First Annotated Web-Publication of the Complete Official Record of Hitler’s Meeting with, and Promises to, the Mufti of Jerusalem
Eric Zuesse, originally posted at strategic-culture.org
Adolf Hitler’s private and confidential meeting with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, on 28 November 1941, right at the start of his Holocaust to get rid of “the Jews,” was enormously significant historically, because he was here secretly informing the leader of Palestine, about what Hitler’s plan was for Jews after Hitler would eliminate them from Europe. This is one of the few key documents that make unequivocal Hitler’s determination to eliminate every Jew on the planet — not merely every Jew in Europe. (which he publicly threatened to do).
As will be documented here, online for the very first time, and with links to the only existing online sources in the English language: Hitler privately expressed his explicit intention to cleanse (exterminate) Jews from Palestine, and to make the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem the “liberator” of all Arabs, not only the Palestinian leader. Hitler said that, as soon as Hitler would finish wiping out all Jews in Europe, he would publicly authorize, arm, and assist, the Mufti, to oversee exterminating them in Palestine and throughout all Arab regions; and this is what the Mufti wanted, so that the Mufti would then become the “liberator” of all Arabs (by killing all Jews in Arabia), and the Mufti would therefore be ruling, under Emperor Hitler, a vast Arab kingdom. The only initial disagreement between Hitler and the Mufti, was that the Mufti wanted Hitler to announce this intention immediately to the world, but Hitler told him that publicly announcing it at this time would be premature — the public announcement of his intention would occur only (and as soon as) all Jews had already been cleansed from Europe. At the meeting’s very end, the Mufti said that he was thoroughly persuaded by Hitler’s reasoning; the Mufti no longer wanted Hitler to announce it immediately. By the meeting’s end, they agreed on the timing of the public announcement. They parted in 100% agreement about what should be done, and in what order.
In short: This document is one (there are others) that exposes the utter fraudulence of the ‘historians’ who allege either that Hitler was a ‘weak dictator’, or that he didn’t hold the intention of exterminating each and every Jew, everywhere, and that he didn’t hold this exterminationist intention firmly, with conviction, and (in the case of this document) well before the Holocaust was at an advanced stage in Europe, or anywhere.
In this particular document, Hitler also makes clear (as he did also on other occasions; so, this is hardly the only proof of it) that he would not consider “The Thousand-Year Reich” really to have so much as even just started, until the extermination of all Jews had been completed everywhere. In other words: for Hitler, “victory” in World War II would consist of (and could be achieved only by means of) his successfully eliminating all Jews. (In my 2000 book WHY the Holocaust Happened, I presented a case that he had first come to this intention during September 1919 but knew that if he allowed the public to know that this was why he was entering politics, then he’d never be able to achieve the leadership of Germany and thus would never attain his goal, but that this indeed was the reason for his entering politics, at that time, as he did.)
In other words: completion of the Holocaust was, in Hitler’s mind, what World War II was actually about. The Holocaust wasn’t incidental to Hitler’s war-aims; it was his war-aim. For him, the war existed primarily in order to make possible, and to complete, annihilation of “the Jews” (defined in the way that Hitler did, in the Nuremberg Laws: not by what a person believed, but by what a person’s ancestors believed — as a “racial” matter, not a religious one, but ‘racial’ being based on ancestors’ religion, not on genetics; Hitler rejected genetics; he even condemned Darwin; Hitler was a biblical creationist and defined “Aryan” as being a “pureblooded” descendant from Adam and Eve, whereas he thought Jews descended from the snake in Genesis 3; these matters are documented in WHY the Holocaust Happened). For Hitler, “victory” would consist of exterminating all “Jews” everywhere; or, as he wrote in The Führer’s words right before his suicide — his final, supreme, statement of his war-aims — he urged his people to continue the war, until victory, against what he held to be the sole real enemy: “the poisoner of all nations, international Jewry.” His final words were: “I charge the leaders of the nation and those under them to scrupulous observance of the laws of race and to merciless opposition to the universal poisoner of all peoples, international Jewry.” That phrase “international Jewry” was a code he often used for referring to all Jews, everywhere. However, as he made clear in this document — the document that will now be presented in full and online, and with clarificatory annotations — his clear and explicit intention was to hide from the public that this was indeed his goal, and not to reveal it until after all Jews had first already been exterminated in Europe.
