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Jeffrey Herf, a leading scholar in the field, offers the most extensive examination to date of Nazi propaganda activities targeting Arabs and Muslims in the Middle East during World War II and the Holocaust. He draws extensively on previously unused and little-known archival resources, including the shocking transcriptions of the “Axis Broadcasts in Arabic” radio programs, which convey a strongly anti-Semitic message.
Herf explores the intellectual, political, and cultural context in which German and European radical anti-Semitism was found to resonate with similar views rooted in a selective appropriation of the traditions of Islam. Pro-Nazi Arab exiles in wartime Berlin, including Haj el-Husseini and Rashid el-Kilani, collaborated with the Nazis in constructing their Middle East propaganda campaign. By integrating the political and military history of the war in the Middle East with the intellectual and cultural dimensions of the propagandistic diffusion of Nazi ideology, Herf offers the most thorough examination to date of this important chapter in the history of World War II. Importantly, he also shows how the anti-Semitism promoted by the Nazi propaganda effort contributed to the anti-Semitism exhibited by adherents of radical forms of Islam in the Middle East today.
- Sales Rank: #679639 in Books
- Published on: 2010-12-07
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.34" h x .74" w x 6.14" l, 1.14 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 368 pages
Review
"'Professor Herf's book is a thorough and important description of Nazi propaganda to the Arab world during World War II, and quite accurately and ominously highlights the parallels between Nazi anti-Semitic tenets and Islamist anti-Semitism.' Benny Morris, Ben-Gurion University 'Reading Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World is a reminder of how powerful such lies can be... We have not yet heard the end of the ideas whose birth Herf documents in this frightening, necessary book.' Adam Kirsch, TABLET"
“Jeffrey Herf provides a vivid history of Nazi propaganda in the Middle East by using an array of newly discovered sources. He not only demonstrates the geographical reach of Nazi Germany''s rhetoric and intentions in its apocalyptic war against the Jews, but also provides important suggestions regarding the development of contemporary anti-Semitism in the Muslim world.� A must read for both historians of the Holocaust and those interested in the Middle East conflict.”—Norman Goda, author of Tales from Spandau: Nazi Criminals and the Cold War
(Norman Goda )
"Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World is a work of great research and clear writing.�Through archival sleuthing, Herf has discovered a previously unknown but crucial chapter in the rise of modern anti-Semitism in the Arab world. He shows how Nazi propaganda harnessed European and indigenous anti-Semitism to form a lethal form of racism.�The result continues to poison the Middle East''s intellectual life today and has helped fuel a virulent opposition to modernity that haunts us today."—Ian Johnson, author of A Mosque in Munich (Ian Johnson )
"Herf is a prominent scholar in and is a member of a tiny community of experts who are both familiar with Nazi Germany and the Arab world; so no one like Herf is in a position to complete such a well-founded study on the spread of Nazi propaganda in the Middle East. Herf shows how Nazis employed media in Arabic – such as short-wave radio – to win the Middle East. The dreadful impact of this propaganda has been the pan-Arab nationalist adoption of Nazi ideology. On the top of this impact is the pan-Arab adoption of Nazi anti-Semitism. Therefore, Herf’s book focuses on this issue, analyzing original materials and providing new insights. In the past decades secular pan-Arabism has been replaced by Islamism, but the German Nazi traces of anti-Semitism disclosed in the groundbreaking analysis continues to be in place, despite the Islamization of this ideology. Herf’s book is not only a historical disclosure, but also a major contribution to understanding the Middle East of today in a historical continuity."—Bassam Tibi, Cornell University
(Bassam Tibi )
"Drawing upon new sources, Jeffrey Herf illuminates the complex interaction between Nazi Germany and Arab extremists.� This incisive work contributes greatly to our understanding of anti-Semitism in the Middle East."—Richard Breitman, American University (Richard Breitman )
"A compelling example of the new trans-national historiography, this volume is a major contribution to the history of Nazi Germany and the prehistory of the Arab-Israeli conflict."—Russell A. Berman, Stanford University (Russell A. Berman )
"In this fascinating book, Jeffrey Herf investigates the themes, methods, and scope of Nazi propaganda in the Near East during World War Two.� He shows how Berlin achieved a synthesis of its own paranoid anti-Semitism combined with selective elements drawn from Islam in order to propagate its message of a mortal Jewish peril.� A superb achievement!"—Saul Friedlander, University of California, Los Angeles (Saul Friedlander )
