‘The Nazis Wanted Oil, and the Arabs had it’ - A complex path and history.....

[Peter Lemkin]

The Nazis Wanted Oil, and the Arabs had it': Questions for Edwin Black
By Robert Wiener / New Jersey Jewish NewsMarch 28th

March 27, 2013

The hidden history of the Shoa and its connections to American and Middle East affairs have preoccupied writer Edwin Black since the 1970s, when he wrote the first of 10 books of investigative journalism, including IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation.

Born and raised in Chicago as the son of Polish Holocaust survivors, Black will be speaking at two venues in the Greater Metro*West area next week. On Thursday, April 4, at 7 p.m. he will discuss "Detroit's Connection to the Holocaust: Ford, GM, and Hitler" at the Aidekman campus in Whippany, in a program sponsored by the Holocaust Council of Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ.

A day later he will deliver the annual Joseph Gotthelf Holocaust Memorial Lecture at Temple Beth Am in Parsippany, as part of the synagogue's Yom Hashoa commemoration. His topic will be the persecution of Iraqi Jews as detailed in his most recent book, The Farhud Roots of the Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust (Dialog Press).

Black spoke with NJ Jewish News by phone March 20 from his office in Washington, DC.

NJJN: What is Detroit's connection to the Holocaust?

Edwin Black: There is no other American city that has a special connection to the Third Reich other than Detroit. It had a special place in Hitler's heart because of two leading Holocaust collaborators: Henry Ford and Alfred Sloan, the president of General Motors.

NJJN: How and why did they collaborate?

Black: You might ask yourself where Hitler developed his notion of an international Jewish conspiracy. He got that from Henry Ford, who mass produced The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Hitler idolized Ford as his hero. In his first edition of Mein Kampf, he wrote, "There is no one who can stand up to the international Jews other than Henry Ford." Were it not for that, Hitler would not have found it necessary in every country he conquered to destroy the Jews…. The Protocols reinvented anti-Semitism, which prior to that was merely in-group-out-group hatred.

NJJN: How does that connect to Ford Motors?

Black: Ford's anti-Semitic publications, The Protocols, The International Jew, and The Dearborn Independent, were distributed by Ford Motor Company dealerships. When challenged, he said, "They are as much a product of this company as our trucks and cars."

NJJN: What was the role of General Motors and Alfred Sloan?

Black: Where would Hitler's forces be on horseback? General Motors made the blitz truck for the blitzkrieg. He made the JU-88 bombers that bombed Poland into submission, the Panzer tanks, the landmines that stopped the Allies from coming in, and the torpedo heads that sunk allied vessels. General Motors was a vastly larger manufacturer in Germany than was Ford.

NJJN: Was there not an embargo against American firms manufacturing goods for the Nazis?

Black: Of course there was, but IBM proved it could be gotten around by using international subsidiaries, which Ford and GM did. IBM organized the entire Holocaust the identification of the Jews, the confiscation of their assets, their deportation, and their extermination.

NJJN: What was the Nazi-Arab alliance during the Holocaust?

Black: The Nazis wanted oil and the Arabs had it. They promised to give it to the Nazis if the Nazis would help exterminate the Jews. The Arabs wanted the British and the Jews out of Palestine, and they wanted Hitler to be their savior. They formed a robust alliance spearheaded by the grand mufti of Jerusalem, which materialized in the most heinous forms of massacres. The collaboration began from the first moment of the Hitler regime in 1933 and continued from India to Yugoslavia to Palestine to Damascus even after the Third Reich fell. About 2,000 SS and concentration camp guards escaped to Arab countries to continue their war against the Jews.

NJJN: What was the Farhud?

Black: It was the Arab-Nazi attempt to exterminate Iraqi Jews in 1941. They murdered hundreds. They looted. They burned. It ended 2,600 years of peaceful existence of the Jews in Iraq, 1,000 years before Mohammed.

NJJN: How does all of this affect the Middle East in 2013?

Black: The Holocaust was not solely a European crime. The Palestinian Arab population was in collaboration with the Nazis in Palestine, in the Middle East, and worldwide.

NJJN: Would you say that because of this history, there is no possibility of peace between Israel and the Palestinians?