Furthermore, in light of this single and crucial document: any ‘historian’ — or even Israel’s own current racist-fascist and Hitler-apologetic Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu — who alleges that Hitler had actually (strategically, instead of merely tactically) advocated merely the expulsion of Jews (to Madagascar, Palestine, or anywhere else) is simply fraudulent. The record is clear and unequivocal on this central historical matter: Hitler never had any such actual intention of merely expelling Jews — as this document itself (like several others) makes clear. And Hitler here explained why the sequence of events was going to be crucial in achieving the goal of a Jew-free world. Hitler explained to the Mufti the necessary sequence; the Mufti accepted it.
There are many abbreviated presentations on the Web, of the official Nazi record (the only record that exists) of Hitler’s meeting with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, and some of these presentations call themselves by such titles as “Full official record: What the Mufti said to Hitler”, but none is even nearly complete — other than the sources which will be linked to here. Most others omit crucial parts from the document; and the version that’s being presented here will therefore be the first that actually is complete, and that is also presented so as to be understandable, fully in context, and therefore making complete sense, as the document did in its own time and circumstances.
The portions in the document that I consider to constitute the most important excerpts in it are boldfaced in my presentation below; and, the few passages that are simultaneously boldfaced and italicized are the ones that I consider the most important of the most important. Reading only those highlighted portions provides an accurate summary of this document, but the complete document is being presented here in order that the reader can decide, for him or her self, which passages in it best summarize the document. Different individuals might have different takes on what’s important and what isn’t; and, so, the entirety of the document is presented here.
Nothing here will be paraphrased: Paraphrases of any document never possess the epistemological authority (the scientific credibility) that direct quotations do; and when direct quotations are being presented entirely within the context of the complete document, such as will be done here (the whole document will be shown), the reader knows the context in which any given quotations existed, and is therefore in the best possible position to interpret, on one’s own, what the document’s intended meaning was, at least for Hitler (and presumably also for the Mufti).
This presentation is from the official U.S. Government publication of the document, as being pages 881-885, Document “No. 515″ in Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918-1945, Series D (1937-1945), Volume XII, THE WAR YEARS, June 23-December 11, 1941. It includes there no annotations or clarifications added to facilitate a reader’s accurate understanding of the context and historical background of the document. That lack of explanation or essential context might be one possible reason why this document has unfortunately been widely ignored except by people such as Netanyahu, who freely and baldly lie about what the document said, and about what Hitler intended regarding all Jews. This complete unannotated document can be seen online in .pdf here, and in .txt (though with many typographical errors from the automated text-reader) here. (The latter one — the .txt version but not the .pdf version — I was able to archive, at http://archive.is/iKBm4, so that’s an alternative copy of just the .txt version, just in case a person might encounter trouble accessing the .pdf version and in case the .pdf version becomes eliminated entirely.) Another version of this document, which is likewise without annotations, has been posted online from the official British publication of the document, and that’s here.
My presentation of this document has been copied complete from the .txt version of the U.S. Government publication, because the .pdf version is unfortunately of a non-copyable kind, but I have corrected here the many typos, so as to restore the readability that was lost by the automated text-reader. In this presentation, from the U.S. Government text, there is (as I shall note in the text) one correction that was noted by the publisher: where the German original had shown “1,700,000” but the actual number was 17,000,000. Other than that factual correction of what was probably a typo in the official Nazi transcription, there were no annotations in any version. And the stark contrast contradicting Netanyahu’s statement about this meeting between The Fuehrer and The Mufti, is clear and even blatantly clear — and Netanyahu is, thus, clearly exposed here as having intended to place the central blame for the Holocaust on the Mufti, instead of on Hitler. The (anti-Palestinian) nazi Netanyahu thus presented the (anti-Jew) Nazi Hitler, as having been the Mufti’s fool, instead of as having been the Mufti’s leader and guide — as was clearly the case (as is displayed multifold in this document). Furthermore, Netanyahu is famous as being a psychopathic liar (like nazis — racist fascists — routinely are) but here is yet another case of that type, and all of the evidence on it is now easily available on the Web, presented here, with full disclosure and access to all of the sources, via evidence that’s just a click away.