"Jeffery Herf has written a convincing and powerful account of the impact of Nazi propaganda on the Middle East, throwing new light on the convergence of European and Arab-Islamic anti-Semitism."—Robert S. Wistrich, author of A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad (Robert S. Wistrich )
"Professor Herf''s book is a thorough and important description of Nazi propaganda to the Arab world during World War II, and quite accurately and ominously highlights the parallels between Nazi anti-Semitic tenets and Islamist anti-Semitism."—Benny Morris, Ben-Gurion University (Benny Morris )
“Reading Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World is a reminder of how powerful such lies can be. . . .�We have not yet heard the end of the ideas whose birth Herf documents in this frightening, necessary book.” — Adam Kirsch, TABLET
(TABLET )
“Powerful, important. . . . Herf’s detective work in the U.S. archives has opened a new vista on the Arab-Israeli conflict and Islamism, as well as made a landmark contribution more broadly to an understanding of the modern Middle East.”--Daniel Pipes, Commentary
�
(Daniel Pipes Commentary )
“[Herf’s study]. . .will hopefully make it more difficult for commentators and government officials to ignore the affinities between radical Islam and Nazi eliminationist anti-Semitism.”--Sol Stern, The New Criterion
�
(Sol Stern The New Criterion )
"Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World is the recipient of the 2010 Bronze Book Prize of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy for Nonfiction Books on the Middle East."
About the Author
Jeffrey Herf is a Professor in the Department of History at the University of Maryland in College Park.
Most helpful customer reviews
40 of 46 people found the following review helpful.
The Nazi roots of anti-Zionist propaganda
By Gary Selikow
A comprehensive and pivotal work detailing the dissemination of propaganda from Nazi Germany into the Middle East and north Africa during the Second World War, and the development that this had on Arab and Islamic anti-Semitism/Anti-Zionism to this very day.
During the Second World War Nazi Germany circulated millions of printed leaflets and broadcast thousands of hours of shortwave radio (all in Arabic) in order to disseminate it's anti-Jewish ideology throughout he Arab world. what this work does is to document the ideas, individuals and institutions behind this initiative. Nazi Germany was at pains to demonstrate to the Muslims that it was anti-Jewish but in no way hostile to other Semitic peoples such as Arabs and Iranians who it professed great admiration and affinity for.
The first Axis broadcasts in Arabic were pioneered by Fascist Italy in it's radio broadcasts on Radio Bari, in 1934. At he same time Hitler, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Heinrich Himmler and officials in the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) demonstrated a strong determination to make appeals to Arabs and Muslims. Nazi Germany stressed that it was an uncompromising foe of Zionism, which which was to bring much Arab support.
In June 1939 Saudi King Ibn Saud Khalid al-Hud-al Qarqani met with Hitler who assured him of his long standing sympathy for the Arabs and his willingness to offer them 'active assistance',and especially his support for the Arab cause in Palestine and determination to prevent the realization of a Jewish Nation home there.
Fascist Italy broadcast Arabic programmes from 1934 to 1943, Nazi shortwave broadcasts in Arabic commenced in October 1939, and continued until March 1945 on the Nazi German Arab language radio station, the Voice of Free Arabism. The Nazi regime saw extreme anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism as pivotal points of entry into the Arab world. As the author explains " Throughout the war Nazi Arabic radio repeated the charge that World War II was a Jewish war whose purpose in the region was to establish a Jewish State in Palestine that would expand into and dominate the entire Muslim and Arab world. Moreover the broadcasts asserted that the Jews in the mid twentieth century were were attempting to destroy Islam just as their ancestors had been attempting to do for thirteen centuries...An Axis victory would prevent the formation of a Jewish state in Palestine".
The same way Nazi propaganda exploited hundreds of years of Christian anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic canards to create it's venomous propaganda, so Nazi propaganda in the Arab world did the same with the anti-Semitism inherent in Islamic thought. This dissemination was to be a moulding force in the ideas of both anti-Zionist Arab nationalism and Islamist radicalism to this very day, and can be echoed in the propaganda of Islamists today such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, the Khamenei-Ahmadinejad Islamist regime in Iran and a plethora of Islamic media.
The same way the Nazis decried and despised the elective affinity between English Puritanism and the Jews, so they took pride in the affinity between National Socialist ideology and what it selected from the traditions of Islam.
