28.11.2006 11:24:44 / hilmar

Ritgerð fyrir Múllet-háskólann í Kentucky

Eins og flestir vita hef ég hafið nám við The Mullet University of Kentucky. Það gleður mig því nú að geta birt eina af þeim mörgu ritgerðum ritgerðum sem ég hef skrifað við skólann. Þessi ber heitið Arabíska uppreisnin og Hitler, og áhrif á þróun múlletsins. Vesgú

The Arabian rebellion and Hitler, and the affects of it on the evolution of the Mullet

1. The rise of Haj Amin

Mohammed Amin al-Husseini is said to have been born in 1893, or 1895, of an aristocratic family in Jerusalem. The Husseinis were one of the richest and most powerful of all the rivalling clans in the Ottoman province mutasarriflik Jerusalem, better known as the Judaean part of Palestine.
Haj Amin, only in his late twenties, became the youngest ever Mufti of Jerusalem in 1921. His election was due to family connections and possibly threats. The British supported Haj Amin to the post and granted him amnesty from a 10 year long sentence for encouraging murders. He had been one of the leaders of the 1920 Arab riots in Palestine and incited the masses to murder Jews and loot their homes. This first step later became a force of habit. He celebrated his succession by organising a Jewish pogrom in May 1921, followed by the annual anti-Balfour riots.
When the Mandate authorities founded the Supreme Muslim Council in December 1921, they wanted to provide for complete communal autonomy in religious matters. Every five years should the Muslims of Palestine elect a President, according to its charter. Haj Amin, however, was never elected. He simply seized the post and threatened every one who might want it. The President of the SMC was the most powerful person in Muslim Palestine. He controlled the Waqf funds worth annually tens of thousands of pounds, the orphan funds, worth annually about 50,000 pounds, besides controlling the Shariah courts, the Islamic religious court in Palestine. These courts, among other duties, appointed teachers and preachers, the most rigorous propaganda emissaries possible in Muslim societies. In other words, the Mufti controlled the communal finances and it was in his power to appoint communal officials. In addition, he monitored a nation-wide net of propagandists, usually sponsored by his embezzled funds. Several times when the Mufti was pressed to publish accounts for the funds he refused and simply had the ones who asked killed or "strongly advised" to be still. However, when the Nashashibis complained about the Mufti's abuse of charity money the British authorities could take no action. Only the Shariah court could demand an account for religious property, and since the Mufti could manipulate the Court through the SMC, a compulsory demand never came. The Waqf funds, which were supposed to be used for charity, were spent on the Mufti's pet programs. He used the funds to recruite armed gangs, hire propaganda activists, travel around the Muslim world to gather support and to purchase arms. The Mufti tried to eliminate the Jewish presence in Palestine at the expense of the poor, whose need for funds, as well as work at the Jewish farms, exceeded those who received them. In addition to all this, he received donations from abroad to build an Arab university in Jerusalem and to repair Palestine's mosques, especially the sanctuaries on the Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount). By the means of taking control in Palestine he even collected taxes from the citrus exports, along with the general taxes that the Arab population paid. In total, he seems to have had access to 150-200,000 pounds annually to finance his terrorist campaign in Palestine and propaganda against the Jews. Along with abusing and snatching the communal money he even fixed himself the very titles he used so frequently. He usually called himself the Eminence or the scholarly Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, although he just attended university for several months. The sheikh-president of his former university, Al-Azbar in Cairo, had the following to say about this matter:
In Islam, there are no "eminencies" and no "grand" muftis. Before Allah all men are equal. And it ill behoves a religious teacher to assume such redundant titles... A mufti is a teacher in Islam. And even to that title Haj Amin should have no claim, for he has not finished a single course of studies here at the University. He owes his appointment to political influence and family connections. He is a politician.
However, he managed to combine religion, in which he had no formal training, to politics, in which he was an expert, through terrorism. He extended his terror both against the Jews as well as other Arabs, the same philosophy as the modern Intifadah displays. His power among the Muslims of Palestine was unlimited, especially after he had murdered or frightened into exile the members of the National Defence Party, belonging to the rival Nashashibi clan, in 1936-8. His ambition was to become the leader or even the Sultan of Palestine and the spiritual leader of all the Muslim world. John Marlowe is in no doubt that Haj Amin was the most prominent figure of inter-War Palestine, and said:
The dominant figure in Palestine during the Mandate years was neither an Englishman, nor a Jew, but an Arab — Haj Amin Muhammed Effendi al Husaini... Able, ambitious, ruthless, humourless, and incorruptible, he was of the authentic stuff of which dictators are made.
The greatest obstacle to his dream coming true, he believed, was the Jewish presence in Palestine. The Mufti's policy towards the Jews seems to have gone through two main stages: first, kill the Zionists, second, kill the Jews. When he was young he used to work with a native Jew, Abbady, and one of his remarks to him was documented:
Remember, Abbady, this was and will remain an Arab land. We do not mind you natives of the country, but those alien invaders, the Zionists, will be massacred to the last man. We want no progress, no prosperity. Nothing but the sword will decide the fate of this country.
The Mufti's hatred towards the Jews originated from those roots. He did neither want progress nor prosperity. He just wanted Palestine to continue being the same backward and poor country, as it had been since the Jewish departure in the first centuries CE. Besides his pan-Arab tendencies he saw the Jews as bearers of modern European way of life, which confronted to the most sacred concepts of Islam, at least according to his version. In an interview with one Ladislas Farago he said:
The Jews have changed the life of Palestine in such a way that it must inevitably lead to the destruction of our race. We are not accustomed to this haste and speed, and therefore we are continually being driven into the background.
At first, his policy was to fight or massacre the Zionists, which he most notably achieved in the riots of 1920 and 1929 and later the 1936-1939 rebellion. However, when he realised that the Jews kept on flocking into the country, he thought the best way to deal with the Jewish problem was to dry up the source in Europe. With that purpose in mind he approached the newly established Nazi regime in Germany, which had as early as 1932 established Nazi party cells among the Palestinian Germans.

