobs attacked Jewish shops, business and houses in May, 1921. The Arab police looked on while Jewish children were murdered and the skulls of Jews split open. 47 Jews dies in these attacks and on November 21, 1921 further deadly attacks took place in Jerusalem's old city. The British authorities were unable to find those responsible and limited Jewish immigration into the mandate. Larger pogroms took place on August 16 1929, Mohammed's birthday , after the rumour was spread by the Arab radical leader Mufti Haj Amin el Husseini that the Jews aimed to take over the Haram mosque. Arabs streamed from the mosques to the Western Wall, beat up praying Jews and burned Torah scrolls. A week later thousands of Arab farmers streamed into the Jewish quarters of Meah Shearim and Yemin Moshe. The violence later spread to Hebron where a large massacre occurred. Sixty Seven Jews were killed, including a dozen women and three children under the age of five. The violence continued in Jerusalem and then spread across the country, Six Kibbutzim were completely raised to the ground and the Arab terrorists even attempted to attack Tel Aviv. On August 30, 20 Jews were murdered in Safed.

After the rise of Hitler to power in Germany in 1933, the fifth aliyah was launched, mainly made up refugees from Nazi Germany. The Great Arab Revolt followed consisting of attacks on Jews once again throughout Palestine and against the British authorities. Hundreds of Jews were murdered. The British yielded with the 1937 White Paper effectively closing the country to further Jewish immigration. In the early 1930's militantly anti-Semitic Arab organizations were set up including the Istliqlal Party, el Husseini''s Palestinian Arab Party which denied all Jewish rights in the Holy Land, the Young Men;s Muslim Association, the 'Young Rebels' and the Green Hand Commandos. All took part in the 1930s pogroms. The youth wing of the Mufti's party, al-Futuwa proclaimed that Palestine was an exclusively Arab land. One of the ring leaders of the Arab aggression was Izzal Din al Qassam (the Hamas brigades that carry out homicide attacks against Israeli civilians bear his name today

Chapter 2 details Arab support for the Third Reich in the period leading up to the Second World War. Hitler was held in great esteem in the Arab world and in the Islamic world as a whole. Hitler was the object of great praise across the Arab world such as the letter written to Hitler by a Sheik from Palestine : "May God preserve you. Every day I bring my prayers for you to God. The news of your Highness's fragrance spreads the best fragrances in the whole world...May you always remain my Lord". And a telegram from Jerusalem : "The Arab youth of Palestine respectfully ask the only Fuhrer of Germany to prevent the sale of the German Schneller school and it's l;and to the Jews., so that this sale does not contribute to the Jewification of the Holy Land". Articles appared in the Arab press in which Hitler was placed on a level with the Prophet Mohammed and a belief spread widely across the Arab world that Hitler was the promised twelfth Imman sent to deliver Islam from it's enemies. The author of this book go's on to point out that "National Socialist anti-Semitism could thus be stretched back into history, religiously legitimised and actively used in the present".

Arab parties like the Istiqlal and the Arab boy Scouts openly embraced the National Socialist doctrine. The rebels often displayed the swastika as a symbol of challenge to the Jews and the British, On Mohammed's birthday on June 4 1937, German and Italian flags and pictures of Hitler and Mussolini were displayed across Palestine and many other parts of the Arab world.
Hitler also frequently declared his sympathies for the Muslims in Palestine.In December 1938 el Husseini contacted the German ambassador in Baghdad , Dr Fritz Grobba and asked for Nazi help: "Germany would ensure the eternal thanks of all Arabs if it were to assist them in their current distress and help them achieve victory".

The author points out that it was the "Third Reich's dictatorial orientation, aggressiveness, Fuhrer cult and especially hatred of the Jews that brought it popularity in parts of the Arab world and in the broader Islamic world".

In Chapter 3. "Shifting Principles" the Nazi funds made available to Arab extremists is examined. Nazi official Karl Kossack-Raytenau travelled through Palestine in 1938 as a special correspondent for the National Socialist paper "Der Angriff". He wrote "The Arab recognized the threat posed by the Jew before the good natured German did, and he determinedly countered it with strength and passion. He fights the Jew whenever and however he can, and here in Haifa in particular the battle never ends".

IN 1940-1942 Italian and Luftwaffe bombers attacked Haifa and Tel Aviv, killing hundreds of Jews and Arabs. However this was watched with great satisfaction by many Arabs who flocked from Acre to watch the spectacle and dance with joy. This is reminiscent of the Arabs in Jerusalem and West Bank dancing and cheering during the 1991 gulf War when Saddam Hussein sent scuds into Israeli cities.

