We know he went after the Jews and Christians and gypsies, but I wonder what he thought of the Muslims?
Apparently he got along with the Arab states since they for one opposed the Jews settling in Palestine and for two the had oil.
Not very much apparently…
“According to the Nazis’ racist ideology, Arabs are racial Semites and thus subhumans, similar to Jews. In his book, Mein Kampf, Hitler described the struggle for world domination as an ongoing racial, cultural and political battle between Aryans and non-Aryans. He envisaged a “ladder” of racial hierarchy, asserting that German “Aryans” were at the top of the ladder, while Jews and Gypsies were consigned to the bottom of the order. On Hitler’s racial ladder, Arabs and Muslims occupied a servile place, held in much the same contempt as the Jews.”
But did he gas them I believe was the question. Hitler basically didn’t like anybody but Germans.
There weren’t really any sizable Muslim populations in the places he controlled. Albania was taken by Italy, and Bosnia was made part of a puppet state. There was considerable ethnic violence in the Croatian puppet state, both on and by Muslims, but I don’t think Hitler had any particular hand in it.
Hitler also wanted to avoid Turkey joining the Allies, so whatever his racial theories held regarding Muslims, even if he could find enough Muslims to gas, he probably wouldn’t have, at least until he’d defeated the Allies.
Speaking of, that SS division was where the first Muslim to be awarded an Iron Cross served.
The Nazis also got on fairly well with Arab nationalists who were anti-British and anti-Jewish. Rashid Ali in Iraq, the Persian Shah and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem were all decidedly pro-Hitler.
Wiki has a section on Hitler’s views on Islam, unsurprisingly he regarded Arabs as racially inferior though they were not a group targeted for extermination, being a Muslim was not in of itself a reason to be killed. The chief overseer of Nazi butchery, Himlerr, even admired Islam somewhat as he is quoted telling Goebbels "“I have nothing against Islam because it educates the men in this [the 13th Waffen SS Mountain] division for me and promises them heaven if they fight and are killed in action, a very practical and attractive religion for soldiers!"
Reza Shah (like most Iranians) was not an Arab.
North Africa? I can’t recall any instances where the Afrika Korps massacred any Muslim populations in Tunis or Tobruk.
Typo on the SS Reichfuhrer’s name, meant Himmler. A bit more on that SS Division, though they were allowed to pray it seems that their commander Karl-Gustav Sauberzweig had a very superficial understanding of Islam,
[quoted as saying]
(The Berlin-Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany’s Bid for World Power - Sean McMeekin - Google Books…+are+beginning+to+see+in+our+F%C3%BChrer+the+appearance+of+a+Second+Prophet&source=bl&ots=L3lt0sh0WH&sig=OUvmzkpsHsnSKo5HvZrl0X5Bhaw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZqEuVfiRNoXiauH7gagG&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=The%20Muslims%20in%20our%20SS%20divisions%20…%20are%20beginning%20to%20see%20in%20our%20F%C3%BChrer%20the%20appearance%20of%20a%20Second%20Prophet&f=false) “…The Muslims in our SS divisions … are beginning to see in our Führer the appearance of a Second Prophet”. This is about as blasphemous a statement you could make as one of the basic tenets of Islam is that Mohammed is the last and final prophet, so again it speaks to a more pragmatic exploitation of the ‘enemy of my enemy is my friend’ idea rather than a genuine admiration of Islam’s ideas.
ETA;
Good call, quite right. He was anti-British and anti-Soviet though and sought German aide to that effect.
Actually, Goebbels especially was an ardent Zionist and worked with Zionist organisations to transfer Jews to Palestine.
Even late in the war there was an organised release of (Hungarian?) Jews to go to Palestine but they got caught up in the war and stayed in Europe.
Did Hitler murder any Muslims?
There is no evidence that Hitler ordered the murder of Muslims simply because they were Muslims. The Nazis and Muslims did have a active collaboration in Europe and the Middle East, and there were three Muslim SS divisions operating in Europe.
*The two most noted Arab politicians who actively collaborated with the Nazis were Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (al Quds) Haj Amin al-Husseini, and the Iraqi prime minister Rashid Ali al-Gaylani.