2. Early connections with Germany

Since the First World War the British, the French and even the Italians had become an object of a growing distrust and hatred in the Middle East. They all had colonised some parts of the late Ottoman Empire and aroused Muslim distrust of the Western culture they tried to introduce. However, Germany had remained a mere observer. Germany's fervent nationalism, antisemitism and anti-Versailles sentiments did not escape the attention of the Muslim Middle East. The Mufti was no exception.

And the Mufti had plans to keep the Palestine pot boiling — with the help of Adolf Hitler. The Führer despised the Jews for economic and ideological terms; the Mufti for political and social reasons. Hitler wanted to weaken Britain's imperial system; Haj Amin to oust her out the Middle East. The two men had a good deal in common.
In March 1933 the Mufti sent a telegram to Berlin, in which he sent greetings to the Nazi regime and said he looked forward to spreading their ideology in the Middle East, especially in Palestine. A month later, he secretly met Wolff, the German Consul-General, near the Dead Sea and expressed his approval of the anti-Jewish boycott in Germany and asked him not to send any Jews to Palestine. Later that year, the Mufti's assistants approached Wolff, seeking his help in establishing a National Socialist Arab party in Palestine. Both Wolff and his superiors disapproved, but the German refusal could hardly have been a surprise. Firstly, Germany's Palestinian policy was then to keep the country open for further immigration of German Jews besides they did not want to get involved in the British sphere of influence. Also, both Wolff and his superiors were following a pro-Zionist policy because the need for further Jewish immigration, made known in the Ha'avara. Secondly, the membership of the NSDAP, the Nazi party, was restricted to German speaking "Aryans" only.

3. The Arab rebellion

On 19 April 1936 the Arab rebellion broke out in Palestine, by the murders of nine Jews in Jaffa. Soon the rebellion had spread across the country, openly and officially led by the Mufti and his Arab Higher Committee, founded a week after the rebellion had started. The Committee, presided by the Mufti, proclaimed a general Arab strike. Jewish colonies, kibbutzim and quarters in towns, became the targets for continuous Arab sniping, bombing and terrorist activities. The British played right into his hands by removing the leaders of his rivalling clan, the Nashashibis, from influental positions. The Mufti now reigned supreme in Palestine.
It did not take long until the Mufti had transformed small bands of thugs into a full-time and well-equipped guerrilla army. For months the Mufti ruled Palestine except for the Jewish colonies and the British patrol stations. No one was secure and
everyone was in the grip of the Mufti terror. The police were powerless. In the Arab villages, the police were Arabs. It was as much as their lives were worth taking action against the terrorists. And so the Mufti's army was raised, equipped and maintained. Gunrunning across the Transjordan and Syrian frontiers kept the rebels supplied with the latest types of German and Italian weapons. When food was scarce, the rebels simply billeted themselves on a village, requisitioned food, cattle, grain, clothing... The Christian Arabs, a minority among the Arab population came in for a particularly bad time. In addition to having funds extorted from them at the pistol point...they... were forced to discard their traditional headgear, the tarbush, in favour of the Kefieh... But tradition was so strong that they were somehow being forced to change their religion... The terror bands were also augmented by mercenaries from Syria.

The rebellion proved to be very expensive for Palestine and her inhabitants. In just a few months the cost amounted to several million pounds, plus a high number of casualties. Palestine was in chaos and only the Mufti knew what was happening. In 1936 only 5,000 of the Mufti's rebels were under arms. In 1938 the Mufti's army had grown to 15,000, besides a large number of terrorists. The striking fact is that only half their number were Palestinians. The others came from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Transjordan and Egypt.
Their victims were as much rivalling Arabs as Jews. In 1938, his bands killed 297 Jews and left 427 wounded. Still, the correspondent of the New York Times once noted that "more than 90 per cent of the total casualties in the past few days have been inflicted by Arab terrorists on Arabs." This was the Mufti 's way of sending regards to all the opposition parties. The total number of casualties, 494 Arabs and 547 Jews killed by the hands of the Mufti's guerrillas are shocking and a clear evidence of the rebellion's brutality.
Germany's role in the rebellion has been a subject of debate, however, the overwhelming evidence point towards her involvement from an early stage. Philip Mattar denied that entirely, with support from various sources. He said that Germany did not support the rebellion, but added that they gave "negligible financial support". However, the German support seems to have been more than negligible. Mattar, as the Executive Director of the pro-PLO Institude for Palestine Studies, tried repeatedly to erase all signs of German intervention and totally ignored some documents and evidences. Joseph Schechtman gave strong evidence to the presence of large quantities of German and Italian arms and money in Palestine as early as 1936. That should establish that Germany had already decided to back up the Mufti, however, unofficially. In 1947 the United Nations revealed a documentary of captured records of the activities of the Arab Higher Committee, which the Mufti presided over with eloquence. They stated that the "Arab riots of 1936 in Palestine were carried out by the Mufti with funds supplied by the Nazis". The documents of the German High Command, captured after the War, reveal that "only through funds made available by Germany to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem was it possible to carry out the revolt in Palestine". Captured documents, which were published in the United States afterWorld War II, show clearly that German arms were smuggled to Palestine, through Syria, Transjordan and other Arab states. It became clear that a large portion of the arms the Mufti's rebels were using had been manufactured in Germany, especially by the Suhl and Erfurter Gewehrfabrik companies. As well, some Krupp arms found a way to Palestine through Transjordan, which had signed a deal with the company, expiring in 1938.
As early as 1936 the Jerusalem police intercepted documents proving that Palestinian Arabs had received large sums of foreign money. They had for instance received 50,000 pounds from Germany and 20,000 from Italy. German statistics for the years of 1936-7 show that Palestine did receive German weapons. Negligible support? All evidence points to the fact that Germany was involved in Palestine, though never on an official level. German official in the Overseas Department (Auslandsorganisation – AO) of the Foreign Office stated during the rebellion, that "any form of official German support cannot... be approved". Yet the AO was the only party organisation that directly participated in the Arab rebellion, according to the files of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (R 58/956, 1937), quoted by Yisraeli. The German involvement in Palestine is an enigma since Germany had repeatedly ignored officially the pleas of the Palestinian Arabs for material help. The relationship between Germany and the Arabs created a climate where neither party was sure whether to follow diplomacy and practical purposes or ideology. The Palestinian Arabs followed their ideology and Germany their diplomatic interest combined with the interest of getting rid of the German Jews. However, the Palestinian Arabs considered the Nazis their only real friend in Europe and used every opportunity to display that fact. For instance, in May 1937, during the celebration of Mohammad's birth, the German swastika flag was flying high as well as pictures of Hitler. The masses were following the Mufti, who, then, was following the Nazis.

