Last modified on June 29, 2025, at 19:24

Fritz Grobba

Fritz Konrad Ferdinand Grobba (July 18, 1886 - February 9, 1973) was a German orientalist and diplomat. Remembered for the roles he played in the mission of Nazi Germany in the Middle East in the years between the world wars and in the years of World War II. He is particularly remembered for his influence on the Rashid Ali al-Gaylani pro-Nazi rebellion and the wild anti-Semitic incitement that preceded the rebellion, which was among the causes of the Farhud riots in which some 1,000 Jews (or more) lost their lives, and for his collaboration with the Jerusalem Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini during and after the rebellion.[1][2][3]

From left, Fritz Grobba, Uthman Kamal Haddad, Amin al-Husseini. HELMUT LAUX, BERLIN

Historian:

“ As officers, Grobba and al-Husseini were brothers-in-arms in 1915, including in areas where Armenians were deported. Both men spoke Turkish. They met during the 1930s in Iraq, where the German envoy Grobba dealt with Iraqi state representatives and grew to dislike al-Husseini. In his eyes, a cleric without a state styling himself the “grand mufti” should not act as a politician. Their mutual dislike increased after the failed Baghdad coup against the British in mid-1941.

A British adviser in Iraq, Archibald McDougall defended Grobba in The Times, saying he was not a “Nazi Lawrence of Arabia” stirring up Muslims but rather a hard-nosed career diplomat. Berlin then grew suspicious of Grobba. Rumors circulated that he had invited Jews to his receptions, that he was a Freemason, and that he preferred al-Kailani to the mufti. His career faltered, as he was caught between the two Arabs frequently arguing over “who would be the real leader.”

Hitler’s choice was clear: al-Husseini. He saw in the mufti a principal actor in the Middle East, and a “realist.” Benito Mussolini followed Hitler’s lead and recognized the mufti as the most competent spokesman for the Arabs who could help the Fascist-Nazi alliance in reshaping North Africa.

It was against this political backdrop that SS chief Heinrich Himmler invited select Nazis and their guests to visit his concentration camp system. At the end of June, Grobba noted, the two Arabs each instructed two of their aides to join an SS training course that included a visit to a concentration camp. Al-Kailani wanted to go along to see if this system could be a model for Iraq, where there was a large Jewish community. Grobba agreed: The assistants were going anyway, so there was nothing wrong with it. Still, the SS asked the German Foreign Office to sign on.[4]

”

Iraq

In 1932[5] Iraq was accepted as a member of the League of Nations and gained independence. Anticipating admission to the League of Nations, Iraq issued a declaration in May 1932 that included a promise to the Council of the League of Nations that Iraq would protect the rights of its minorities; However, Iraq refused to accept the appointment of a representative to oversee the fulfillment of these promises. The liberal King Faisal died in 1933, and the Jewish community saw this as an ominous sign. Ghazi, Faisal's son, came to power, and reigned in Iraq until his death in a car accident, in 1939.

Ghazi's reign marked the beginning of a period of intolerance and Nazi propaganda in Iraq, which began with the massacre of the Assyrians in 1933. The massacre sent a message to all minorities in Iraq, including the Jews. Nazi propaganda began to spread in Iraq in 1932, when Dr. Fritz Gronba was appointed plenipotentiary at the German mission.


In 1933[6][5] Grobba purchased a Christian-owned newspaper, "The Arab World" (al-'Alam al-'Arabi - العالم العربي). He serialised an Arabic version of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, and soon, Radio Berlin began to broadcast in Arabic by Younes Bahri.[7][8][9] Grobba had "built up a network of pro-Nazi agents."[10]

Mufti, Mohammed Amin al-Husseini [محمد أمين الحسيني] and Rashid Ali al-Gaylani [رشيد عالي الگيلاني] in 1941, Iraq Arab-Nazi coup. (Younis Bahri first from the left)

In 1941, there was a brief Arab Pro-Nazi coup, by the four Iraqi nationalist army generals, known as "the Golden Square," the Mufti, Mohammed Amin al-Husseini [محمد أمين الحسيني] and Rashid Ali al-Gaylani [رشيد عالي الگيلاني] assisted by al-Muthanna / Futuwwa (modeled on Hitler-Youth) fascist groups. The coup was later repelled by the Brits.

