From: bdm@cs.anu.edu.au (Brendan McKay)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast
Subject: MEQ #23: Mufti meets Fuehrer [REVISED]
Date: 20 Nov 1992 08:30:54 GMT
Organization: Australian National University
Distribution: world
Reply-To: bdm@cs.anu.edu.au
NNTP-Posting-Host: 150.203.23.70

I have changed the wording of the note to make it less prone to 
misunderstanding.

      MEQ #23.  Der Fuehrer und der Grossmufti.

   The Grand Mufti first thanked the Feuhrer for the great honor of
   a personal reception.  He further wished to take the opportunity
   to express his gratitude on behalf of the entire Arab world...

   The Arabs were, moreover, natural allies of Germany, as could be
   seen by their mutual enemies: the British, the Jews, and the
   Communists.  As a result, the Arabs were prepared to collaborate
   wholeheartedly with Germany and to lend support to the war
   effort, not only through perpetrating acts of sabotage and
   political destabilizations, but materially, by forming an Arab
   Legion...

   The Mufti then recalled a document he had received from the German
   government, which stated that Germany had occupied no Arab land,
   that it recognized and sympathized with the Arab struggles for
   independence and liberation, and that it would support the
   elimination of a national Jewish homeland.  A public declaration
   to this same effect would be of immense propagandistic value in
   the campaign to mobilize the Arab nations...

   ...
   The Fuehrer then made the following declaration, requesting
   the Mufti to lock it deep in his heart:

   1) He (the Fuehrer) would carry on the fight until the last
      traces of the Jewish-Communist European hegemony had been
      obliterated.

   2) In the course of this fight, the German army would - at a
      time that could not yet be specified, but in any case in
      the clearly foreseeable future - gain the southern exit of
      Caucasus.

   3) As soon as this breakthrough was made, the Fuehrer would
      offer the Arab world his personal assurance that the hour
      of liberation had struck. Thereafter, Germany's only
      remaining objective in the region would be limited to the
      annihilation of the Jews [*] living under British
      protection in Arab lands...

   [Excerpts from a meeting between Adolf Hitler and Haj Amin
   Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, on 28 November 1941.
   The notes were taken by Dr. Paul Otto Schmidt, a translator
   in the Foreign Minister's Secretariat.]

   Source:
     geheime Reichssache 57 a/41, quoted in G. Fleming, Hitler and
     the Final Solution (Univ of California Press, 1984) 101-104.

   [*] "Vernichtung des ...Judentums" in the German original.
   [Akten zur D. Aus. Pol. 1918-1945, Ser. D, XIII/2, p718]
   There can be little doubt that the translation "annihilation of
   the Jews" accurately reflects Hitler's intentions, but weaker
   interpretations might feasibly have been made by the listener.
   A query on soc.culture.german failed to resolve this issue
   despite more than 30 responses.  Some respondents thought that
   "annihilation of the Jews" was the only possible interpretation,
   but others considered that the Mufti may have taken it as just
   a dramatic way to promise elimination of the Jewish national home.
   The only other record of the conversation, the Mufti's diary,
   says merely "annihilate the power that brings the Jews", apparently
   referring to Britain. [J. Peters, From Time Immemorial, p438]
   The strongest known promise ever made to the Mufti in writing
   was "abolition of the Jewish national home".

   Acknowledgement: Apart from the note, this MEQ was prepared by
      Danny Keren.  The note was written by the editor.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Middle East Quotes is an occasional series of quotations on Middle
East history.  The editor does not necessarily approve of the sentiments
expressed in quotes, nor will he necessarily join in any discussion
they engender.  Contributions are welcome but will not necessarily be
accepted.  Full sources are essential.      Brendan McKay.



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