Hitler assured Palestinian Arab leader Haj Amin el Husseini that once he had defeated Soviet Russia and moved south from the Caucuses, the 'policy of destruction of the Jewish element' would be extended to Egypt, Palestine, Iraq and Transjordan. In the event of an Axis victory in North Africa Einzatsgruppen SS units were being prepared to be sent to the region to annihilate the Jews of Palestine and elsewhere in North Africa and the Middle East. in collaboration with the Palestine Arabs . This would certainly have happened had the German forces been victorious at El Alamein and overrun Egypt from where they would have invaded the Holy Land. Plans were made between the Mufti and the Nazi leadership for this extension of the final solution and can be illustrated in detail in Nazi Palestine: The Plans for the Extermination of the Jews in Palestine. The Mufti's collaboration with SS officials extended to a close collaboration with Himmler himself and Eichmann. VFA in it's broadcasts to Egypt to greater militancy to prevent Palestine 'becoming a Jewish colony".
Axis backed incitement intensified in 1942 with El Husseini and Yunus Bahri urged Arabs in Egypt and Palestine to "rise, murder the Jew and seize their property".
In October 1942 The Arab Nation from Berlin broadcast in Arabic that the Arabs would refuse any sort of coexistence with the Jews. And as Herf points out ' Refusal of any compromise on the Palestine issue was another logical outcome of the intertwining of political and religious themes in Axis propaganda.
On October 19, 1943, Berlin in Arabic attacked Chaim Weizmann "Perhaps this despicable usurer is hoping that the Arabs of Palestine will leave their country to the Jews. but wait, dirty Jew, Palestine will remain a pure Arab country as it has always been. It is you and your dirty relatives who will be kicked out and this will come about by the grace of Allah". VFA broadcast that Jews hoped to use Palestine to expand and rule over a vast empire from the Tigris in Iraq to as far as Morocco. On November 21, VFA proclaimed 'Since the days of Mohammed the Jews have been hostile to Islam...Hatred of Islam and of the Arabs is the main reason for the desire of the Jews to have Palestine for their own and if they take Palestine they will be in a good position over the other Arab countries".
Nazi propaganda presented Zionism as the in the supposedly ancient Jewish vendetta against Islam.
Thousands of propaganda pamphlets and broadcasts in North Africa 1943 disseminated to Arabs the idea that the Jews kindled World War II, that the Arabs had been enslaved by the Jews of Palestine and that this fate awaited the Arabs of North Africa unless the Axis was victorious.
As evidence of the annihilation of the Jews in Europe filtered to the world in 1943, the Arab Nation and VFA referred to this evidence as lies-an early example of Holocaust Denial, and that the Jews 'would not be able to take Palestine unless the world believes they are worthy of sympathy" Thus the stage was set for the centrality of Holocaust denial in anti-Zionism.
The propaganda was also disseminated that the Jews were the glue that held together those earmarked as enemies of both Nazi Germany and the Arabs, Britain, the USA and the Communists.
Arab religious leaders referred to Hitler as the reincarnation of Jesus (Isa) predicted in the Koran who would return as a warrior to defeat the enemies of Islam while Shiites in Iraq were told that Hitler was the incantation of the eleventh Iman who would bring victory to Islam.
On 1 March 1944 el-Husseini broadcast from Berlin to Palestine "Arabs rise as one and fight for your sacred rights. Kill the Jews wherever you find them. This pleases God, history and religion"
After the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, the British declined to let the Mufti and other pro-Nazi Arab leaders be prosecuted as this would lose them much needed Arab support. The Mufti was not brought to trial for incitement and actions at times more inflammatory than those of German officials such as Otto Dietrich, who was brought to trial in Nuremberg.
After the war the Palestine Arab Party which supported the Mufti and was led by his cousin Jamal al-Husseini put pressure on the British to release all the incarcerated Axis leaders and saw the Mufti's wartime activity as a source of pride.
Continuation of the propaganda began by the Axis broadcasts was continued by the Muslim Brotherhood as well as the governments of Syria and Egypt. The fact that Colonel Nasser hired Nazi propagandist Johan Von Leers to hear Egyptian information agencies illustrated his determination to continue to support the ideas and propaganda about Jews and Israel that were rooted in Nazi propaganda and ideology.