Farhoud

The Mufti also incited to the infamous Farhud ([الفرهود] Farhoud) pogrom against Iraqi Jews on Shavuot, June 1-2, (just before the new government settled in) , carried out by Futuwwa and others including policemen. It came after months of instigation, including by the Mufti[11] and his associates Darwish al-Mikdadi and Akram Zuaiter, portions of Mein Kampf in Arabic publications and Younis Bahri's Berlin 'voice of Hitler in Arabic' radio broadcasts. It was brutal: "Hundreds of Jews were cut down by sword and rifle, some decapitated. Babies were sliced in half and thrown into the Tigris river. Girls were raped in front of their parents. Parents were mercilessly killed in front of their children."[12] Some estimate Jewish fatalities victims to be up to a 1,000.[13] With Yunis al-Sabawi planning a greater massacre, foiled.


From 'The Extent of Nazism in the Middle-East: the Farhud:[14]

... soldiers attacked Jews with knives and axes, and the violence quickly spread. Frenzied mobs raced through the city and murdered Jews openly in the streets. Women were raped; homes and stores were emptied and burned. Infants were killed right in front of their parents. Beheadings, torsos sliced open, babies dismembered, tortures, and mutilations were widespread. Limbs would be waved around as trophies.

The devastation continued. In some cases, police units rolled up to a Jewish home in machine gun mounted vehicles and would turn their weapons on the front door and start shooting. Jewish homes and shops were burned; a synagogue was invaded, its Sifrei Torahs defiled and destroyed, all in a matter very similar to Kristallnacht. Iraqis broke into a girl’s school, and Jewish girls were endlessly raped, with one girl even getting her breasts slashed off, which was typical for that day. Young or old, Jewish females were set upon and mercilessly gang raped and often mutilated.

Even the hospital proved no relief. There were doctors who declined to render medical assistance, and some soldiers even tried in the hospital to rape women. Other Jews were poisoned in the hospital. Things very similar to this also happened in Germany, where German doctors also declined to render medical assistance to Jews.


During WW2, senior officials in the Iraqi Ministry of Education, like Sami Shawkat and Fadhil al-Jamali, sustained firm ties with Fritz Grobba and "frustrated an initiative by the Iraqi security services to deport German teachers who were spreading Nazi propaganda in Baghdadi high schools. They also maintained a pro-Nazi nationalist organization."[15]

Four days before the Farhud, the infamous [Younis] Yunus Bahri, recruited by Grobba, incited via his broadcast.[16]

Back to Berlin

After the failed Iraq coup Apr-1941, Grobba returned to Germany, to his post at Wilhelmstrasse (German Foreign Ministry), and initiated three "Arab offices." The first office is that of the Mufti, who is considered the head of the "Arab Liberation Movement"; the second — Rashid Ali al-Gilani, who is called "the legal leader of the State of Iraq"; The third office deals with the recruitment of refugees from the entire Arab and Muslim East. Fawzi Kaukji is honored with the title "Head of the Arab Legion" and appointed by Hitler a colonel of the Wehrmacht.[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mallmann, K., Cüppers, M. (2010). Nazi Palestine: The Plans for the Extermination of the Jews in Palestine. United Kingdom: Enigma Books, p. 94
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Scwanitz, Germany and the middle east 1871 - 1945, pp.88
  3. ↑ Hirszowicz, Ł. (2016). The Third Reich and the Arab East. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. [1]
  4. ↑ Wolfgang G. Scwanitz, Photographic Evidence Shows Palestinian Leader Amin al-Husseini at a Nazi Concentration Camp, Tablet Magazine, Apr 7, 2021
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Gesher. World Jewish Congress. Israel Executive, 2003. iss. 147-151, pp. 64-66. [2]. Yablonka, Hannah. The Mizrahim and the Holocaust. Yediot Ahronot, 2008, p. 228. [3].