4. Working for the Nazis

However the Mufti was not satisfied with unofficial or moral help from the Nazis. What he wanted were official statements. On 21 July 1937, he tried to establish an even closer relationship with Germany when he paid a visit to the new German Consul-General, Döhle, in Palestine. He repeated his former support for Germany and "wanted to know to what extent the Third Reich was prepared to support the Arab movement against the Jews". Though the Germans officially refused to change their policy, they gave more attention to Palestine. In September 1937 two young SS officers, Karl Adolf Eichmann and Herbert Hagen, were sent to Palestine. They had the clear objective of getting "acquainted with the country and the life and to establish contact with people" among others the Mufti. Although he had already escaped arrests from the British authorities and was not seeking refuge among the Lebanese Muslims he soon found himself well established as a German agent.
They must have got along fine because in 1938, according to Brenner, the Mufti was already on the payroll of Abwehr II, the German counterintelligence and sabotage division. However, Yisraeli dates his reception of German money from as early as 1936. In 1938 the Abwehr II had plans to deliver shiploads of arms to the Mufti, by way of Saudi Arabia and later Iraq. However, they cancelled the cargo because of British protest. Since the Axis could not extend their claws deeper into Palestine's political life, Iraq became the victim through the Mufti's massive organisation. The Iraqis accepted him as an Arab national hero and he soon established his headquarters in Baghdad. The Iraqi government sponsored his activities as well as private "charity" organisations, special taxation on every Iraqi governmental official, vast sums of Palestinian Arab donations. Added to all this were large contributions from Germany and Italy, Saudi-Arabia and Egypt. This allowed him to live a life in luxury and continue his propaganda against the British and Jews. His propaganda succeeded in establishing a group of pro-Axis officials. Early in 1941 the Mufti and the "Golden Square" pro-German army officers, led by General Rashid Ali, forced the Iraqi Prime Minister, the pro-British Nuri Said Pasha, to resign. In May he declared jihad against Britain. This meant that the Muslims, at least his supporters, were committed in the fight against Britain, "the greatest foe of Islam". The pro-Axis coup had proved successful, but it did not last for long. In a few months British troops had crushed the rebellion and the Mufti had to vanish again; this time his destination was Germany, via Iran, Turkey and Mussolini's office in Rome.

The Mufti in Berlin

The Mufti had blamed the Iraqi Jews for the unsuccessful coup d'etat in Iraq. He called them "the fifth column in Iraq", the very ones whose ancestors had lived there since the Babylonian captivity. Some Iraqi soldiers and civilians agreed with the Mufti and attacked the Jews who had gathered in public to cheer the new government. The results were horrifying: around 600 Jews, some say 179, were killed, thousands injured in the farhud and 586 shops and warehouses looted. A committee of inquiry, appointed by the Iraqi government, discovered that Haj Amin had been one of the main figures behind the pogrom. Since Haj Amin had adopted the policy of blaming Jews for everything that went wrong, there was no surprise that he allied himself with the Nazi government in Berlin.
On 20 November 1941 the German Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, received him in Berlin. Their talks were the basis for the meeting with Hitler the following day. Details of the Mufti's conversation with hitler were documented in the Mufti's diary and by the Germans, given in the appendix. The main themes were:

The Mufti... The Arabs are Germany's natural friends... They are therefore prepared to cooperate with Germany with all their hearts and stood ready to participate in a war, not only negatively by the commission of act of sabotage and the instigation of revolutions, but also positively by the formation of an Arab Legion... In this struggle, the Arabs were striving for the independence and the unity of Palestine, Syria and Iraq. ... The Führer... Germany was resolved, step by step, to ask one European nation after the other to solve its Jewish problem, and at the proper time direct a similar appeal to non European nations as well.
The Führer did not give, however, official support to the Arab cause, mainly because of "military reasons". He proposed, however, as soon as the German armies would pass into the Southern Caucasus the Arabs would be liberated from the British yoke and
Germany's objective would then be solely the destruction of the Jewish element residing in the Arab sphere under the protection of British power... The moment that Germany's tank divisions and air squadrons had made their appearance south of Caucasus, the public appeal requested by the Grand Mufti could go out to the Arab world.
The master plan of Hitler and the Mufti was, thus, first to solve the Jewish problem in Europe and subsequently tackle the problem in the Middle East. The Mufti raised no objections, he fully and gladly participated in the destruction of European Jewry. However, he had to wait until the German armies would enter the Caucasus for the destruction of the Mizrachi Jews who had been living in the Middle East since time immemorial.
The Mufti's part of the deal was to raise support for Germany among the Muslims in the Soviet Union, the Balkans and the Middle East. For that purpose the Germans founded the "Arab Bureau", under his leadership, in Berlin.
The Mufti's activities in the Third Reich

