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The Arab/Muslim Nazi Connection
Turning the West Bank into another "Bosnia" (Photo Album)

As things are going, if Netanyahu 
succeeds...  The area will be like Bosnia.
-- Palestinian Authority Minister of
Justice Freih Abu Meddien

"The era of interim agreements," said Ben-Ami, 
"is dead. It only exists in the imagination.  The Palestinians 
have absolutely no faith in interim agreements, for their 
reasons. We are also opposed to them. They have only
given birth to terror and to a Bosnia-like situation 
(in the territories)."
-- Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami

Although there was ample proof to arrest him 
[Hajj Amin al Husseini] as a war criminal after 
the war, the Allies made no effort to do so... Yugoslavia, 
asked for his extradition... but the Arab League and the
Egyptian government succeeded in having the 
demand tabled
-- Encyclopedia of the Holocaust

Bosnian Moslems recruited by the 
Grand Mufti Hajj Amin al Husseini (Arafat's 'Uncle'1) to serve in the ranks of the German Waffen-SS.

The following pictures take place in Bosnia, two years after the Grand Mufti Hajj Amin al Husseini (blood relative of both the current Temple Mount Mufti and Yasser Arafat) launched an unsuccessful pro-Nazi coup in Iraq. In that coup, an Iranian - Khayrallah Tulfah - was jailed for four years for his pro-Nazi activities.  He wrote a booklet called  "Three Whom God Should Not Have Created: Iranians, Jews, and Flies.", which was later distributed by the Ministry of Education of Iraq.  In 1947, Khayrallah Tulfah gave a home to his sister's ten year old son, an orphan.  His name was Saddam Hussein.

In the 1990's. the Christian Serbs later sought retribution for what they claimed were "massive war crimes" by the Islamic Bosnians during World War II, during the Bosnian-Croatian war in former Yugoslavia.

 

Bosnian Moslems wearing fezzes with Nazi insignia

Under the initiative of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem-a powerful Moslem leader exiled in Berlin-Bosnian Moslems volunteered to serve in the ranks of the German Waffen-SS. Their special uniform combined Nazi with Moslem elements

Date: 1943

The Grand Mufti inspects Moslem SS units

Under Husseini's initiative and supervision, Yugoslavian Moslem volunteer units-called "Handjar" (Sword)-joined the German Waffen-SS. They fought Yugoslav partisans in Bosnia and massacred Bosnians and Croatian Jews.

Date: 1943
Era: During WWII

Bosnian Moslems who volunteered to the German army

Thousands of Bosnian Moslems responded to the Mufti's call and volunteered to serve in the German army. The volunteers wore special uniforms; the Nazi insignia decorated their fezzes (typical moslem hat).

Date: 1943 

Nazis review Bosnian Moslem volunteers to the Waffen-SS

In the spring of 1943, Bosnian Moslems, responding to their Mufti's call, volunteered to serve in the German army. They formed their own battalions within the ranks of the Waffen-SS. The Germans publicized the Moslem-German collaboration.

Date: 1943

Bosnian Moslem soldiers in the German army, at prayer

Hajj Amin al Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, allied himself with Nazi Germany. While exiled in Berlin and sponsored by Nazi agencies, he brought to the creation of Moslem battalions within the German Waffen-SS.

Date: 1943

Hajj Amin al-Husseini with Bosnian Moslem fighters

Husseini flew from Berlin to Sarajevo to bless the Moslem army inspect its arms and observe its exercises. Husseini's army in Croatia was comprised of some 20,000 Bosnian Moslems, all of whom volunteered to serve in the German Waffen-SS.

Bosnian Moslems who volunteered to the German army

Moslems living in Bosnia, Yugoslavia, responded to the call of the exiled grand Mufti of Jerusalem and enlisted as volunteers in the German army. Seen here are uniformed volunteers holding a propaganda brochure: "Islam and Judaism."

Date: 1943

Bosnian Moslems as volunteers in the German army

Hajj Amin al Husseini-the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem exiled in Berlin-planned to create a strong Arabic army and to put it at the disposal of the Axis powers. Eventually, he succeeded in forming Moslem units within the German Waffen-SS.

Date: 1943

Close-up of Nazi officers reviewing Moslem volunteers

Closeup of "Responding to the initiative of the exiled Grand Mufti of Jerusalem", the Germans created separate Moslem battalions within the Waffen-SS. Here, unidentified Nazi dignitaries review the new recruits.

Date: 1943

Bosnian Moslem soldiers in the German army during prayer

During the spring of 1943, some 20,000 Moslem Bosnians responded to the Mufti's call to join the German Waffen-SS. The Moslem volunteers, who served in separate units named "Handjar" (Sword), actively participated in war operations.

Date: 1943


Hizbollah "Swearing in ceremony"

Many Arab political parties had their roots as resistance movements sympathetic to Nazi expansion in the Middle East. Since that time, Islamic armies and militias have identified with, and adopted symbols from, Nazi propaganda. 