A very important work in tracing the history of Islamic propaganda against Israel and Jews and demonstrates to both Islamic and Leftist anti-Zionist propagandists the company and legacy that they share.
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 and Jihad and Jew-Hatred: Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Flawed in its thesis but presents fascinating evidence.
By Warren in Portland
Summary:
Jeffrey Herf, Professor of 20th century German History, provides a detailed look into Nazi ambitions and machinations in the Arab world. The effect of Nazi propaganda on the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa is investigated; from the early 1930s, to World War II, to the postwar years and beyond. Additionally, Herf investigates the long-term impact Nazi propaganda would have on contemporary Middle Eastern popular thought as pertaining to Europe and the Jewish race.
Professor Herf believes that current anti-Jewish / anti-Israeli sentiment and distrust of Western influence in the Middle East has roots in both the propaganda campaign waged by Nazi Germany and the allied counter-propaganda designed to combat it. Herf shows that the aggressive form of propaganda used by the Nazis to push their message of absolute hatred of the Jews lives on in the sort of anti-Jew rhetoric espoused by the Imams, Taliban, and many political leaders of the region.
Just as importantly, Herf addresses the often-overlooked effort put forth by the Third Reich in attempting to turn the hearts and minds of the Arab and Muslim peoples against the enemies of the Axis powers. Of particular interest are the lesser-known efforts of the Nazis to downplay the pro-Aryan elements of their rhetoric and inclusion of these `inferior races' into the Nazi worldview so as to gain their support in securing the region for eventual Nazi occupation. This is certainly a tremendous departure from the traditional view of the Nazis as totalitarian and single-minded in their quest to rid the world of lesser races.
Herf lays out significant evidence supporting his thesis in the form of first-hand accounts and careful review of surviving audio recordings, transcripts, and official correspondence. Of some difficulty in reviewing the text is that Herf is the first scholar to investigate many of the works of propaganda used in establishing and defending his thesis. Few if any others with scholarly credentials have published works on this subject in such detail that could be used to refute or reinforce a claim.
In some cases where direct information is lacking, Herf introduces secondary evidence from other sources; in one case no transcript of a Nazi propaganda broadcast remains, so Herf uses a report compiled by an Allied agent in the region describing the key points and expected effect of the broadcast instead.
Overall Herf does an excellent job detailing an element of world history that is so often overlooked by historians and laymen alike. By understanding the influence anti-Jew and anti-European propaganda exerted on the Arab/Muslim world, we can better understand the current political structure of the Middle East and its effect on the Western world.
Why the Book Exists:
The subjects of Nazi propaganda, the war effort of Nazi Germany in the North African theater, and the political instability of the Middle East following World War I are all well-researched and superbly documented subjects. Few would question that the last words have been spoken by many eminent historians on the Nazi regime.
However, the subject of Nazi propaganda in the Middle East and North Africa has rarely been explored in detail. Generally these efforts have been researched and described at a very high level, with anecdotal or limited evidence presented in support of specific events and declarations made by any side. The text notes that the Nazi efforts in the region had been documented and made well-known, but that there had been no real work done on locating and examining the exact broadcast transcripts, print materials, or official government (Allied, Axis, and otherwise) responses to the propaganda.
Seeing that there had been no comprehensive investigation into the materials produced by the Nazis for the region, Professor Jeffrey Herf, an authority on Nazi-era and 20th century Germany, decided to research the subject in great depth. He took on the enormous task of pouring over what must have been thousands of pages of radio transcripts, official and unofficial correspondence, and copies of propaganda leaflets.
Herf's efforts resulted in a very detailed and eye-opening look at exactly what the Nazis were saying to the Arabs, what the Arabs were saying to the Nazis, and what the Allies thought of the Nazi propaganda machine's effects on the Arabs. Certainly few of the transcripts and correspondence examined or reproduced in the book have ever been made available outside of archives or scholarly reference material.
Amazing Evidence:
One cannot begin to analyze dissect the evidence Herf provides without first noting how different the Nazi approach to propaganda was in the Middle East than in Europe. Even by Nazi standards, the tone and ferocity of their rhetoric was incredible, and their claims unbelievable. Here the Jews were quite literally the source of all the world's evils, the Bolsheviks the next most insidious threat, and the Arab world on the cusp of declaring their freedom from western oppression (in the name of Allah).