The Berlin based headquarters of the Mufti controlled almost a world-wide net of collaborators. Sponsored by German money he extended his claws to the Middle East, as well as to other areas where Muslims lived. His main activities were: 1) Radio propaganda; 2) Espionage and fifth column activities in the Middle East; 3) Organising Muslims into military units in Axis-occupied countries; and 4) Establishing some German controlled Arab Legions and the Arab Brigade. He visited the Balkans, had his picture taken saluting Hitler, met Ante Pavelic, the Croatian "butcher" and dictator, and was even in touch with Emperor Hirohito of Japan. Also, he was in charge of supervising Axis propaganda to Muslims all over the world and

himself went on the radio on several occasions and his broadcasts were among the most violent pro-Axis utterances ever produced. He had at his disposal no less than six "freedom stations"... urging the Arabs of Palestine and Moslems all over the world, including those in the United States, to rise against the Allies, join the fifth column, commit acts of sabotage, and kill the Jews... In addition, Haj Amin supplied the Middle East with propaganda papers and pamphlets in Arabic.
His greatest achievement was, however, the recruitment of tens of thousands of the Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania to the Waffen SS. His Arab Legions later participated in massacring tens of thousands of partisan Serbs, Jews and Gypsies. In 1943 there were 20,000 Muslims under arms in "his" division of the Waffen SS, the Handschar. (See: George Lepre, Himmler's Bosnian Division. The Waffen-SS Handschar Division 1943-1945, Schiffer Military History, Atglen, PA, 1997). Nevertheless, the Balkan adventure was only his spare-time activity because his main interest was the fight against World Jewry. In the annual protest against the Balfour Declaration, which in 1943 was staged in the large Luftwaffe hall in Berlin, the Mufti attacked the "Anglo-Saxon and Jewish conspiracy" phrase he so frequently used, and said:
The Treaty of Versailles was a disaster for the Germans as well as for the Arabs. But the Germans know how to get rid of the Jews. That which brings us close to the Germans and sets us in their camp is that up to day.
On 1 March 1944 he added in a broadcast from Berlin: "Arabs! Rise as one and fight for your sacred rights. Kill the Jews wherever you find them. This pleases God, history, and religion. This saves your honor." The Mufti did not only intend to massacre the Yishuv Jewry, his hatred of the World Jewry had already driven him to participate in the Nazi Final Solution.

5. The Mufti and the Holocaust

It is a strange "coincidence" that the Germans decided the systematic destruction of European Jewry only two months after the Mufti's meeting with Hitler. Since 1939 the Nazi policy had been to use the Jews as slave labourers and isolate them in ghettos, but not to exterminate them. However, after his arrival the Nazi policy changed. I am certainly not saying the Mufti was participating to any major extent in the planning of the Final Solution. However, I want to point out that at this time he was having meetings with some of the top Nazi figures and might easily have taken some part in the planning. Still, whatever the part the Mufti played in the Holocaust, one thing is almost certain, he knew about it from the beginning and approved.
In 1941 the Mufti's delegate proposed a revised version of their former draft of an Axis-Arab treaty. According to captured documents the Mufti had just one thing in mind for the Yishuv Jewry:

Germany and Italy recognize the illegality of the Jewish National Home in Palestine. They recognize the right of Palestine and other Arab countries to solve the question of the Jewish elements in Palestine and in other Arab countries as required by national interests, and in the same way as the Jewish question in the Axis lands is being solved.

What solution was the Mufti referring to? According to Melchers, he had only one: "The National Home must disappear and the Jews must get out... they may as well go to the Devil". Remember, as only those who are dead can go to the Devil, thus, it seems to me that he was planning an extermination, the same way as the Germans were doing in Europe. However, he was not content with just that measure, he had something "vaster" in mind. Bernard Lewis stated:

His objectives, as he explained on numerous occasions to German officials, were far-reaching. His immediate aim was to halt and terminate the Jewish settlement in Palestine. Beyond that, however, he aimed at much vaster purposes, conceived not so much in pan-Arab as in pan-Islamic terms, for a Holy War of Islam in alliance with Germany against World Jewry, to accomplish the Final Solution of the Jewish problem everywhere.

In June 1944, Dieter Wisliceny, Eichmann's deputy for Slovakia and Hungary, told Dr. Rudolf Kasztner in Budapest that he was convinced that the Mufti had

played a role in the decision to exterminate the European Jews... The importance of this role must not be disregarded ...The Mufti had repeatedly suggested to the various authorities with whom he was maintaining contact, above all to Hitler, Ribbentrop and Himmler, the extermination of European Jewry. He considered this as a comfortable solution of the Palestinian problem.

In his conversation with Endre Steiner in Bratislava, Wisliceny said:

The Mufti was one of the initiators of the systematic extermination of European Jewry and had been a collaborator and advisor of Eichmann and Himmler in execution of this plan...He was one of Eichmann's best friends and had constantly incited him to accelerate the extermination measures. I heard him say, accompanied by Eichmann, he had visited incognito the gas chamber of Auschwitz.

Wisliceny, who himself was a major war criminal and finally executed in 1948, repeated the Mufti's participation in the Holocaust at the Nuremberg trials in July 1946.

He testified that after the Mufti's arrival in Germany he had paid visit to Himmler and shortly afterwards (late in 1941 or early in 1942) had visited Eichmann in his Berlin office at Kürfurstrasse 116. According to Wisliceny, Eichmann told him that he had brought the Mufti to a special room where he showed him maps illustrating the distribution of the Jewish population in various European countries and delivered a detailed report on the solution of the Jewish problem in Europe. The Mufti seemed to have been much impressed.

