Figure 1.--Hitler because he saw Arabs as Semites related to Jews only met with the Grand Mufti, al-Husaini, once and refused to have any food served. The Mufti had much closer relations with top NAZIs like SS Reich Führwr Heinrich Himmler. Here we see the Mufti with Himmler. Himmler sent the Mufti a copy of the photograh dated July 4. 1943. The Mufti admitted in his memoirs that Himmler told him of having killed 3 million Jews (by mid-1943). The Mufti enouraged him to kill more. The Mufti regularly met with SS mass murderers and visited death camps. As a revered Arab leader, he made propaganda broadcasts from Berlin urging Arabs to rise up against the British. In addition to attacking the British, he also attacked Jews in the vilist language. His goal was to launch a Middle Eastern genocide comparable to the NAZI Holocausr in Europe. Source: Bundesarchiv Bild 101111-Alber 164 18A .

Adolf Hitler saw the Arabs as an inferior race, yet he did not hate them like the Jews. They were just one more of the inferior people destined for a servile place in the New Order he desired to create. Hitler made a private remark in 1939 in which he clearly displayed his view of the Arabs and other people of the Middle East. He referred to the people of the Middle East as 'painted half-apes that ought to feel the whip'. In contrast, he had considrable respect for Islam as a religion--especially the war-like ideology expressed again and again in the Holy Koran. After publishing Mein Kampf (1924), Hitler began to realize that it was politic to keep some of his ideas to himself which is why he did not publish his second vlume. Hitler's archcitect and Armaments Minister, with whom he was on espcially intiment terms, provides us Hitler's assesment of both the Arabs and Islam. [PP. 142-43.] While looking down on the Arabs as a people, he saw them as a useful and easily disposable ally in his war on both the Jews and the Allies (British and French). Atually, he was apparently quite willing to leave the Arabs in British hands if the British would agree to a Vichy-like arrangementb and grantbhim afree-hand on the Continent. Most amazing is the degree to which the Grand Mufti and other Arab leaders fell for it. For Hitler, the Arabs were a useful inferior race. This was largely because where they were located. The Arabs were largely on territory that controlled both Suez and valuable new oil resources--the most important natural resource that Germany needed and could derail Hitler's war plans. And Arab uprisings could destabilize or at least detract the Allies. And they Arab land contained a large Jewish poplation that would eventually need to be destroyed. Thus while Hitler's focus was on the East, the Middle-East and North Africa was a never beyond Hitler's geo-political calculations. One historian describing Hitler and the Arabs stresses, "... the Nazis were clear in their minds that the Arabs were racially inferior, and there would, therefore, be no pleasure to be had from helping them in anything except for the extermination of Jews in their region." [Rothwell, p. 41.]

View of the Arabs

Adolf Hitler saw the Arabs as an inferior race, yet he did not hate them like the Jews. They were just one more of the inferior people destined for a servile place in the New Order he desired to create. Hitler made a private remark in 1939 in which he clearly displayed his view of the Arabs and other people of the Middle East. He referred to the people of the Middle East as 'painted half-apes that ought to feel the whip'.