…Haj Amin al-Husseini became the most prominent Arab collaborator with the Axis powers. He developed friendships with high-ranking Nazis, including Heinrich Himmler, Joachim von Ribbentrop and (possibly) Adolf Eichmann. He contributed to Axis propaganda services and to the recruitment of Muslim and Arab soldiers for the Nazi armed forces, including three SS divisions consisting of Yugoslavian Muslims.[24] He was involved in planning “wartime operations directed against Palestine and Iraq, including parachuting Germans and Arab agents to foment attacks against the Jewish occupation in Palestine.” He assisted the German entry into North Africa, particularly the German entry into Tunisia and Libya. His espionage network provided the Wehrmacht with a forty-eight hour warning of the Allied invasion of North Africa. The Wehrmacht, however, ignored this information, which turned out to be completely accurate. He intervened and protested to government authorities in order to prevent Jews from emigrating to Mandatory. There is persuasive evidence that he was aware of the Nazi Final Solution…
…During a visit in July 1943 the Mufti said:
The active cooperation of the world’s 400 million Muslims with their loyal friends, the German, can be of decisive influence upon the outcome of the war. You, my Bosnian Muslims, are the first Islamic division [and] serve as an example of the active collaboration…My enemy’s enemy is my friend." Himmler agreed, declaring “Germany [and] the Reich have been friends of Islam for the past two centuries, owing not to expediency but to friendly conviction. We have the same goals.”*
and opposition in the Vichy held North africa…
the Bosniak divisions under the Croatians defected it is to note and the ulema of the Bosnia opposed the nazis. (of course since the Bosniak muslims were for the Nazis racially like the Croats or the Turks it does not tell you anything about how the Nazi regime would treat arabe populations in the long run).
the german occuption of the Tunisian territory was already under the allied pressure and Rommel was a pragmatist. It does not tell you very much.
The lesson you can take is that the islamic arab world was peripheral to them and within the islamic world the attitude to the Nazis depended on whether your colonial ruler was Nazi aligned or allied aligned. There is no profound lesson beyond that.
Of course all this ignores the muslims of the Soviet union although other than the Tatars of the crimea I think not many came directly under the Nazi rule.
Libya was an Italian colony; the Afrika Korps nominally reported through the Italian chain of command.
The Shah was certainly very anti-British and anti-Soviet, but with very good reason:they invaded and occupied Iran in August 1941 and forced him to abdicate. He wasn’t pro-German and didn’t seek German aid in any way, perhaps you are thinking of Iraq where a coup did seek and gained some German Luftwaffe aid. The reasons for the invasion of Iran were:
There was no more an active collaboration between the Nazis and the Muslims in Europe and the Middle East than there was an active collaboration between the Nazis and the Russians, whom the Nazis considered subhuman but also had three Russian SS divisions operating in Europe.
Huh? He helped the Afrika Korps unload from ships docked at ports in Italian Libya?
The Mufti was a serious blowhard, and the actual extent of Himmler’s familiarity with and “two century old friendship” with Islam was shallow at best.
Finally, regarding the three Muslim SS divisions: only the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) was an actual division. The other two were 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg (1st Albanian):
and the 23rd Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Kama (2nd Croatian):
It is also useful to remind that the majority of the Free French forces until the metropolitan France was mostly liberated were from the African army, from the West and the North africa, and 50% of those were maghrebine, but in any case several hundred thousands of muslim soldiers in the service against the nazis. (just to look at the west, we leave aside the soviets)
I do not know of a book yet examining how the Army of Africa prisoners of war from 1940 were treated by the Nazis, but there were in 1940 serving in the front lines also tens of thousands of muslim soldiers in the Army of africa. If there is a chance to say if the Nazis treated the arab and berber in a certain way, it is in this history.
A further reminder that of the Muslims of the French empire army that the Nazis encountered, it is not only arab, but also the West africa - the Senegalese tirailleurs who were mostly muslim. if there is truly a supposed religious rapprochement, it is is expected that all these muslims, not only those more pale skin would have different treatments. I doubt this.
But there was an active collaboration between the Nazis and the Muslims. The enemy of my enemy, is my friend.
If I remember correctly, there were no Jewish SS divisions.
Sixteen days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west, Stalin invaded Poland from the east. Nazi SS divisions, Russian SS divisions, Muslim SS devisions - what’s the difference?
These weren’t infantry divisions, or naval divisions.
No that is a falsehood and a gross distortion. Saying 'the muslims" is a bald falsehood.
There was some minor collaborations from some muslims, very minor.
and there was much more active collaboration on the side of the Muslims with the Free French, who were 75% of the French army to 1944.
the distortion remains the distortion.
In the WW-II German armed forces, there were:
[ul]
[li]Two Jewish Field Marshals,[/li][li]Fifteen Jewish Generals,[/li][li]Two Jewish Full Generals,[/li][li]Eight Jewish Lieutenant Generals,[/li][li]Five Jewish Major Generals[/li][/ul]
Not to mention the Naval and Air-force senior officers.
Jews also won 20 Knights Crosses.
And these officers were not closet Jews, including Field Marshal MIlch who was personally known to Goering as a Jew.
The mind boggles as to their feelings about the Holocaust.