It is beyond any doubt that the Mufti knew exactly what was going on in Poland. In a broadcast from Berlin on 21 September 1944 he said: "Is it not in your power, O Arabs, to repulse the Jews who number not more than eleven million?". It was a common knowledge that before 1939 the World Jewry numbered 17 million. This use of words, eleven million, could have meant that he knew precisely the number of Jews exterminated by the Germans, or he could be referring to the eleven millions European Jews the Nazis were going to annihilate, according to the Wannsee Conference. This would suggest that he knew the details of the Final Solution. It is one thing that strikes me as strange about the Wannsee Conference. It was due to start on 8 December 1941, but postponed until January 1942. Why? I can seriously imagine it might have had something to do with the Mufti's arrival at the end of November. The Germans might have wanted his support, his ideas or even his help in making effective plans. After all, he had been killing Jews for more than twenty years, he was the expert, so far. However, these thoughts are merely a Collingwoodian way of dealing with this question. Still, it is a strange coincidence that the Mufti was supposed to meet German high officials soon after his arrival, the documents show that there was no social visit on the agenda.
The records prove he was aware of the Final Solution at the early stage, but the question is, however, to what extent did he participate? If he was not involved in the making of the Final Solution, which could be doubted, at least he was effective in the execution. In 1945 the Allies captured some letters that enlightened the Mufti's efforts preventing a possible Jewish emigration from Europe to Palestine. He had no problems with the Germans, but their allies in the Balkans; Italy, Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria were willing to give their Jews emigration visas. He did not like the thought of the Balkan Jewry immigrating to Palestine and complained strongly, both to the Germans, as well as directly to the Governments concerned. According to Wilhelm Melcher, a German official, at the Nuremberg court:

The Mufti was making protests everywhere — in the Office of the (Foreign) Minister, in the antechamber of the Secretary of State, and in other Departments, such as Home Office, Press, Radio, and in the S.S. headquarters.

The number of Jews who had obtained visa for Palestine, but were cancelled because of the Mufti's protests were:

13 May, 1943 : 4,000 children and 500 adults. (Bulgaria)
28 June, 1943 : 1,800 children and 200 adults. (Rumania)
28 June, 1943 : 900 children and 100 adults. (Hungary)

The number of Jews who very likely ended up in concentration camps, instead of Palestine, thus, was 7,500. However, this falls short of being the full number of victims due to the Mufti's requests.
A document published at the Eichmann trial 1961 revealed that the Rumanian Prime Minister had allowed the emigration of 80,000 Rumanian Jews but the Germans ordered him to cancel their visas "in accordance with our agreement with the Mufti". Eichmann spoke of an agreement on the same matters between the Mufti and Himmler, to use his words: "We have promised him that no European Jew would enter Palestine any more." Most of these 80,000 Jews were later on sent to Poland and at least some of them could have been saved. The Mufti simply wanted them dead, according to Wilhelm Melchers who revealed at the Nuremberg trials: "The Mufti was an accomplished foe of the Jews and did not conceal that he would love to see all of them liquidated." One of the documents presented by the United Nations at an Assembly meeting in 1947 was the Mufti's letter to the Hungarian Foreign Minister, dated 28 June 1943 (see appendix). There he said, among other things:
I ask your Excellency to permit me to draw your attention to the necessity of preventing the Jews from leaving your country for Palestine; and if there are reasons which make their removal necessary, it would be indispensable and infinitively preferable to send them to other countries where they would find themselves under active control, for example, in Poland, in order to protect oneself from their menace and avoid the consequent damage.
Since he knew perfectly well what was going on in Poland, this would mean their instant death. To the UN document someone had added a note: "As a Sequel to This Request 400,000 Jews Were Subsequently Killed". This was later on conformed by the Hungarian government's reply to Berlin, promising to end their Jewish problem, according to the request made by the Mufti.
Therefore we can assume, if we add the 80,000 Rumanian Jews and the 400,000 Hungarian Jews to the above mentioned 7,500, that the Mufti had his crooked fingers mingled in the death of around 500,000 Jews during the Holocaust, if we include the thousands of Jews "his" Waffen SS units massacred. Thus, was he guilty of not guilty?

Guilty or not guilty?

After the War, and later during the Eichmann trials, the Mufti was questioned about his participation in the Holocaust. He denied any involvement; it was not his problem what the Nazis did in Poland, he had not killed anybody. Referring to Eichmann, he even denied having met him and added that the

Nazis needed no persuasion or instigation either by me or anybody else to execute their program against the Jews... and... had no occasion to observe his activities or for that matter to visit the Nazi extermination camps for Jews.

After the War, the Mufti re-established himself as the leader of the Palestinian Arabs. When his aides were asked about their views of the Mufti's participation in the War, they said that he had only done his duty, protecting the Arabs and standing firm against Zionism. Thus, the Mufti and his followers denied all accusations, even those documented as facts.
During an UN session on the partition of Palestine, the Guatemala chief delegate delivered a powerful lecture on the Mufti's activities during the stay in Berlin, which was based on evidence given at the Nuremberg court and captured German files. The Palestinian delegate, Jamal al-Husseini, the Mufti's closest associate and a relative, objected:

The honorable delegate of Guatemala has accused the Mufti of having been one of the initiators of, and one of the most active collaborators in, the plan for the systematic extinction of the Jews during the war. We emphatically deny this accusation. It is surprising that the honorable delegate should base himself upon the so-called testimony at Nuremberg.

His only arguments proved to be that is was surprising that someone should trust the evidence of those who had participated and were also eye witnesses! Emile Ghouri, the Greek-Orthodox member of the Arab Higher Committee and the Mufti's close associate, as well issued a statement at the same session. He said:

I can understand that the acts of anyone who seemed to cast his lot with the Axis during the war must seem to be wicked and detestable... But I am also convinced that if the reasons that drove him to take the course he took were fully known... it was the policy that was adopted in Palestine that finally forced this course of action in the Mufti.