    "Nazi propaganda is gaining traction.

    In 1932, Iraq was accepted as a member of the League of Nations and gained independence. Anticipating admission to the League of Nations, Iraq issued a declaration in May 1932 that included a promise to the Council of the League of Nations that Iraq would protect the rights of its minorities; However, Iraq refused to accept the appointment of a representative to oversee the fulfillment of these promises. The liberal King Faisal died in 1933, and the Jewish community saw this as an ominous sign. Ghazi, Faisal's son, came to power, and reigned in Iraq until his death in a car accident, in 1939. Ghazi's reign marked the beginning of a period of intolerance and Nazi propaganda in Iraq, which began with the massacre of the Assyrians in 1933. The massacre sent a message to all minorities in Iraq, including the Jews.

    Nazi propaganda began to spread in Iraq in 1932, when Dr. Fritz Grobba was appointed plenipotentiary at the German mission. Grobba purchased a daily Arabic newspaper, al-Alam al-Arabi, and published excerpts from 'Mein Kampf' in it. He also managed to convince Berlin Radio to start In Arabic broadcasts, the Nazi ideology soon permeated Iraqi society, and in 1934 600 Jewish officials were dismissed from their government jobs. In 1934, the first discriminatory law was enacted, which required the Jews to deposit fifty pounds in order to receive a permit to travel abroad The high schools and the state higher education institutions were instructed to limit the number of Jews studying in them.The teaching of Hebrew and Jewish history in the Jewish schools...
  6. ↑ James. Barrie G. (2012). Hitler's Gulf War: The Fight for Iraq 1941. United Kingdom:Grub Street Publishers, [4]
  7. ↑ Iraq and its Jewish minority: from the establishment of the state to the great Jewish immigration 1921-1951. Moshe Gat]
  8. ↑ Sabar, A. (2009). My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Family's Past. United States: Algonquin Books. p. 63
  9. ↑ Benjamin, M. (2008). Last Days in Babylon: The Exile of Iraq's Jews, the Story of My Family. United States: Free Press. p. 93
  10. ↑ Understanding the Jews of the Middle East and North Africa is the key to understanding the whole Middle East conflict’: an interview with Lyn Julius. Fathom, Oct 2018
  11. ↑ Lyn Julius, The Nazi-Arab alliance: A neglected aspect of Holocaust education, JPost, May 23, 2024
    The mufti also helped stage a pro-Nazi coup in Iraq in 1941 and incited the anti-Jewish massacre known as the Farhud, making no secret of his wish to exterminate the Jews in his sphere of influence in the event of a Nazi victory. As Hitler’s guest in Berlin, the mufti of Jerusalem raised SS units of Muslim troops and broadcast poisonous anti-Jewish propaganda. “Kill the Jews wherever you find them! This pleases God, religion, and history”, he exhorted from the Berlin shortwave radio station.
  12. ↑ Black, Edwin. The Farhud: Roots of the Arab-Nazi Alliance in the Holocaust. United States: Dialog Press, 2018. [5].
    The Nazi fueled pogrom in Iraq that led to the Jews leaving the country, JewishUnpacked May 23, 2022.
    Hundreds of Jews were cut down by sword and rifle, some decapitated. Babies were sliced in half and thrown into the Tigris river. Girls were raped in front of their parents. Parents were mercilessly killed in front of their children. Hundreds of Jewish homes and businesses were looted, then burned.
  13. ↑ Carole Basri, First came the Farhud: The 2-stage ethnic cleansing of Iraqi Jewry, TOI, June 2, 2021.
  14. ↑ 'The Extent of Nazism in the Middle-East: the Farhud.' The Farhud was a Nazi Inspired Violent Pogrom that took place in Iraq on Shavuot in 1941. By Joseph A. Levy. Jewish Magazine, May 2013.
  15. ↑ Yehuda, Zvi. The New Babylonian Diaspora: The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Community in Iraq, 16th-20th Centuries C.E.. Netherlands: Brill, 2017, p. 253.
    Nuri al-Sa'id, according to Grobba, agreed on the eve of the war to send a delegation from the al-Futuwwa youth organization to Germany in order to participate in a conference of the German Nazi Party. Senior officials in the Iraqi Ministry of Education, such as Sami Shawkat and Fadhil al-Jamali, sustained firm ties with Grobba and frustrated an initiative by the Iraqi security services to deport German teachers who were spreading Nazi propaganda in Baghdadi high schools. They also maintained a pro-Nazi nationalist organization.
  16. ↑ Edy Cohen, "The Farhoud Remembered," BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 484, June 2, 2017.