The propaganda developed for the Middle East was customized for the particular beliefs and customs of the region, with particular emphasis placed on comparing the Nazi struggle against Jewish tyranny with the fate of the Muslims at the hands of the Crusaders, the Prussians, or any other occupying invader.
While the inflammatory nature of Nazi propaganda goes without saying, its effectiveness in Europe was always tempered by the limited audience who sincerely believed the Jews were part of some sort of ancient shadow conspiracy, or that the Nazis would solve the problems of Europe by force, or that only a mythical Aryan super-race was the true chosen race to lead the world.
However Nazi propaganda had great effect on people who were already believers in similar causes, fanning the flames of racial prejudice. In regions where Jews, Gypsies, Roma, and kind were historically vilified the Nazis found a willing (if small) audience for anti-Semitism. In regions where western colonialism or meddling had caused pronounced harm or insult to national pride, the Nazis proclaimed themselves liberators and freedom fighters, fellow victims of unwelcome European and American intervention, and again found an audience. These were exactly the conditions found in the Middle East.
By the beginning of World War II, the Jewish influx into Palestine (supported by the Western powers who had wronged Arabs so many times before) had upset the delicate balance in the region. Intellectuals and students were up in arms over what they viewed was a violation of their homelands; Political leaders were willing to go to bed with anyone who could promise them revenge against the Jews or the colonial powers; and common citizens were ready to listen to anyone who could give them someone to blame and a direction to follow to a better life.
It is incredible to see for oneself just how far the Nazis seemed willing to bend their own party line to keep the Arab world out of Allied hands, with Goebbels and Hitler acknowledging the apparent incorrectness of their earlier assessment of the Arab world- an example being how Hitler once reflected upon the Egyptians as "decadent cripples"; then later agreed to delete anti-Arab and anti-Muslim rhetoric from both his speeches and the official Arabic version of Mein Kampf; and eventually went on to describe his long-standing sympathy for the Arabs and his desire to offer what he termed "active assistance" to a visiting Saudi adviser.
In June 1944, Berlin in Arabic (a Nazi propaganda station broadcasting in the Arabic language) informed Palestinian Arabs that, according to information available to the broadcasters, car accidents "...in Palestine always involve the Arab people". The broadcast then warns that "...the Jews are running down the Arabs with their cars", and declared that these accidents were "...not the only methods used by the Jews to exterminate the Arabs".
While a later example of Nazi propaganda in the region, this broadcast demonstrates the astounding level of ignorance the Nazis hoped to exploit in dealing with the Arab world. The Nazis apparently went to great lengths to tailor their ideals to be understood by the Arab peoples, going so far as to proclaim their great love for the Prophet and the resilience in the face of adversity, yet maintained the same sort of intolerance and presumptions that marked the core tenets of Nazi ideology.
This is an interesting concept, that the Nazis needed the support of the Arabs, but clearly identified them as being a lesser race. In order to enlist the support of the Arabs, the Nazis would need to retool their propaganda machine and find a way to incorporate Muslims into the Nazi worldview in a more flattering light.
The text contains evidence of the significant efforts of the highest levels of the
Nazi Government to rewrite Nazi history and principles to `pencil in' the Arab peoples as allies and friends. This is a phenomenon that the text covers in great detail, using original correspondence and official records from the Third Reich to illustrate the Nazi's willingness to tone down their pro-Aryan rhetoric as it suited their needs, and adjusted their projected attitude to gain allies and defame the Allies wherever possible.
The Nazis even go so far as to actually interpret passages and quote from the Koran in ways that make the German struggle against "The World Jewry" sound like the struggles of the Islamic peoples. Efforts were made to remake Hitler into a prophet like Muhammad, eventually `settling' on portraying Hitler as the Koranic Jesus, a warrior returning to slay the enemies of Islam. Ironically, the text says, little effort was required to promote this likeness, as the Koran itself describes the rise of a Nazi-like force led by a crusading warrior. This revelation is, to my knowledge, a rarely discussed aspect of Nazi propaganda in the region that alone is worth reading the text for.