Black: That is the point. The inescapable conclusion is there is no possibility of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but there is a possibility of peaceful coexistence, with people living side-by-side in non-belligerence. That is the goal. If we can achieve that, we will have conquered 1,400 years of history.

http://www.njjewishnews.com/article/1687...abs-had-it

[Jan Klimkowski]

The American element is history.

The part below is propaganda and garbage:

NJJN: How does all of this affect the Middle East in 2013?

Black: The Holocaust was not solely a European crime. The Palestinian Arab population was in collaboration with the Nazis in Palestine, in the Middle East, and worldwide.

NJJN: Would you say that because of this history, there is no possibility of peace between Israel and the Palestinians?

Black: That is the point. The inescapable conclusion is there is no possibility of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but there is a possibility of peaceful coexistence, with people living side-by-side in non-belligerence. That is the goal. If we can achieve that, we will have conquered 1,400 years of history.

[Peter Lemkin]

The American element is history.

The part below is propaganda and garbage:

NJJN: How does all of this affect the Middle East in 2013?

Black: The Holocaust was not solely a European crime. The Palestinian Arab population was in collaboration with the Nazis in Palestine, in the Middle East, and worldwide.

NJJN: Would you say that because of this history, there is no possibility of peace between Israel and the Palestinians?

Black: That is the point. The inescapable conclusion is there is no possibility of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but there is a possibility of peaceful coexistence, with people living side-by-side in non-belligerence. That is the goal. If we can achieve that, we will have conquered 1,400 years of history.

Yes, I agree completely with you Jan...I didn't put up the article because I entirely agreed with it. It brings up an interesting subject [the Nazi - Arab alliances during WWII and the consequences]. Many of the Nazis, including Skorzeny worked in Egypt after the War, many were German rocket and munitions experts - and there were other after effects. I just wanted to start the conversation of all aspects. I personally think the right-wing Israelis make hay out of this now, when the Arabs were often forced to be Nazi-friendly, or did so for business reasons alone. Others, like the Grand Muftee were true Naziphiles. It is very complex. Throughout most of history and in most places the Jews and Arabs were living together in Peace and without problems. It was the Christian invaders and colonialists more often making problems.

The Nazis also very much had their eyes on the oil in Baku, which the Russians controlled, and Romania; so 'Arabs' were not the only oil-rich entities the Nazis coveted.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Yes, I agree completely with you Jan...I didn't put up the article because I entirely agreed with it. It brings up an interesting subject [the Nazi - Arab alliances during WWII and the consequences]. Many of the Nazis worked in Egypt after the War and there were other after effects. I just wanted to start the conversation of all aspects. I personally think the right-wing Israelis make hay out of this now, when the Arabs were often forced to be Nazi-friendly, or did so for business reasons alone. Others, like the Grand Muftee were true Naziphiles. It is very complex. Throughout most of history and in most places the Jews and Arabs were living together in Peace and without problems. It was the Christian invaders and colonialists more often making problems.

Agreed.

The likes of Ford and Sloan were psychopaths with complicity for the Holocaust.

Ordinary Palestinians were not complicit in the Holocaust.

[Dawn Meredith]

The American element is history.

The part below is propaganda and garbage:

NJJN: How does all of this affect the Middle East in 2013?

Black: The Holocaust was not solely a European crime. The Palestinian Arab population was in collaboration with the Nazis in Palestine, in the Middle East, and worldwide.

NJJN: Would you say that because of this history, there is no possibility of peace between Israel and the Palestinians?

Black: That is the point. The inescapable conclusion is there is no possibility of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but there is a possibility of peaceful coexistence, with people living side-by-side in non-belligerence. That is the goal. If we can achieve that, we will have conquered 1,400 years of history.

Sadly. Jan you're so smart!!
Thanks for this piece Peter, short and sweet and says a lot, in between the garbage and porpaganda.
Dawn

[Magda Hassan]

Another reason the Arabs were willing to support Hitler was because they still remember being shafted by perfidious Albion last time round with Lawrence of Arabia. They were promised all manner of things if they would fight with the British and French against the Turks which mostly never eventuated as promised. Then there was Balfour making deals behind their backs. It was the Turkish ruling class also collaborating with the wealthy Zionists like the Rothschilds selling them the land in Palestine to house the imported poor and displaced Jews of Europe who were reviled by many others in Europe not just the Nazis. Otherwise they could have had Barvaria not Palestine.