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Seventy-six years after the mass massacre of the Baghdad Jews, in which the then-leader of the Palestinian Arabs, Hajj Amin Husseini, was deeply involved, his heirs to the Palestinian leadership still sustain an anti-Israel and anti-Jewish campaign of racial and political incitement unparalleled in scope and intensity since Nazi Germany... In an attempt to win Arab and Muslim hearts and minds, the first Arab-language Nazi radio station was launched in Berlin prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, broadcasting anti-British, anti-American, anti-Soviet, and particularly anti-Semitic propaganda. It thus helped spread radical anti-Semitism in the Middle East, where it found common ground with the anti-Jewish tendencies in Islam. The messages in the propaganda broadcasts were designed to achieve certain goals, such as winning the Arab population’s sympathy for the Nazis and the Führer; inciting against the British and French presence in the Middle East; stoking Arab national sentiments; and, last but not least, wildly inciting against the Jews, who were accused inter alia of stealing the Arabs’ money and being behind all the Arab world’s woes. This propaganda mill employed many teams of both civilian and military personnel, including writers, translators, academics, and Middle East experts. Among others, the broadcasts featured Arab immigrants and leaders. The mythic broadcaster and director of the Arabic station was the journalist Yunus Bahri, who reached Berlin after fleeing his native Iraq, where he had been sentenced to death for pro-Nazi activity. He was recruited by Grobba and opened his broadcasts with his famous line, “The Arab Lord Haw-Haw, this is Berlin, greetings to the Arabs.” Known for his virulent anti-Semitism, Bahri stated proudly in a memoir he wrote after the war, "I was the first Arab to collaborate with the Nazis." His hatred towards Jews was so intense that he was summoned for a reprimand in Propaganda Minister Goebbels’s office because of his excessively vitriolic attacks on Jews and especially his constant use of the term “Jewish [sic] criminals.”

    Four days before the Farhoud, Bahri stated on Radio Berlin...
    [6]
  17. ↑ VI. - La revanche de l'Afrika Korps. Par Edouard Sablier. Publié le 01 septembre 1953.

    Cairo, ... August. - On October 23, 1942, 70 kilometers from Alexandria, the Battle of El-Alamein began, which would seal the fate of the Afrika Korps (1).

    Rommel's advance in the Western Desert had been so lightning-fast that his officers had thought they could have their mail sent to Alexandria. It was ten years too soon: today, Rommel's officers in Afrika Korps uniform are installed at the Cairo G.Q.G.

    The Germans in Egypt are sought after by journalists around the world like curious beasts. This comes from the strict taboo surrounding the slightest piece of information concerning them.

    I wanted to get to the bottom of it. Taking advantage of a tête-à-tête with General Neguib, I asked him: "The Germans are excellent technicians. No one disputes their right to work in Egypt or yours to employ them there. Why does Egypt seem afraid to reveal their existence in its various services?"

    The general's response was instantaneous. Staring at me furiously, he exclaimed in an angry tone: "Egypt is not afraid of anyone. And I am not in the habit of lying. If I said that there were few German technicians in our service, it is because there are few. Too bad for those who try to exaggerate this issue!"

    The day before this memorable interview, in front of the entire foreign colony in Cairo and the entire Revolutionary Council, the president of the German community in Egypt had lyrically stated, into the microphone and in French: "Our officers train the Egyptian army!"