In the propaganda directed at the Arabs, Germany portrayed itself as an anti-colonial power, fighting for the rights of the downtrodden forced under the boot heels of the Jew-run colonial powers (Britain, America, etc). The Arabs would respond favorably to these ideals, especially those statements which would lead to sympathy and understanding toward Germany: Germany had never held an Arab land as their own, never interfered in the politics or governance of the Middle East, and had been reduced to a sort of vassal state to the European powers after World War I. The latter especially rung true with the Arabs, who had suffered significant hardship under the colonial ownership of Britain and other non-Arab states. However a notable failure on the part of the Nazis was in trying to ignite hatred for the Russians and Bolsheviks, two groups with which the Arab world had little contact and no real animosity towards.
While the Nazi efforts to gain allies (or at least reduce support for the Allied cause) in the Middle East and North Africa failed to have any substantial effect on the outcome of World War II, Herf shows us that the Nazi propaganda contributed immensely to the unstable political climate of the Middle East in the postwar years. The warnings of a `Jewish Invasion' issued by Nazi radio broadcasts roused popular support amongst Muslims for the war against the first Israeli settlers that would soon come. The theme of western imperialism and conquest of the Arab world would seem prophetic as petroleum interests made ancient kingdoms rich and the target of the west's hunger for oil. The Nazi theme of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy began to ring true as the U.N. sided with Israel again and again as it overstepped its bounds and contributed to the instability of the region. The Radical Islamists sounded the cry of Jewish hegemony and brutality in the Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria as they declared fatwa and jihad on Israel and its supporters.
Even today we see the after-effects of the information warfare waged by the Nazis in the form of radical anti-Semitism and anti-western ideology widespread throughout the Arab world. So many modern Arab politicians and leaders seem to be influenced by the same rhetoric spewed forth from Nazi printers and transmitters that the connection seems almost obvious in hindsight. While no evidence likely exists that could stand as incontrovertible proof that such a link exists, enough similarity is obvious that it can be said that at the very least, the modern trend of radical and fundamental Islam shares much of its ideology toward the rest of the world with Nazi Germany.
Sources of Evidence:
In the text, Herf draws upon numerous examples of radio transcripts, print materials, and official correspondence. He also draws upon the experiences of several notable characters who are either key players or witnesses to the events and broadcasts that are under review in the text.
Of particular interest are the reports and correspondence of two Allied personnel in the region: Miles Lampson, the British Ambassador to Egypt; and Alexander C. Kirk, first head of the U.S. legation, and later Ambassador to Egypt. These two men became the Allies' primary source of information regarding the Nazi propaganda efforts in the Middle East. They reported, in great detail and often with sobering honesty, the effects of the propaganda campaign and the Nazi war effort in the region. Much of their correspondence is reprinted in the text, and all of it is very telling of the uncertain future of the region under Axis or Allied control.
The Nazi propaganda machine may not have been as effective or as memorable as it was had it not been for the efforts of Fritz Grobba, an authority on the Arab world who managed to exert a great deal of pressure upon every level of the Nazi regime, and forced compromises in rhetoric and ideology that would allow the Nazis to retain the services of the Arabs without necessarily negating their core tenets of racial bigotry and Aryan supremacy.
Also of note are the efforts of one Haj Amin Al-Husseini, political exile and eventual leader of the 1941 pro-Axis coup in Iraq. This man looms large in the Nazi dealings with the region, having an involvement in the Arab Committee and dealing directly on several occasions with the German Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop. The conversations between the two men and their representatives are extremely telling of Husseini's thirst for power and Ribbentrop's willingness to work with the leaders of the Arab world to derail the Allies wherever possible. Husseini was instrumental in establishing a group known as The Arab Committee. Made up of Husseini, his entourage, and any number of fellow exiles or disenchanted leaders from the Middle East, the committee became an unofficial voice for the pro-Axis supporters and anti-Semites in the Arab world.
Having also lost no love for their former homelands, the Arab Committee drew up a plan that was presented to the Axis powers promising resistance to the Allies and allegiance to the Axis in exchange for guaranteed independence and armaments. The Axis agreed, and so the propaganda campaign began again in earnest with Husseini as the mouthpiece. He frequently broadcasted on Nazi radio in the region, reading a mix of Nazi propaganda tailored for the region and Arab Committee party rhetoric slamming Europe and Jews.
While a plethora of other persons, material, and events are presented, Herf's narrative seems to return to these key characters and their actions or reports on Nazi activity in the region. This is not necessarily a bad thing- these characters are extremely important in understanding the mechanics of the propaganda machine in the Arab world and how the Allies viewed the progress and possible repercussions of the pro-Axis and anti-Allies sentiment in the region.