Here, then, is the annotated document, taken from the U.S. Government’s publication, and this will expose the widely spread lies (such as Netanyahu spread — in his case, that the Mufti instructed a reluctant Hitler to “burn” “the Jews” and didn’t instead take instructions from Hitler, about what the Mufti must do regarding Jews) which lies are aimed at conveying the false impression that Hitler didn’t actually know what he was doing, or that Hitler didn’t know what the people under his command were doing to Jews, and which suggest that Hitler was being ‘manipulated’ by others (such as the Mufti), regarding Jews, and was not himself the originator and commander of his own regime’s policy regarding the Jews — this is “The Big Exposé,” regarding simultaneously important past history, and present important reality or “news”:
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No. 515
F1/0018-24
Memorandum, by an Official of the Foreign Minister’s Secretariat
Füh. 57a. g Rs. Berlin, November 30, 1941.
Record of the Conversation Between the Fuhrer and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem on November 28, 1941, in the Presence of Reich Foreign Minister [Ribbentrop] and Minister Grobba in Berlin
The Grand Mufti began by thanking the Fuehrer for the great honor he had bestowed by receiving him. He wished to seize the opportunity to convey to the Fuehrer 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 commission of acts of sabotage and the instigation of revolutions, but also positively by the formation of an 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 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 the 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 firmly 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 Fuehrer 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 recognized the aspirations to independence and freedom of the Arabs, just as she [Arabia] 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 organizing the Arabs against the moment when they could strike. At the same time, he could give the assurance that the Arabs would in strict discipline patiently wait for the right moment and only strike upon an order from 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 moreover nothing to fear from the 1,700,000 [corrected in a footnote to being actually 17,000,000] Arabs inhabiting Syria, Trans Jordan, 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 had 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 Fuehrer make a public declaration so that the Arabs would not lose hope, which is so powerful a 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 realization of their aspirations; they could easily wait half a year or a whole year. But if they were not inspired with such a hope by a declaration of this sort, it could be expected that the English would be the gainers from it.
The Fuehrer replied that Germany’s fundamental attitude on these questions, as the Mufti himself had already stated, was clear. Germany stood for uncompromising war against the Jews. That naturally included active opposition to the Jewish national home in Palestine, which was nothing other than a center, in the form of a state, for the exercise of destructive influence by Jewish interests. Germany was also aware that the assertion that the Jews were carrying out the function of economic pioneers in Palestine was a lie. The work there was done only by the Arabs, not by the Jews. 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.
Germany was at the present time engaged in a life and death struggle with two citadels of Jewish power: Great Britain and Soviet Russia. Theoretically there was a difference between England’s capitalism and Soviet Russia’s communism; actually, however, the Jews in both countries were pursuing a common goal. This was the decisive struggle; on the political plane, it presented itself in the main as a conflict between Germany and England, but ideologically it was a battle between National Socialism and the Jews. It went without saying that Germany would furnish positive and practical aid to the Arabs involved in the same struggle, because platonic promises were useless in a war for survival or destruction in which the Jews were able to mobilize all of England’s power for their ends.
The aid to the Arabs would have to be material aid. Of how little help sympathies alone were in such a battle had been demonstrated plainly by the operation in Iraq, where circumstances had not permitted the rendering of really effective, practical aid. In spite of all the sympathies, German aid had not been sufficient and Iraq was overcome by the power of Britain, that is, the guardian of the Jews.