    נקמתו של "אפריקה קורפס". על המשמר⁩, 25 ספטמבר 1953⁩. 'The Revenge of the Afrika Korps' "Le Monde", Paris. by Eduard Sablier. Al HaAmishnar, September 25, 1953. ⁨⁨[...]

    One day before that meeting with Naguib, the president of the German community in Egypt made a lyrical statement In this language: "Our officers are training the Egyptian army"! He said this in the ears of the entire foreign colony in Cairo and in the presence of the plenary of the "Revolutionary (Command) Council", and his words were broadcast on the radio.

    That is why we allowed ourselves to question and demand the Egyptian Chief of Staff on this point. By the way, the Chief of Staff himself stated at a press conference that German experts were chosen "according to the fact that they are the only ones Egypt can trust."

    Not many, but effective. ‭

    Naguib seems to be right: the number of military technicians actually employed by the armed forces is not large. About forty in all, officers and sergeants. But they encompass all the professions of modern warfare: who was an Adjutant of [Heinz] Guderian serves as a consultant to the Armored Brigade; another specialist for the commando company; two parachute technicians; Six naval combat experts, and more.

    On top of that, 15 tech pilots and aeronautics experts succeeded the British team at the de-Havilland aircraft assembly plant. Six German technicians run the army's "Research and Development Center". Specialists in plastic materials and ammunition work in the weapons factories in Helwan. And three former leaders of the Hitlerjugend came not long ago to guide the youth organizations. All these experts who were recruited in Germany or in Egypt themselves, receive a rather modest salary of around one hundred pounds per month. Approximately, as well as living in Heliopolis. Most of them severed ties with the embassy of the Bonn government, which turned their attention to the damage they could cause to West German relations with the Anglo-Saxon powers. Nevertheless, it seems that for many days excellent relations have prevailed between these German experts and the American authorities...

    As a matter of fact, none of them serve in an executive capacity, they are used only in the capacity of advisors...

    "Mein Kampf - Und Meine Liebe"

    In any case, the German influence on the existing regime in Egypt is not in doubt. Recently, for example, Naguib's Minister of Health, Nur-ad-Din.. stated in a conversation with a journalist that the "love of his life" was... Hitler, "He was an ideal leader, who sacrificed his life for the fulfillment of his noble aspirations.. He didn't live for himself, but for Germany and the German people... I always longed to be in his presence"...

    In all their press parties, Nagiv and his cheerleaders forget to mention the help that Egypt extended to the war effort of the Allies during the last battles. However, let us read what he wrote in "Al-Ahram" (on July 21) the commander of the Air Force, Hassan Ibrahim, a member of the "Council of the Revolution:"

    "In 1942, the Germans camped in El Alamein. We decided to send an officer to them to offer them our help in the form of information about the British Army... I was then the commander of the Civil defense in Cairo, and this allowed me to make my private plane available to his representatives. We decided that our communications with the Germans would be maintained through secret transmissions to be broadcast by a wireless officer, Anwar Sadat"...

    Anwar Sadat is now one of the main members in the "Dozen" committee. He tried at the time to reach the German lines in a military plane. At the same time, General Aziz al-Masri, who also tried to escape to the Germans, was arrested. Today, General Aziz al-Masri is the Egyptian ambassador in Moscow.

    Surely, all these Egyptians justified their behavior. Aspiring to fight against the British occupation army.

    During the war, several Arab and Muslim personalities found refuge in Berlin, where they maintained close contact with the German authorities. These immigrants have already returned to their countries and are occupying key positions. Their German hosts are now reaping the fruits of friendship from the war days and playing important roles in the Middle East.

    None of this "re-occupation" will be understood sufficiently if we do not trace its origins.

    The seed that Dr. Grobba sowed l.

    In 1939, Germany's key figure in the Middle East was Dr. Groba, envoy to Baghdad, Riyadh, Bachbol and Bashar Bimat. A Prussian of the old school, quite lukewarm in his attitude towards the Hitlerite regime.., well versed in all the languages ​​and dialects of the countries of the region where he was sent to serve as an envoy. At the outbreak of the war, Dr. Groba returned to his country.

