Nazi Envoy Greeted By 2 Arab Editors, 17 December, 1937.
Posted on 06/30/2023 2:14:57 PM PDT by Milagros
When Nazi envoy, Goebbels' aide, Hans Schwarz van Berk (Hans Hansen) was greeted by Arab Editors: al-Shanti - 'Al-Difaa', and El Issa - 'Falastin'
[فلسطين / الدفاع]
Nazi Envoy Greeted By 2 Arab Editors, 17 December, 1937.
By Jewish Telegraphic Agency CAIRO —Franz von Berk, aide to Reich Propaganda Minister Goebbels, arrived here last week and was met by the editors of two Palestine Arab papers, Falastin and Adifaa. Dr. Goebbels is scheduled to visit Cairo next month.
. . . The Quarterly Review. (1938). United Kingdom: John Murray. p. 208
THE NAZI INTERNATIONAL
THE NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST
In the Near and Middle East propaganda has been rife since 1934, when legal proceedings were taken by a Jew of Cairo against the local German Society for publishing a pamphlet in defence of Hitler's persecution of the Jews, which contained the usual anti-Semitic slanders. The case was lost on the technical ground that the prosecutor was not personally libelled, and an impetus was immediately given to further agitation, which was extended to Egyptian circles.
In April 1935, fifty German agents were sent to Africa and the Near East, and a letter was addressed by the Ministry of Propaganda on May 16, 1935, to the Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs, thanking him for his help in regard to colonial propaganda and stating: 'Our agents have received instructions and orders for the task and we have informed our consular representatives at Haifa, Jaffa, Algiers, Agadir and Rabat. We have also informed our agents (Vertrauensleute) and influential natives. We, too, are of the absolute opinion that success can only be achieved if the most intense propaganda effort is concentrated on the natives.
In Cairo and Alexandria the methods employed are the distribution of libellous leaflets , appeals — in both Arabic and German — to boycott Jewish firms , inflammatory articles in obscure papers , and street demonstrations.
In the autumn of 1937 Herr Baldur von Shirach, head of the Hitler Youth, and Herr von Berk, editor of the 'Angriff' (the organ of Dr Goebbels), both made a tour of the Near East, and news of a plan for intensifying the boycott of Jewish firms in Egypt was first published in the German and Austrian press.
That Germany has played a part in assisting the Arab revolt in Palestine and is exploiting both Pan-Islamism and anti - Zionism is by no means only a rumour. The Jerusalem police intercepted documents in 1936 proving that the Arab leaders received 50,000£ from Germany and 20,000£ from Italy for the purpose of strengthening their resistance. According to the Palestine Post,' 'the editor of the extremist Arab daily "Ad-Difaa" visited Cairo to meet a "prominent German personage" and returned suddenly to expand its pages and greatly extend its news and pictorial services.' The swastika has appeared in Arab leaflets and German rifles have been captured more than once from Arab terrorists.
In Damascus there is a club called El Nadi el Arrabi' (The Arab Club), which is generally known to be maintained from German sources.
. . .
Goebbels Cancels Trip to Egypt; Cairo Protests Seen Responsible, JTA, December 30, 1937.
Reich Propaganda Minister Goebbels has cancelled his projected trip to this country next month, it was announced officially here today. Although fear that the change in climate might have a detrimental effect on his health was given as the reason, it is reported here that the decision followed discreet protests by the Egyptian Government. A Goebbels aide, Schwartz von Berk recently visited Cairo and other cities in the Near East.
. . .
Kelly, S. (2009). The Lost Oasis: The True Story Behind The English Patient. United States: Basic Books.
In November 1937 a highlevel German delegation led by General von Fritsch, the Commanderin Chief of the German Army, visited Egypt. It seems clear, as British diplomats concluded at the time, that the Germans were assessing Italian prospects should Italy become involved in a war with Britain.
Falastin was bad, but al Difaa was far worse, more Islamistic and more Nazi like.
Far more potent than any interference by Italian or Papist has been the German intervention, which the English studiously ignore. It has been shown that agitators now active in the Near East have been trained in a special school in the Brown House in Munich ; that pamphlets in Arabic are printed in Berlin and Hamburg for distribution in Palestine.
On October 22, 1933, it was announced that Eissael Bendek, member of the Arab Ex- ecutive's Administrative Bureau, would direct a propaganda campaign in the interests of the Nazi Party.
On June 8, 1934 the Jerusalem Arab daily, Mukkattam, reported the formation of an Arab Nazi Youth Organization. The French Weekly, Mari-anne, reported in 1937 that a great part of the arms employed in the rebellion were supplied by the Suhl and Erfurter Gewehrfabrik of Germany, which sent, in particular, many rifles and machine-guns. The Arab journals Falastin and Al Difah [Difa'a] published regularly articles of a racial nature, together with large portraits of the various leaders of the Third Reich. They did not even attempt to conceal the fact that they had become tools of the Ministry of Propaganda in Berlin. The shout of 'Heil Hitler' became a catchword which rang insolently over all Palestine. link
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