Chapters 4 and 5 document the war in North Africa and Mesopotamia and Hitler's Mediterranean strategy.
While Chapter 6 discusses the Mufti Haj Amin el Husseini. At their famous meeting in Berlin on November 28, 1941. Hitler promised the Mufti that after the victory by the Axis in North Africa and the Caucuses, 'liberation' would come for the Arab world and then Nazi Germany's only goal would be the "destruction of the Jews living in the Arab territory under the protection of the British".
Chapter 7 covers Rommell's war in North Africa and the thousands of propaganda pamphlets dropped by the Nazis in Africa and the Levant urging support for the Axis and Jew-hatred. While Chapter 8 reveals the special Einsatzattkommando of SS and SD assembled by Walter Rauff, the originator of the gassing vans in Poland and the Soviet Union. These were in the advanced stages plans had been made for the enthusiastic support in this planned extension of the Holocaust by the Arabs of Palestine These plans were stopped by the German defeat at El Alamien. This chapter discusses in detail the various SS and SD Einsatzattkommandos assembled for this purpose. A much overlooked aspect of World War II in North Africa and the Middle East. At this time thousands of Arabs from Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and North Africa joined Rommel's troops. After the Axis were stopped at El Alamein,and the and the end of the Caucuses operation covered in Chapter XI the Nazis turned their plans into persecution and deportation of the Jews in Tunisia as documented in Chapter XII Chapter XIII covers the various Waffen SS, SD and Wehrmacht units made up of Muslims and the last chapter of Nazi backed attempts at infiltration into Palestine and the Middle East.

In the context of another potential Holocaust against the Jews of Israel, with threats by Iran's dictator Ahmadinejad, Hamas and Hezbollah and the increased demonetization of Israel growing in scope and fury today, this book is a relevant look at the Nazi-Islamic relationship whose effects are as prevalent today as ever.
In the Epilogue the author related how on Apiril 44, 1961, before the start of Adolf Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem, Jordan's Jerusalem times published an open letter to the accused stating the belief that the extermination of Europe's Jewry had proved to be " areal blessing to humanity" and continued that "This trial will one day find it's conclusion with the liquidation of the remaining six million".

In a 1974 conversation between Syrian President Hafez Assad and Druze demagogue politician Walid Jumblatt reproduced in Beirut News, Assad stated that the Arabs "remembered Hitler in a positive way" after which Jumblatt agreed that "At least he saved us from the Zionists...National Socialism should be revered a bit", before making statements denying the scope of the Holocaust and suggesting it was exaggerated.

This comprehensive study provides the reader with an insight into 'what might have been' if the advance of the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler and his plans for the genocide of the Jews, had extended into what was Palestine and subsequently combined with the agenda of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini and his minions.

Other reviewers such as Gary Selikow have admirably dealt with a detailed appraisal of the numerous aspects addressed by the authors.

Many familiar with Middle East history and the Arab-Israeli conflict will be aware that the genocidal intentions of those hostile to the Jewish presence in the region did not end either with Hitler or the Mufti. This study shows that the underlying hatred so prevalent during the war-time period of Hitler and the Mufti still exists.

Indeed the UN plan/resolution to partition Palestine in 1947/8 was shown to have been of no consequence to the Arab/Islamic world when they latter refused peace and the recognition of Israel's rebirth and instead chose the pursuit of their genocide.

The Arab High Committee in 1948 publicly declaring, just 3 years after the Holocaust;- "The Arabs have taken into their own hands, the FINAL SOLUTION of the Jewish problem. The problem will be solved only in blood and fire. The Jews will be driven out."

Jamal Al-Hussein, the Vice-president of the Arab High Committee reiterating at that time; "We are sadly and PERMANENTLY determined to fight to the last man against the existence in our country of ANY Jewish state, no matter how small it is..."

While Israel accepted peace/partition then and on numerous times since, the same response has emanated from the Arab/Islamic world.

Giving access to the post World War 2 memoirs of the Mufti, the reader is shown how the Mufti was clear in his understanding that the Arab's fundamental condition for cooperating with Hitler's Germany was a free hand to eradicate "every last Jew from Palestine and the Arab world".

The Mufti having been given an explicit undertaking from Hitler and the proponents of the Holocaust in Europe, that the Arabs would be allowed to "solve the Jewish problem" in a manner befitting their own national/racial aspirations, according to the "scientific methods innovated by German in the handling of its Jews". The Mufti's memoirs clearing stating that Hitler's response was "the Jews are yours".

I heartily recommend this study it at a time when the World wants Israel (the only Jewish state) to sacrifice it's very heartland to yet ANOTHER Arab state and those whose charter remains sworn to it's destruction. Its adherents either denying the Holocaust or conversely swearing to finish the job which Hitler started. Cloaked with political or humanitarian euphemisms the agenda of Israel's enemies is accessible in the words of the charters of both Fatah, Hamas and the 'phased plan' of the PLO.

This book is indeed a warning from history in its own right. Thank you.

The Nazi Connection to Islamic Terrorism: Adolf Hitler and Haj Amin Al-Husseini

Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World

History Upside Down: The Roots of Palestinian Fascism and the Myth of Israeli Aggression