    In Bagdad, he left behind the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al-Husseini, who worked to establish a strong anti-British organization in Iraq. In 1941, the coup of Rashid Ali al-Gilani took place, which dealt a decisive blow to the British military force and dealt a serious blow to the cause of the allies. Grobba returns to Baghdad - via Vichy's Syria. For a month he prevailed over the propaganda of the "Axis" powers in the capital of Iraq. From there he moves to Iran - and during the invasion of that country by the British forces, Grobba fled, along with a large number of Germans, Italians, Gilani and Mufti people - to Turkey. From there they all return to Germany.

    A powerful propaganda center is being organized in Berlin. Dr. Fritz Grobba, since he returned to his post at Wilhelmstrasse (German Foreign Ministry), initiates three "Arab offices." The first office is that of the Mufti, who is considered the head of the "Arab Liberation Movement"; the second — Rashid Ali al-Gilani, who is called "the legal leader of the State of Iraq"; The third office deals with the recruitment of refugees from the entire Arab and Muslim East. Fawzi Kaukji is honored with the title "Head of the Arab Legion" and appointed by Hitler a colonel of the Wehrmacht.

    After the plot against Hitler, Dr. Fritz Grobba disappeared from the scene and was not heard of again until the end of the war. But his group, which remained after the defeat in the western part of Germany, is now operating in the Middle East again. Dr. Munzel who was the head of the department for Eastern countries in Wilhelmstrasse, is now a consultant in Baghdad, Von Hentig, who was a delegate to the Mufti and Rashid Ali, now represents the Republic of Bonn in Indonesia. Dr. Haufmann, former consul in Haifa and Tangier and who ensured the maintenance of contact with the mufti, serves as a consultant in Beirut. Dr. Groba's assistant in Baghdad and Berlin, Dr. Stefan, is currently the secretary of the West German Embassy in Egypt. Von Harden, The one who was Alfred Rosenberg's chief of staff, works in Cairo near the military council of the Arab League.

    The Mufti, Rashid Ali and Co.

    The former Mufti is in Cairo and defeating an active group of Nazis, among them a Frenchman who was at the time with Waffen SS, Rashid Ali became the political advisor of King Ibn Saud. Kaukji is a general inspector of the Lebanese army.

    The whole old group of the Arab broadcast at Radio Berlin returned to the "proper" track.

    The most famous of its members, Younes Behari, edits the newspaper "Al-Arab" in Paris, he also serves as a "press advisor" to the King of Libya; Bahram Shahrouch was the minister of intelligence in the government of Iran, Zafar Difai is the foreign minister of Syria.

    Dr. Muhammar Salman, who ran Rashid Ali's Arab office, is currently Iraq's Minister of Health. He brought forty German doctors and chemists to Baghdad.

    His former assistant Ali Safi is the director general of the Iraqi post office.

    And these are the rest of the gang:

    In Lebanon - Afif Tibi, the editor of the "Al-Youm" newspaper and the government spokesman in Syria - Maarouf [al-] Dawalibi, who was the prime minister; In Libya - the head of the court bureau - and acting foreign minister; In Egypt - Major General Mahmoud Salman, a military adviser to the Arab League in charge of the blockade against Israel; In Iran - the princes of the Kashgai family, who were among Dr. Mossadeq's influential followers...

    United as at the front.

    They kept the connections between themselves. In each of the above-mentioned countries, a "club of former refugees in Germany" was founded, everywhere they encourage and cultivate trade and friendship with the country that received them during the war. This fact, as well as the undoubted benefit: that in having trade relations with Germany - They made it so that Egypt prefers dealings with German firms, just as in Yemen the Salifi mines were handed over to German concessions. Even in Iraq, contracts were signed according to which the Germans were guaranteed the exploitation of the oil sources, "in the event that the existing concessions expire before the deadline"...

    Yes, only a few dozen German experts from Rommel's camp work in the Cairo offices, but if we add to the calculation all the above facts we can say: Indeed, "Africa Korps" is taking its revenge...