In fact, we have only the Mufti's own words against the evidence of witnesses. Let us thus examine some of the other accusations made against the Mufti. Simon Wiesenthal claims that the Mufti visited both Auschwitz and Majdanek where

he paid close attention to the efficiency of the crematoria, spoke to the leading personnel and was generous in his praise for those who were reported as particularly conscientious in their work. He was on friendly terms with such notorious practitioners of the "final solution" as Rudolf Hess, the overlord of Auschwitz; Franz Ziereis of Mauthausen; Dr. Siedl of Theresienstadt; and Kramer, the butcher of Belsen.

During his trial, Eichmann admitted that he had met the Mufti and several witnesses testified he had done so on several occasions. According to Dr. Rudolf Kasztner, Eichmann had told him: "I am a personal friend of the Grand Mufti." It is a strange friendship never to have met! It is reasonable to assume that the Mufti did participate in the Holocaust, as was quoted by Brenner:.

Once the Jews of Europe became a threat to the Mufti... the Mufti in turn became for them... the incarnation of the Angel of Death... Once the looming reality of the State of Israel was before him, the Mufti spared no effort at influencing Hitler to murder as many Jews as possible in the shortest amount of time.

If the "Nazis needed no persuasion or instigation", why did he, then, have to "spare no effort" to persuade him, and, as quoted above, "constantly incite him to accelerate the extermination measures"? Even if he did not kill anybody, was he thereby innocent? Hitler did not kill any Jews but just had them transported to Poland. The Mufti did not kill any European Jews but he just had them transported to Poland. Is there any difference? The man who said: "I declare a holy war, my Moslem brothers! Murder the Jews. Murder them all", does not seem very innocent to me.
There is no question about his importance to Germany. One month before the Germans surrendered, the Mufti received a large sum of money from the Germans in order to carry on the work against the Jews. He subsequently carried on his work of murdering Jews and fighting Zionism. His refusal to negotiate during the Israeli War of Independence, turned out to be to his disadvantage. Still, he was the main influence on the Palestinian Arabs until 1964 when the PLO was founded. Nevertheless, his family has since been continuing his tradition. Mohammed Abder Rauf Arafat al-Kudwa al-Husseini, alias Yasser Arafat, his relative and associate, has carried on his work by spreading terrorism and murdering innocent civilians, through the Palestinian "Liquidation" Organisation (PLO). The Palestinian Arab leader, Faisal Husseini, is his nephew, and the Hamas terrorists are following his footsteps in combining religion and politics through terrorism. The Mufti's ghost is still alive and well.
Historians agree that he was one of the most important persons in the inter-War Palestine and some say he was the must cruel of them all. When he served in the Turkish army during the First World War he received a comment from an officer who knew him as "the blackest-hearted man in the Middle East". F.H. Kirsch, a British official in Palestine, gave his verdict:
I have no doubt whatsoever, that had it not been for the mufti's abuse of his immense powers and the toleration of that abuse by the government over a period of fifteen years, an Arab-Jewish understanding within the framework of the mandate would long since have been reached.
I believe there is no question that the Mufti was up to his neck in direct involvement in the Holocaust, though not in the decision making itself of the Final Solution, but very likely participation in the execution of the program. The case against him is far too strong to describe as "a Zionist propaganda", as the Mufti and his supporters usually have done. There are too many documents, testimonies and concrete facts against him. The only arguments for his innocence are his words. He knew about the Final Solution right from the start and still had no hesitation in requesting the transfer of hundreds of thousands of Jews to Poland. The main issue here, is whether or not the Mufti was responsible for the transfer of hundreds of thousands to Poland, knowing that it would be their "death-march". Philip Mattar argues, supported by statements made by Arabs, that
the thousands of captured German documents used by many writers on the subject have produced no hard evidence of the Mufti's participation in atrocities beyond his activities to stop the Jewish emigration to Palestine that he saw as leading to displacement or eviction of his own people.
Mattar denies any atrocites made by the Mufti, as does historian Biyan al-Hut, quoted by Zvi Elpeleg. Al-Hut describes the Mufti's actions during the World War II as his fight against the "rascist" Zionism and "her objective jugdment went astray, and she wrote as a propagandist rather than as a researcher." The continous Arab whitewashing of the Mufti's career during his stay in Germany has not been proven reasonable. Zvi Elpeleg notes that Haj Amin "did not conceal his efforts to prevent the departure of Jews to Palestine" and even justified the Nazi final solution. In his memoirs he proclaimed, as quoted by Elpeleg:

There were other serious occurrences during the war, such as the attempt by world Jewry in 1944 to bring about the immigration of Eastern European Jewry to Palestine... I objected to this attempt, and wrote to Ribbentrop, to Himmler and to Hitler... until I succeeded in frustrating the attempt.

Elpeleg and Mattar agree on this vital point. The Mufti was the person behind the prevention of Jewish emigration from the Nazi satellite states. In his memoirs, the Mufti admitted that the Balkan countries had halted all Jewish emigration due to his encouragement. Zvi Elpeleg admits that it is

impossible to estimate the extent of the consequences of Haj Amin's efforts to prevent the exit of Jews from countries under Nazi occupation, nor the number of those whose rescue was foiled and who consequently perished in the Holocaust... His frequent, close contacts with leaders of the Nazi regime cannot have left Haj Amin with any doubt as to the fate which awaited the Jews whose emigration was prevented by his efforts. His many comments show that he was not only delighted that Jews were prevented from emigrating to Palestine, but was very pleased by the Nazis' Final Solution.