[Magda Hassan]

[Peter Lemkin]

A yes, Lawrence of Arabia....hats off to him for having learned to speak Arabic fluently. Damn him for all else. Few then and fewer today know he was a spy and covert operative, not an arabicist and on the side of the Arabs, generally. He was working for the Empire against the Turks and for the OIL and power or Empire. Hollywood, of course, made a lovely film, totally mis-portraying his real intentions and who he was working for.

I posted the original article and the thread to show how much more complex are the current and historical issues vis-a-vis the problems in the Middle East. For the best visual summary of how Britain behaved during their occupation of Palestine and Trans-Jordan, I'd strongly suggest the TV series called 'The Promise' - IMO historically accurate, heartrending and brings it right up to the current day in a very clever manner.

Yes, the Jews were less than welcome in many places other than Germany [my grandparents all fled the pogroms of the Russians at the turn end of the 19th C. to the USA - having watched their family and friends killed, raped, tortured by Cossacks and other soldiers only because they were Jews]. The Nazis carried it to the extreme, I'm sure most agree...but their original idea was to ship the Jews to Madagascar....then changed it to Palestine and then to the 'Work and Death Camps'. Many countries that came under Axis influence or domination [not all!] were more than happy to go along with the SS plans to ship the Jews [and others considered undesirable, such as the Roma - and others] wherever - as long as it was 'out'.

[Peter Lemkin]

Everyone wanted the Oil, which disproportionately fell [by no means entirely] under Arab lands and what is now Iran - former Persia [who are not Arabs, though Muslim]. It is interesting to note that in most all of the Muslim countries, some Jews lived without problem for many centuries. Hebrew and Arabic are very close linguistically and many of the customs [for example, Kosher and Halal] are quite similar. Of the Abrahamic religions, the Jews and the Muslims shared more.

There was a time when the British and their Empire wanted the oil of the Middle East; now it is the Americans [often using their permanently docked 'aircraft carrier' called Israel to be their proxy in seeing that the oil lands stay available to the American Empire]. Oh, the ironies of history.

[Magda Hassan]

Everyone wanted the Oil, which disproportionately fell [by no means entirely] under Arab lands and what is now Iran - former Persia [who are not Arabs, though Muslim]. It is interesting to note that in most all of the Muslim countries, some Jews lived without problem for many centuries. Hebrew and Arabic are very close linguistically and many of the customs [for example, Kosher and Halal] are quite similar. Of the Abrahamic religions, the Jews and the Muslims shared more.

There was a time when the British and their Empire wanted the oil of the Middle East; now it is the Americans [often using their permanently docked 'aircraft carrier' called Israel to be their proxy in seeing that the oil lands stay available to the American Empire]. Oh, the ironies of history.

Slightly off topic but this just came into my inbox today and it nicely encapsulates the above history of Jews in Egypt where they had lived well for centuries until recent political times changed all that. http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/9120

