David Cesarani
‘Berlin In Arabic’
Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World
By Jeffrey Herf
Yale University Press 321pp £20
When Hitler sent Rommel to north Africa in January 1941, Nazi interest in the Arab world burgeoned. From then until the end of the war the Third Reich invested heavily in trying to win over Muslim opinion. Jeffrey Herf believes that this propaganda offensive touched key sectors of Arab society, with profound consequences.
It would have been hard to predict this. Following the passage of the Nuremberg Laws, German diplomats had to field protests by Turks and Egyptians. Were they to be stigmatised by official anti-Semitism? It took prolonged ideological contortions before German officials found a way to define Arabs as being of ‘racially kindred blood’. Then there was Mein Kampf, in which Hitler placed the Arabs well down the racial hierarchy. The book was never translated into Arabic in full, although a shortened version appeared in which ‘semites’ became exclusively Jews.
Once these hurdles had been surmounted, pro-German propaganda for the Arab world was conducted by a small but competent group of orientalists. These men had served with the Turks in the Great War, held diplomatic posts in the Middle East, or studied Islamic civilisation. As Herf shows in
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
London's East End was long synonymous with poverty and sweatshops, while its West End was associated with glamour and high society. But when it came to the fashion industry, were the differences really so profound?
Sharman Kadish - Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers
Sharman Kadish: Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers - Fashion City: How Jewish Londoners Shaped Global Style; Fashion City: ...
literaryreview.co.uk
In 1982, Donald Rumsfeld presented Saddam Hussein with a pair of golden spurs. Two decades later he was dropping bunker-busting bombs on his palaces.
Where did the US-Iraqi relationship go wrong?
Rory Mccarthy - The Case of the Vanishing Missiles
Rory Mccarthy: The Case of the Vanishing Missiles - The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the United States and the ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Barbara Comyns was a dog breeder, a house painter, a piano restorer, a landlady... And a novelist.
@nclarke14 on the lengths 20th-century women writers had to go to make ends meet:
Norma Clarke - Her Family & Other Animals
Norma Clarke: Her Family & Other Animals - Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence by Avril Horner
literaryreview.co.uk