Alternate Perspectives and Comparison:
Herf does not directly reference other authors or historians in the text. Since he is essentially trailblazing as he goes along, there are few opportunities to contrast his findings with those of other historians. However the bibliography is awash with references to other works closely related to the text. It is entirely possible that Herf purposefully did not introduce differing viewpoints or additional sources so as not to interrupt the narrative, which does indeed move along at a consistent and very readable pace.
Additionally I can think of no other works that could be directly compared to the text, though much has been written on the subject of Nazi Propaganda in Europe. I have already made some allusions to my disbelief that the Nazis actively tailored their propaganda to the particular religious and cultural requirements of the Arabs- for me this seems to come from the prevailing wisdom that the Nazis would not and did not make compromises to their racial hierarchy and ideology for the convenience of minor regional allies.
By detailing a lesser-known aspect of World War II that has direct repercussions in the modern world, I feel strongly that this text provides an excellent challenge to the traditional view of the Nazis and their propaganda.
Conclusion:
I cannot over-emphasize how much this book broadened my horizons. I am astounded at the layers of intrigue and complex maneuvering involved in running the Nazi propaganda machine in the Middle East, and what consolations were made at the absolute highest levels of the Nazi regime to enlist Arab support. While I cannot claim to be a historian by any means, I do have more than a passing scholarly interest in the underlying causes and aftereffects surrounding the Nazi regime. When faced with direct evidence that the Nazis could bow to anyone, let alone Hitler bowing to an Arabic scholar on a translation of Mein Kampf, is truly mind-blowing. Beyond that, the unique perspective offered by Herf's evidence gives any reader new insight into the operations of Nazi Germany as it moved beyond simply hating the Jews and conquering Europe into having to manage the Axis and courting possible allies outside their core racial ideology.
The text is clearly written and flows well from page to page. The narrative is highly present and carries the reader from key event to key event in what seems like an agreeable manner. At no time did I find myself drowning in a sea of information or struggling to understand an oblique concept. I would have absolutely no reservations highly recommending this text to anyone with even a passing interest in Nazi propaganda or contemporary Middle Eastern history.
Bibliography for this review:
Herf, Jeffrey. Nazi Propaganda For The Arab World. Ann Arbor: Yale University Press, 2009. Print.
"Jeffrey Herf, Professor." University of Maryland Faculty Directory, History Department, Jeffrey Herf
n.d. Web. May 21, 2010 .
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
The Other War - Nazi Ideas in the Middle East
By L. King
An outstanding follow up to the author's previous book on anti-Jewish propaganda in the 3rd Reich, Herf makes excellent use of original source material and provides a comprehensive analysis of common patterns of rhetoric used by the Nazis and their Arab collaborators. The most intriguing of these are the transcripts of Arabic language broadcasts directed at the Arab world from Radio Zeesin (Germany) and Radio Bari (Italy), collected by a small team of stenographers and translators started by American attache Alexander Kirk in Cairo between 1939 and March of 1944. According to Herf the Nazis did produce transcripts of German radio broadcasts, but did not bother to do the same with broadcasts in Arabic; the Kirk material which features the notorious Mufti Hajj Amin al Husseini of Jerusalem and Rashid al Kilani who headed the 1941 pro-German Iraqi coup was an amazing and revealing find.
Germany's strategic target of interest was specifically Suez which presented a lifeline for the British for oil, aviation fuel (see pp209), troops and material support from India. Wrt the Arabs Nazi Germany had both assets and liabilities. On one hand they emphasized British colonialism and compared it to a lack of German colonialism in the ME, promising liberation and independence. Germany's colonial history in Africa and the Pacific appeared not to be a concern On the other hand, Germany's ally Italy had black marks in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Libya, as did Vichy France in Syria and North Africa. Another set of problems were the Nazi's racial theories and the term "antisemite" which appeared liberally in Mein Kampf and Nazi propaganda and might appear to include Arabs, Turks and Iranians. To meet this challenge the Nazis issued directives to replace "antisemite" with "anti-Jewish". A third tactic was to emphasize the similarity between National Socialism with Islam, and capitalize on anti-Jewish themes in the Quran and asserting a link between British, Russian and American leadership and nefarious cabals, including making up stories about Roosevelt's supposed Jewish ancestry. A fourth was to emphasize Nazi military success and power, emphasizing The Strong Horse - an approach which worked against them in the last year of the the war when the Nazis began to lose.