Date: Iran, December 2003


 
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem

One of the most prominent Arab leaders in Palestine and the Middle East. Some believe that Husseini's collaboration with the Germans was designed to obtain support for Arab national goals from a power that seemed to have good prospects for winning the war. Others link his sympathy for Nazi Germany to his enthusiasim for its anti-Jewish policies, particularly, the Final Solution. Some even perceive a general ideological affinity between totalitarian Fascist and Nazi theories and Islam, as conceived by Husseini.

Pre - War Contacts with the Nazis

After he had broken with Britain, Husseini sent two emissaries to Berlin to make concrete proposals for collaboration. This occurred in December 1937 and in May 1939. As a result, Wilhelm Canaris, chief of the Abwehr supported the Arab uprising in Palestine.

Husseini's Fate is Linked with the Fascist Powers

When World War II broke out, Husseini fled to Iraq, where he contributed to the planning of the pro-Nazi revolt. When the revolt was quelled, he went into exile, first in Italy and then in Germany. From October 1941, Husseini linked his fate with the fascist powers. He also was in touch with the Japanese. He sought to pursue Arab national political goals and lend his support to the Final Solution. For the former he set three main goals: the issuance of a joint German-Italian declaration recognizing the independence of the Arab nations and their unity in federation; the establishment of a center for Arab sabotage and propaganda, under his control; and the formation of an Arab army to fight on the Axis side. The German foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop did not make the declaration Husseini wanted, but in a private letter said much of what Husseini wanted to hear regarding Arabs states under British auspices. Neither did the mufti create the center he had in mind, but he did link himself with Axis intelligence. To demonstrate their support for the idea, the Germans dropped two Arab parachutists over Jericho and five over Mosul, Iraq. Husseini's plan to form an Arab legion failed to gain much response. As of 1942, a small German-Arab training section was created, with 130 men. In November 1944, the Arab legion was set up, but it existed mostly on paper.

A Moslem Leader in the Service of the Nazis

Husseini's contribution to the Axis war effort was more successful in his capacity as a Moslem leader. He recruited and organized Bosnian Muslim battalions in 1943, known as the Handjar (Sword), who were put into the Waffen-SS. They fought partisans in Bosnia, participated in the massacre of civilians there, and carried out police and security duties in Hungary. Husseini also helped boost the fighting morale of the Ostbattaillone.

Husseini's Support of the Final Solution

Husseini's men attended SS training courses and visited Sachsenhausen. At an early stage the mufti was aware of the extermination of the Jews and he tried to persuade the Axis to extend the extermination to North Africa and Palestine. He also repeatedly proprosed the Luftwaffe bomb Tel Aviv. When he found out that efforts were underway to save Jews by means of various barter arrangements, he did all he could to foil them.

After the War - Evading Prosecution

When the war ended, Husseini was arrested in France, but in June 1946, he escaped and made his way to asylum in Egypt. Although there was ample proof to arrest him as a war criminal after the war, the Allies made no effort to do so. They were deterred by Husseini's prestige in the Arab world. In 1946, Yugoslavia, asked for his extradition, but the Arab League and the Egyptian government succeeded in having the demand tabled.

"Encyclopedia of the Holocaust"
©1990 Macmillan Publishing Company
New York, NY 10022

Source (both Pictures and Text):
    http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/pages/t031/t03148.html
    Museum of Tolerance, Multimedia Learning Center


Copyright © 1997, The Simon Wiesenthal Center,

1. The Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini was later the notorious Nazi who mixed Nazi propaganda and Islam.  He was wanted for war crimes and the slaughter of Jews in Bosnia by Yugoslavia.  His mix of militant propagandizing Islam was an inspriation for both Yasser Arafat and Saddam Husein: He was also a close relative of Yasser Arafat and grandfather of the current Temple Mount Mufti. "Arafat's actual name was Abd al-Rahman abd al-Bauf Arafat al-Qud al-Husseini. He shortened it to obscure his kinship with the notorious Nazi and ex-Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Muhammed Amin al-Husseini." Howard M. Sachar, A HISTORY OF ISRAEL (New York: Knopf, 1976).  The Bet Agron International Center in Jerusalem interviewed Arafat's brother and sister, who described the Mufti as a cousin (family member) with tremendous influence on young Yassir after the Mufti returned from Berlin to Cairo. Yasser Arafat himself keeps his exact lineage and birthplace secret.  Saddam Hussein was raised in the house of his uncle Khayrallah Tulfah, who was a leader in the Mufti's pro-Nazi coup in Iraq in May 1941.

This page was produced by Joseph E. Katz
Middle Eastern Political and Religious History Analyst 
Brooklyn, New York 
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Portions Copyright © 2001 Joseph Katz
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