Palestine/Irak/India cooperation
ULF BERGGREN
I would like to find out more about palestinian cooperation with Germay
during
the war. I have read that the iraki primeminister Rashid Ali was pro-German,
and the
religious leader in Palestine was against Brittain as a colonialpower and
actually
had contacts with Germany.
I also read that there was an india fighting unit on the german side, in
europe.
And the reason was to fight Britain as a colonial power.
And this is all I read, I dont know anything more. Do you know more ?
Please tell me more !
I am sorry for my poor english, so I am fully aware that words might be
miss-
spelled. I am from Sweden and here we just learn english in school. (There
is
always people who post messages just to blame the poor english).
bac...@vms.huji.ac.il
writes:
> I read William L. Shirers book "The rise and fall of the Third reich".
>
> I would like to find out more about palestinian cooperation with Germay
> during
> the war. I have read that the iraki primeminister Rashid Ali was pro-German,
> and the
> religious leader in Palestine was against Brittain as a colonialpower and
> actually
> had contacts with Germany.
>
> I also read that there was an india fighting unit on the german side, in
> europe.
> And the reason was to fight Britain as a colonial power.
>
> And this is all I read, I dont know anything more. Do you know more ?
> Please tell me more !
The Palestinian Grand Mufti Hajj Amin el Husseini saw world Jewry
as a target of his fight. He met with Adolf Hitler on November 28, 1941
and maintained regular contact with the SS and Gestapo who appointed special
liason officers for these contacts. In late 1941, the Deutsch-Arabische
Lehrabteilung (German-Arab training section) was created under General
Helmuth Felmy with its base in Greece. Husseini enlarged the unit and
called for the establishment of regular Arab formations. In November 1944
an announcement was made of the establishment of an Arab Legion in Germany.
In 1943, Husseini recruited Bosnian Muslim battalions in Croatia comprising
20,000 men. These Muslim volunteer units, called Handjar (Sword), were
placed into the Waffen-SS and participated in the massacre of Jews and
Serbs. SS General Berger was the liason person between the SS and Husseini.
Husseini also was instrumental in forming the Ostbataillone, the Muslim
auxiliary units of the Wehrmacht. Husseini formed the Islamic Institute
in Dresden (Germany) during the war. Husseini's men attended SS training
courses and visited the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In 1943, Husseini
as part of his drive against the Jews, established the Arab Institute for
Research into the Jewish Question in Berlin.
Husseini tried by all means available to foil efforts that were made to
save Jews from extermination. There is much documentation on this from the
German Foreign Office.
Donald Phillipson
> I would like to find out more about palestinian cooperation with Germay
> during
> the war. I have read that the iraki primeminister Rashid Ali was pro-German,
> and the
> religious leader in Palestine was against Brittain as a colonialpower and
> actually
> had contacts with Germany.
>
> I also read that there was an india fighting unit on the german side, in
> europe.
> And the reason was to fight Britain as a colonial power.
Palestine was a League of Nations mandate under British rule
during WW2, with difficult politics because everyone agreed
the belonged to its inhabitants, organized in two distinct
communities (Palestinian Arab and Jewish) and British policy
sought political arrangements both communities approved.
(They never did.)
Thus Palestine was nominally neutral in WW2, like Egypt,
although this meant nothing in the light of British control,
as in Egypt. But the British did not stop the Grand Mufti
of Jerusalem going to Germany for liaison, and some of his
paramilitaries were supposedly trained by the SS (see
the Collins & Lapierre book O Jerusalem.) The British
recruited anyone who wanted to volunteer, and formed in
Italy in 1944 a Jewish Brigade of Palestinian Jewish
volunteers.
Iraq was nominally independent during WW2, but with a
strong British presence (from a League mandate that ended
about 1932). Rashid Ali led the anti-British forces and
ordered Iraqi blockade of the main RAF base at Habbaniyah.
With troops from India, Britain occupied the whole of the
country and used it as a base to invade Vichy-controlled
French Syria. By late 1941 British control was assured.
No Indian nationalist army fought under German command.
(There may have been German attempts to recruit Indian
PoWs in Europe, like the SS unit of Englishmen. But
none of these units was ever trained or armed. Cf.
Rebecca West, The New Meaning of Treason (1964.)
Indian PoWs in Japanese hands were recruited to an
"Indian National Army" set up by Subhas Chandra Bose
with Japanese approval, and fought against the British
14th Army (Slim.) Indian nationalists were divided,
because Britain had already (1935) promised self-rule
at some future date, and tried to implement it in wartime
(1942) but gave it up, as too complicated. So some
leaders e.g. Gandhi favoured neutrality and others e.g.
Pandit Nehru wanted to co-operate with Britain, throw
Japan out of Southeast Asia, and thus earn independence.
John Masters's memoir The Road Past Mandalay (1961)
describes combat in Iraq and Burma. He was an officer
in an Indian Army Ghurkha regiment.
--
| Donald Phillipson, dphil...@trytel.com |
| Carlsbad Springs, Ottawa, Canada |