The Americans did not have the liability of a colonial history with the Arabs, so these arguments did not work as well against them. Herf reports on British and American military intelligence assessments of the impact and possible responses to these messages. Fearing that responding directly would only further promote Nazi views the Allies made a conscious decision to focus their message on Allied strength and successes and the totalitarian nature of the opposing regime. There was also concern that support for a Jewish Homeland in Palestine might sway Arab attitudes against the Allies. Herf gives as an example a report by George Britt (pp168), an OSI agent stationed in Beirut, who's wrote that opposition to Zionism resonated with a great majority of Arabs and Muslims, primarily for nationalist reasons, but that there was a smaller but "still substantial" group who did so for religious reasons. A report from German political intelligence (pp54) indicated that Arab support for the Allies was lukewarm among the elites and older generation and support for the Axis was stronger in younger army officers and some clerics and students, but that the army itself was insignificant. An interesting side note, one that is quite relevant to current events - a different report from German diplomat Rudolph Rahm (pp68) found the tribal rivalries in Syria and in Lebanon to be so intense that the Nazi message could be considered irrelevant!
Kilani, Younis Bahri (dubbed the Arab Lord Haw-Haw), the Mufti and other announcers were horrifically anti-Semitic, referencing the inherent treachery of the Jews, proclaiming secret Jewish plans to control 3 continents from Jerusalem and expel or exterminate the Arabs peoples. Therefore they concurred with the Nazi's view of a "final solution". ""All over the country the Jews should be watched. Every Jew's name must be written down, together with his address and his business. The Jews must be watched carefully so that they may be wiped out at the earliest opportunity" (VFA broadcast, pp112). "Palestine was part of a Jewish plan to rule the world. If the Jews could establish a Jewish state in Palestine they would "be able to control the three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa. Thus they will be able to rule the whole world and spread Jewish capitalism" (pp196). Arabs! Rise as one and fight for your sacred rights. Kill the Jews wherever you find them. This pleases God, history and religion. This serves your honour. God is with you." (Husseini, 1944-3-1; pp 212). In contrast the messages denouncing the Allies did not call for their murder or genocide rather emphasized "British brutality" and American naivity at being controlled by Jews.
In his conclusion Herf looks at the aftermath of such exhortations on Arab attitudes towards Jews after the war. On November 22, 145 there were co-ordinated anti-Jewish riots conducted by the Muslim Brotherhood in Cario, Alexandria, Suez and Port Said resulting in 12 killed, 250 wounded and organized looting of Jewish homes against Jewish property. (pp239) Hasan al Banna the ideological centre of the MB praised the Mufti and proclaimed him a hero, expressing admiration for his wartime activities which must be regarded in the context of hearing his radio broadcasts calling for the genocide of the Jews. Quoted is King Abdul Azis ibn Saud`s speech at a diplomatic banquet on Oct 30, 1944, reported by American diplomat Nils Lind (pp227): "Our hatred of this sinful and evil race is growing day by day until our one ambition is to slay them all." Herf also remarks on the expulsion and seizure of Jewish property from Arab countries where Jews were deprived of their rights in a fashion similar to the Nuremberg laws. (See alsoLocked Doors: The Seizure of Jewish Property in Arab Countries.)
An interesting follow up to this book would be Sean McMeeken's The Berlin-Baghdad Express which takes a detailed look at German propaganda in the Ottoman world which also sought to exploit Muslim religious sentiment against the allies in WW I, though without the same antisemitism. One does note that for the most part the Arabs did not act on these broadcasts during the war, preferring a cautious neutrality, yet the long term effect has been indisputable. Arab and Muslim antisemitism and antipathy towards any form of Zionism did not occur in a vacuum - the poisoned seed was planted in fertile soil. Often the same myths that were promoted by the Nazi collaborators such as accusations of genocide by Jews against Muslims (holocaust inversion) ), insatiable greed for territory, the treacherous and deceitful nature of the Jews and the innate and eternal enmity between Jew and Arab that can be found in the Quran recurs and informs Arab and Palestinian propaganda to this day, polarizing attitudes, seizing focus and and encouraging conflict. Herf's contribution is to provide a multifaceted window of understanding on the shape of attitudes in the past.
Highly recommended!
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