Elpeleg's conclusion is thus:

Similarly, despite the fact that he repeatedly denies having had any part in the Final Solution, he does not conceal his efforts to prevent Jews escaping from the Nazi inferno. His memoirs... even include a detailed description of these efforts, in which he notes with pride that by preventing Jews from leaving Europe he had kept the Jewish Yishuv in Palestine from increasing in strength...
His hatred of Jews — and not just of Zionism — was fathomless, and he gave full vent to it during his period of activity alongside the Nazis... His claim that his cooperation with the Nazis was prompted only by the struggle against Britain is groundless. For Haj Amin, Germany was first and foremost the embodiment of anti-Jewish sentiment.

The Mufti had urged the Nazi leaders to "kill as many Jews as possible" and knocked out a great number himself. His determination was to stop Zionism at all cost. Hitler's policy suited him well indeed and did not in principle contradict the policy he had already adopted in Palestine. He had the motives, the hatred and the thirst for Jewish blood. No one knows to what extent he was ready to use the sword to decide the fate of the Holy Land, as he had promised to do. Haj Amin's stay in Germany was prompted by his hatred of Jews. He wanted to see them killed and successfully cooperated with the Nazis in order to see his dream come true.

Appendix One

Record of the Mufti's appeal to Hitler during their meeting, according to German files.

The Grand Mufti began by thanking the Führer for the great honor he had bestowed by receiving him. He wished to seize the opportunity to convey to the Führer of the Greater German Reich, admired by the entire Arab world, his thanks for the sympathy which he had always shown for the Arab and especially the Palestinian cause, and to which he had given clear expression in his public speeches. The Arab countries were firmly convinced that Germany would win the war and that the Arab cause would then prosper. The Arabs were Germany's natural friends because they had the same enemies as had Germany, namely the English, the Jews, and the Communists. They were therefore prepared to cooperate with Germany with all their hearts and stood ready to participate in the war, not only negatively by the acts of sabotage and the instigation of revolutions, but also positively by the formation of the Arab Legion. The Arabs could be more useful to Germany as allies than might be apparent at first glance, both for geographical reasons and because of the suffering inflicted upon them by the English and the Jews. Furthermore, they had had close relations with all Moslem nations, of which they could make use in behalf of the common cause. The Arab Legion would be quite easy to raise. An appeal by the Mufti to the Arab countries and prisoners of Arab, Algerian, Tunisian and Moroccan nationality in Germany would produce a great number of volunteers eager to fight. Of Germany's victory the Arab world was convinced, not only because the Reich possessed a large army, brave soldiers, and military leaders of genius, but also because the Almighty could never award the victory to an unjust cause.
In this struggle, the Arabs were striving for the independence and unity of Palestine, Syria, and Iraq. They had the fullest confidence in the Führer and looked to his hand for the balm on their wounds which had been inflicted upon them by the enemies of Germany.
The Mufti then mentioned the letter he had received from Germany, which stated that Germany was holding no Arab territories and understood and recognised the aspirations to independence and freedom of the Arabs, just as she supported the elimination of the Jewish national home.
A public declaration in this sense would be very useful for its propagandistic effect on the Arab peoples at this moment. It would rouse the Arabs from their momentary lethargy and give them new courage. It would also ease the Mufti's work of secretly organising the Arabs against the moment when they could strike. At the same time, he could give assurance that the Arabs would in strict discipline patiently wait for the right moment and only strike upon an order form Berlin.
With regard to the events in Iraq, the Mufti observed that the Arabs in that country certainly had by no means been incited by Germany to attack England, but solely had acted in reaction to a direct English assault upon their honor.
The Turks, he believed, would welcome the establishment of an Arab government in the neighboring territories because they would prefer weaker Arab to strong European governments in the neighboring countries, and, being themselves a nation of 7 millions, they had nothing to fear from the 1,700,000 Arabs inhabiting Syria, Transjordan, Iraq, and Palestine.
France likewise would have no objections to the unification plan because she had conceded independence to Syria as early as 1936 and given her approval to the unification of Iraq and Syria under King Faisal as early as 1933.
In these circumstances he was renewing his request that the Führer make a public declaration so that the Arabs would not lose hope, which is so powerful force in the life of nations. With such hope in their hearts the Arabs, as he had said, were willing to wait. They were not pressing for immediate realisation of their aspirations; they could easily wait half a year or a whole year. But if they were not inspired with such hope by a declaration of this sort, it could be expected that the English would be gainers from it.

Appendix Two

The Mufti's Diary on His Meeting With Hitler

Recording in his own handwriting his meeting with Hitler in his diary, 21 November 1941. Haj Amin al-Husseini writes:

The words of the Fuehrer on the 6th of Zul Qaada 1360 of the Hejira, Berlin, Friday, from 4:30 p.m. till a few minutes after 6.
The objectives of my fight are clear. Primarily, I am fighting the Jews without respite, and this fight includes the fight against the so-called Jewish National Home in Palestine because the Jews want to establish there a central government for their own pernicious purposes, and to undertake a devastating and ruinous expansion at the expense of the governments of the world and of other peoples.
It is clear that the Jews have accomplished nothing in Palestine and their claims are lies. All the accomplishment in Palestine are due to the Arabs and not to the Jews. I am resolved to find a solution for the Jewish problem, progressing step by step without cessation. With regard to this I am making the necessary and right appeal, first to all the European countries and then to countries outside Europe.
It is true that our common enemies are Great Britain and the Soviets whose principles are opposed to ours. But behind them stands hidden Jewry which drives them both. Jewry has but one aim in both these countries. We are now in the midst of a life and death struggle against both these nations. The fight will not only determine the outcome of the struggle between National Socialism and Jewry, but the whole conduct of this successful war will be of great and positive help to the Arabs who are engaged in the same struggle.
This is not only an abstract assurance. A mere promise would be of no value whatsoever. But assurance which rests upon a conquering force is the only one which has a real value. In the Iraqi campaign, for instance, the sympathy of the whole German people was for Iraq. It was our aim to help Iraq, but circumstances prevented us from furnishing actual help. The German people saw in them comrades in suffering because the German people too have suffered as they have. All the help we gave Iraq was not sufficient to save Iraq from the British forces. For this reason it is necessary to underscore one thing; in this struggle which will decide the fate of the Arabs I can now speak as a man dedicated to an ideal and as a military leader and a soldier. Everyone united in this great struggle who helps to bring about its successful outcome serves the common cause and thus serves the Arab cause. Any other view means weakening the military situation and thus offers no help to the Arab cause. Therefore it is necessary for us to decide the steps which can help us against world Jewry, against Communist Russia and England, and which among them can be most useful. Only if we win the war will the hour of deliverance also be the hour of fulfilment of Arab aspirations.
The situation is as follows: we are conducting the great struggle to open the way to the North of the Caucasus. The difficulties involved are more than transportation because of the demolished railways and roads and because of winter weather. And if I venture in these circumstances to issue a declaration with regard to Syria, then the pro-Gaulle elements in France will be strengthened and this might cause a revolt in France. These men will be convinced then that joining Britain is more advantageous and the detachment of Syria is a pattern to be followed in the remainder of the French Empire. This will strengthen de Gaulle's stand in the colonies. If the declaration is issued now, difficulties will arise in Western Europe which will cause the diversion of some (German) forces for defensive purposes, thus preventing us from sending all our forces to the East.
Now I am going to tell you something I would like you to keep secret. First, I will keep up my fight until the complete destruction of the Judeo-Bolshevik rule has been accomplished.
Second, during the struggle (and we don't know when victory will come, but probably not in the far future) we will reach the Southern Caucasus.
Third, then I would like to issue a declaration; for then the hour of the liberation of the Arabs will have arrived. Germany has no ambitions in this area but cares only to annihilate the power which produces the Jews.
Fourth, I am happy that you have escaped and that you are now with the Axis powers. The hour will strike when you will be the lord of the supreme word and not only the conveyer of our declarations. You will be the man to direct the Arab force and at that moment I cannot imagine what will happen to the Western peoples.
Fifth, I think that with this Arab advance begins the dismemberment of the British world. The road from Rostov to Iran and Iraq is shorter than the distance from Berlin to Rostov. We hope next year to smash this barrier. It is better then and not now that a declaration should be issued as (now) we cannot help in anything.
I understand the Arab desire for this, but His Excellency the Mufti must understand that only five years after I became the President of the German government and Fuehrer of the German people, was I able to get such a declaration, and this because military forces prevented me from issuing such a declaration. But when the German Panzer tanks and the German air squadrons reach the Southern Caucasus, then will be the time to issue the declaration.
He said ( in a reply to a request that a secret declaration or a treaty be made) that a declaration known to a number of persons cannot remain secret but will become public. I (Hitler) have made very few declarations in my life, unlike the British who have made many declarations. If I issue a declaration, I will uphold it. Once I promised the Finnish Marshal that I would help his country if the enemy attacks again. This word of mine mad a stronger impression than any written declaration.
Recapitulating, I want to state the following to you: When we shall have arrived in the Southern Caucasus, then the time of the liberation of the Arabs will have arrived. And you can rely on my word.
We were troubled about you. I know your life history. I followed with interest your long and dangerous journey. I was very concerned about you. I am happy that you are with us now and that you are now in a position to add your strength to the common cause.

Appendix Three

The Mufti asks a ban on Jewish emigration

Berlin, 27 July, 1944

To the Reichsfuehrer SS and Minister of the Interior
H. Himmler, Berlin

Reichsfuehrer:

In my letter to you of June 5, 1944, I referred back to our conversation in which I reported to you on the inclusion of Jews in the exchange plan of some Egyptians living in Germany.
I asked you, Reichsfuehrer, to take all the measures to prevent the Jews from going. These measures would also be in accordance with German policy in general, especially with the Declaration of the German Government on the occasion of the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration on November 2, 1943 which stated "that the destruction of the so-called Jewish national home in Palestine is an immutable part of the policy of the greater German Reich" and " the National Socialist movement, since its inception, has inscribed on its banner the battle against world Jewry," as you, Reichsfuehrer, said in your telegram on the same occasion.
In the meantime I have learned that the Jews, nevertheless, did leave on July 2, 1944, and it is to be feared that further Jewish groups may leave Germany and France under the plan for exchanging Palestinian Germans. This exchange of Germans would encourage the Balkan countries to send their Jews to Palestine too. Furthermore, after the Declaration of the German Government, such a step would be incomprehensible to the Arabs and Moslems, and it would create in them a feeling of keen disappointment.
It is for this reason that I ask you, Reichsfuehrer, to do everything necessary to prevent the Jews from emigrating to Palestine, and in this way you would give a new practical example of the policy of the naturally allied and friendly Germany towards the Arab Nation.

Yours, etc.

The policy of the Nazi party was then to make Germany judenrein, free of Jews. The only country which could possibly absorb a larger number of Jews was Palestine. The Nazi leaders realised that it was in their interest to keep on sending the Jews to Palestine, despite the Mufti's protests. Nevertheless, the German Palestinian policy was unstable and depended heavily upon Hitler's day-to-day decisions. However, one thing remained certain: Germany did not want a Jewish National Home in Palestine, or elsewhere, let alone a Jewish State. When the Mufti finally realised that his pleas for support from Germany would not be successful he turned to Italy and in 1934 he received his first payment from there. His interest in Germany, however, was not to be severed, despite Hitler's official lack of interest for the time being. However, the Führer's Palestinian policy was not to remain pro-Zionist much longer.

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