National security no reason to ban Jews of Egypt' documentary

By Linda S. Heard
Posted on March 27, 2013 by Linda S. Heard
Cinema-goers in Egypt may or may not get the chance to see the award-winning documentary "Jews of Egypt," which was easily passed by the government censor and was scheduled to make its countrywide debut on March 13 until it was suspended for reasons of "national security," apparently on the grounds that it could be inflammatory. Now, the film's director Egyptian-born Amir Ramses says it will be screened in Cairo cinemas on March 27 [today]but in this nation going through a period of confusion, there's many a slip between cup and lip.
The film's producer Haytham el-Khamissy has condemned state security for terrorizing thought and repressing creativity. The accusation is valid when even the censorship committee's director Abdel-Satar Fathi supports its showing and apparently called national security to protest the ban when he was told "the film's title might cause public uproar." If that's correct, then it's a sad indictment on the Egyptian people implying they are bigoted against Judaism when Jews are considered by Islam to be "Peoples of the Book."
I would argue, however, that's far from the case. Egyptians are savvy enough to distinguish between Judaism and Zionism. While it's true to say that few Egyptians have warm feelings toward Israel despite a long-standing peace treaty, I've yet to hear any educated Egyptian display open hatred for Jews. Indeed, I've spoken with many of the older generation, some fervent supporters of the Palestinian cause, who've expressed fond memories of their former Egyptian-Jewish friends, neighbors and colleagues. Even if there is a lesser informed segment of society that does mistakenly conflate Judaism with Zionism (large numbers of Zionists are evangelical Christiansand many activists for Palestine are Jews), the state shouldn't massage that view, which is one of the reasons the public should be given access to this film. In my opinion, ignorance is one of the greatest evils of all.
Admittedly I haven't had the opportunity to watch the documentary which I'm looking forward to enjoying today, national security permitting, but according to the film's website, it's "a documentary that captures fragments of the lives of the Egyptian Jewish community in the first half of the 20th century until their second grand exodus after the tripartite attack of 1956 (the Suez blunder) . . ."
Try as they might, the Egyptian authorities cannot expunge the history of Jews in Egypt and shouldn't attempt to rewrite Egypt's own past on which Egyptian Jews left an indelible mark. Formerly up market storesHannaux, Cicurel, Chamla, Benizon, Omar Effendistill retain the names of their Jewish founders. Grand old buildings in the affluent areas of Cairo and Alexandria are inscribed with the names of their Jewish architects. Joseph Smouha constructed an entire Alexandrian neighborhoodtoday known as Smouhaon inhospitable marshlands but undoubtedly only a few of Smouha's contemporary residents are aware of that fact. The Menasce banking family donated a palace to the state that was used as Alexandria's library.
Jews have been in Egypt since ancient times and during the era covered by the film they numbered around 80,000. They were entirely integrated into the broad Egyptian society and in many cases were Egyptian patriots who helped oust the British occupier and its puppet king. For instance, Rene Qattawi, the leader of Cairo's Sephardi community, was an opponent of Zionism who promulgated the slogan "Egypt is our homeland, Arabic our language." Likewise, Henri Curiel, the founder of the Egyptian Movement for National Liberation, actively participated in Nasser's 1952 and went on to support Algerians in their struggle for independence. Joseph Aslan Cattaui, known for developing Egypt's sugar industry, was a member of a delegation that traveled to London to demand the country's autonomy.
Another prime reason why "Jew of Egypt" should be screened is to counter the Zionist narrative that Egyptian Jews suffered persecution and were treated as second-class citizens. You only have to read "The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: a Jewish family's exodus from old Cairo to the New World" by Lucette Lagnado or "Out of Egypt" by Andre Aciman to realize the falsehood of that. Both books, on sale in Egypt's better bookstores, are poignant memoirs.
Lagnado's father described as an elegant boulevardier who conducted business on the terrace of Shepheards Hotel' never got over leaving the country he thought of as his beloved homeland and visibly wilted in the US where he complained the roses have no smell. And it's evident from Aciman's accounts that his eclectic wealthy family enjoyed an enviable lifestyle in once cosmopolitan Alexandria.
Joseph Beinin the author of "The dispersal of Egyptian Jewry" exposes the confusion felt by an Egyptian Jewish immigrant to Israel who, on arrival in 1956 confided to the Jerusalem Post that "Egypt is our country; we have no other . . ."
A glance at the guestbook on the Historical Society of Jews from Egypt website tells the real story better than any other. It's crammed with nostalgic posts. "It was a real cosmopolitan society which has no comparison with the so-called multi-culturalism of Australia, writes one poster, adding, "We carry this heritage wherever we go."
In the same guestbook, a Christian of Arab descent born in Canada highlights his mother's memories of living in Cairo in the 1940s and 50s. "My mother said there was no such thing as religious or ethnic profiling. Jews, Christians and Muslims all intermingled together and life was peaceful and enjoyable. Everyone lived in harmony together and helped each other in times of need. They all shared in one another's religious holidays and feasts . . . The way my mother described life back then seemed so vivid that I could picture myself living in such a wonderful period."
The Jewish exit from Egypt that was, indeed, traumatic for most, has been linked to the 1954 Lavon Affair a false flag operation in which a tiny minority of Egyptian Jews participated in attempts to blow up Western targets to discredit Gamal Abdel Nasser in the eyes of the West. From then on, all Egyptian Jews, most of which never gave a thought to Zionism and had no ambition to live in Israel, were under suspicion. Political realities triggered their exodus, not religious bigotry as Zionists like to portray. Hopefully, Amir Ramses' film will go a long way in setting the record straight.