Germany's relations with Islam in the past century
Dr. Laina Farhat Holzman has a history article on Family Security Matters about the relations between Germany and Islam prior to and during the 20th century, including:
Even before 1871, German scholars were fascinated by the Muslim world, particularly the Turkic Muslim world of Central Asia and Persia. In Sino-Iranica (1919), Berthold Laufer devoted an entire book to the agricultural gifts exchanged by the Persian and Chinese emperors across the Silk Road (300-600 AD). To do this, Laufer had to read and understand both Persian and Court Chinese—and many of the dialects between. Dazzling German scholarship.Yes, and what's sad is that even now, Germany may still be running relations with the Muslim world - specifically, but not limited to - Iran. But is anyone telling them to seriously cut it out? Not really.
During World War I, the Germans were allies with the Turkish Ottoman Empire—both losers of that war. But the fascination with Turkic Central Asians continued, and one scholar, a devoted Nazi during World War II, recruited Tatar, Uzbek, and Kyrgiz Muslim subjects of the Soviet empire and used them to fight the USSR. They were a fierce and effective fighting force, especially when using German armaments.
Nazi propaganda emphasized Communist irreligion, bolstered the age-old anti-Semitism of Muslims, and attacking Russian, British, and French colonialism. In North Africa, Nazi propaganda promised Muslims freedom from colonialism after the war and the death of all Jews living among them. This was a powerful argument for Muslims supporting Germany.
During that same period, Palestinian Arabs, formerly Turkish subjects and then under British mandate, were chafing at the resurgence of Jewish life there. The Grand Mufti, the chief cleric of the Palestinians, was not only rabidly anti-Jewish, but was also a devout Nazi—even honored with a personal meeting with Hitler (and a flood of German money).
After World War II, Arabs hid Nazi war criminals and absorbed so much fascist doctrine that it is no surprise that the movement of resurgent fundamentalist Islam should be married to fascism—this giving truth to calling Militant Islam “Islamo-Fascism.” This murderous movement threatens not only the West, but also Muslim states in various stages of modernization.