View of Islam

Hitler, in contrast to the Arabs as a people whom he cosidered racially inferior, Hitler had considrable respect for their religion. He saw Islam as a religion beter suited for his purposes. The war-like ideology expressed again and again in the Holy Koran had a special appeal to him. He was impressed with the history of Islam, how it was spread by the sword. Hitler writes, "... the progress made by the missions in spreading the Christ ian Faith abroad was only quite modest in comparison with the spread of Mohammedanism." [Hitler] Of course it was the Jews that Hitker attacked over and over in his book. It is no accident that Mein Kampf is such a poular book in the Arab world. After publishing Mein Kampf (1924), Hitler began to realize that it was politic to keep some of his ideas to himself which is why he did not publish his second volume. But the subject came up in his privat conversations. He thought the Germans in particular would have been better off if they would have adopted Islam with its militant nd warlike ideology rather than the submisive message of the Chritian New estament giving value to humility and turning the other cheek. Hitler despised the weakness he saw in Christianity. The expantionists,conquering Islamic Arab armies and culture resonated with what he thought would be idea for the Germans. was the perfect culture for the Germans. He told Speer that "the world would be Mohammedan today" if the Arabs had defeated the Franks during the Battle of Tours, [230] while also suggesting to Speer that "ultimately not Arabs, but Islamized Germans could have stood at the head of this Mohammedan Empire." [Speer] Speer reports Hitler told him, "The Mohammedan religion too would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?" Speer also reported Hitler mused as to what might have occurred had Islam suceeded in conqwuering Europe: "Hitler said that the conquering Arabs, because of their racial inferiority, would in the long run have been unable to contend with the harsher climate and conditions of the country." [Speer] Hitler thought that the European climare was not suitable for the Arabs. They would eventually freeze or leave the Germans as the leading Caliphate. Hitler received Arabian ruler Ibn Saud’s special envoy, Khalid al-Hud al-Gargani, at the Führer's Eagles Lair retreat in Berchtesgaden (June 17, 1939). Saudi Arabia at the time was independent. Hitler stated early in the meeting that one of the three reasons Germany had warm sympathies for the Arabs was, "… because we were jointly fighting the Jews. The discussions then shifted to British-occupied Palestine and conditions there for the Arabs. Hitler than stated that he himself would not rest until the last Jew had been driven out of Germany. Al Hud replied that the Prophet Mohammed … had acted the same way. He had driven the Jews out of Arabia. [Achvar, pp. 125-26.] There was subsequent discussiins of German arms deliveries to use against the British and Jews in Palestine. Hitler's archcitect and Armaments Minister, with whom he was on espcially intiment terms, provides us Hitler's later assesment of both the Arabs and Islam. "Hitler had been much impressed by a scrap of history he had learned from a delegation of distinguished Arabs. When the Mohammedans attempted to penetrate beyond France into Central Europe during the eighth century, his visitors had told him, they had been driven back at the Battle of Tours. Had the Arabs won this battle, the world would be Mohammedan today. For theirs was a religion that believed in spreading the faith by the sword and subjugating all nations to that faith. Such a creed was perfectly suited to the Germanic temperament. Hitler said that the conquering Arabs, because of their racial inferiority, would in the long run have been unable to contend with the harsher climate and conditions of the country. They could not have kept down the more vigorous natives, so that ultimately not Arabs but Islamized Germans could have stood at the head of this Mohammedan Empire. Hitler usually concluded this historical speculation by remarking, "You see, it's been our misfortune to have the wrong religion. Why didn't we have the religion of the Japanese, who regard sacrifice for the Fatherland as the highest good? The Mohammedan religion too would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?" [Speer, pp. 142-43.]

Usefulness

While looking down on the Arabs as a people, he saw them as a useful and easily disposable ally in his war on both the Jews and the Allies (British and French). Atually, he was apparently quite willing to leave the Arabs in British hands if the British would agree to a Vichy-like arrangementb and grantbhim afree-hand on the Continent. Most amazing is the degree to which the Grand Mufti and other Arab leaders fell for it. For Hitler, the Arabs were a useful inferior race. This was largely because where they were located. The Arabs were largely on territory that controlled both Suez and valuable new oil resources--the most important natural resource that Germany needed and could derail Hitler's war plans. And Arab uprisings could destabilize or at least detract the Allies.

The Holocaust

And they Arab land contained a large Jewish poplation that would eventually need to be destroyed. Thus while Hitler's focus was on the East, the Middle-East and North Africa was a never beyond Hitler's geo-political calculations. One historian describing Hitler and the Arabs stresses, "... the Nazis were clear in their minds that the Arabs were racially inferior, and there would, therefore, be no pleasure to be had from helping them in anything except for the extermination of Jews in their region." [Rothwell, p. 41.] The Arabs were one of the many people thar were NAZIs targets.

Hitler's Popularity in the Arab World

Despite the fact that Hitler saw the Arabs as Untermench and a people marked for subgegation, many Arabs regarded Hitler as a hero during World War II and contunue to do so today. Mein Kampf sells well and is widely read in the Arab world as well as Turkey and the Arab immigrant sectors of London. Apparently Arabs who hold Hitler in high regard just ignore his views of them and focus on his anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. Incongrously many of the same people whom applaud the work of the NAZIs will also add swasticas to anti-Isreali cartoon images.

Sources

Achcar, Gibert. The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives (New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2009).

Hitler, Adolf. Mein Kampf.

Rothwell, Victor. War Aims in the Second World War: The War Aims of the Major Belligerents.

Speer, Albert. Inside the Third Reich (New York, Avon, 1971), 734.

Created: 3:04 AM 1/6/2014
Last updated: 6:36 PM 12/9/2015