The Mufti could not but be aware, however, that the outcome of the struggle going on at present would also decide the fate of the Arab world. The Fuehrer therefore had to think and speak coolly and deliberately, as a rational man and primarily as a soldier, as the leader of the German and allied armies. Everything of a nature to help in this titanic battle for the common cause, and thus also for the Arabs, would have to be done. Anything, however, that might contribute to weakening the military situation must be put aside, no matter how unpopular this move might be.
Germany was now engaged in very severe battles to force the gateway to the northern Caucasus region. The difficulties were mainly with regard to maintaining the supply, which was most difficult as a result of the destruction of railroads and highways as well as of the oncoming winter. If at such a moment, the Fuehrer were to raise the problem of Syria in a declaration, those elements in France which were under de Gaulle’s influence would receive new strength. They would interpret the Fuehrer’s declaration as an intention to break up France’s colonial empire and appeal to their fellow countrymen that they should rather make common cause with the English to try to save what still could be saved. A German declaration regarding Syria would in France be understood to refer to the French colonies in general, and that would at the present time create new troubles in western Europe, which means that a portion of the German armed forces would be immobilized in the west and no longer be available for the campaign in the east.
The Fuehrer then made the following statement to the Mufti, enjoining him to lock it in the uttermost depths of his heart:
1. He (the Fuehrer) would carry on the battle to the total destruction of the Judeo-Communist empire in Europe.
2. At some moment which was impossible to set exactly today but which in any event was not distant, the German armies would in the course of this struggle reach the southern exit from Caucasia.
3. As soon as this had happened, the Fuehrer would on his own give the Arab world the assurance that its hour of liberation had arrived. Germany’s objective would then be solely the destruction of the Jewish element residing in the Arab sphere under the protection of British power. In that hour the Mufti would be the most authoritative spokesman for the Arab world. It would then be his task to set off the Arab operations which he had secretly prepared. When that time had come, Germany could also be indifferent to French reaction to such a declaration.
Once Germany had forced open the road to Iran and Iraq through Rostov, it would be also the beginning of the end of the British world empire. He (the Fuehrer) hoped that the coming year would make it possible for Germany to thrust open the Caucasian gate to the Middle East. For the good of their common cause, it would be better if the Arab proclamation were put off for a few more months than if Germany were to create difficulties for herself without being able thereby to help the Arabs.
He (the Fuehrer) fully appreciated the eagerness of the Arabs for a public declaration of the sort requested by the Grand Mufti. But he would beg him to consider that he (the Fuehrer) himself was the Chief of State of the German Reich for 5 long years during which he was unable to make to his own homeland the announcement of its liberation. He had to wait with that until the announcement could be made on the basis of a situation brought about by the force of arms that the Anschluss had been carried out.
The moment that Germany’s tank divisions and air squadrons had made their appearance south of the Caucasus, the public appeal requested by the Grand Mufti could go out to the Arab world.
The Grand Mufti replied that it was his view that everything would come to pass just as the Fuehrer had indicated. He was fully re-assured and satisfied by the words which he had heard from the Chief of the German State. He asked, however, whether it would not be possible, secretly at least, to enter into an agreement with Germany of the kind he had just outlined for the Fuehrer.
The Fuehrer replied that he had just now given the Grand Mufti precisely that confidential declaration.
The Grand Mufti thanked him for it and stated in conclusion that he was taking his leave from the Fuehrer in full confidence and with reiterated thanks for the interest shown in the Arab cause.
Schmidt [the authorized transcriber]
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FINAL NOTE: Some other examples of Hitler’s private statements about what he would do to “the Jews” are here. In the reader-comments there (if you simply enter my last name, zuesse, into the searchbox, if a searchbox shows on your screen there), you will easily come to each one of the reader-comments that take exception to what I had stated in that article; and, then, if you click onto the “@Eric Zuesse” at the end of each one of those objections, you will immediately come to my reply to the given objection. So, that’s where I have publicly debated this issue, in case you might want to read such a debate.
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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
