New dispute about Holocaust

The Israeli Prime Minister was accused of rewriting history

On October 20, the Prime Minister of Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at the 37th World Zionist Congress, said that Adolf Hitler came to the idea of ​​destroying Jews under the influence of the mufti Jerusalem, the leader of the Palestinian Arab nationalists Amin al-Hoisei. The words of the head of the Israeli government caused indignation around the world, and the representative of Angela Merkel even made a statement about Germany’s complete and unconditional liability for the Holocaust. "Medusa" tells everything you need to know about this story.

What did Netanyahu say?

“Hitler at that time did not want to destroy the Jews, only deport them. Amin al-Husseini came to him and said: “If you send them, they will come here (to Palestine),” said Israeli Prime Minister. According to him, the Fuhrer asked the mufti Jerusalem a question, what to do, and he replied: "Burn them." The meeting, which Netanyahu spoke about, took place in November 1941. In fact, the Israeli prime minister called Amina al-Husyni the ideologist of the Holocaust. Moreover, Netanyahu made similar statements earlier-back in 2012 in his speech in the Knesset, he spoke about the key role of al-Huseyni in the Holocaust and called him one of the main “architects” of the Nazi “final solution to the Jewish question”-that is, the destruction of the Jewish population.

Who is Amin al-Husyni?

Amin al-Husseini was the main mufti of Jerusalem from 1921 to 1937-almost all the time of the British mandate in Palestine. In the late 1930s, al-Husseini, always distinguished by radical nationalist, anti-British and anti-Jewish views, was forced to flee from Jerusalem under the threat of arrest. At the beginning of Hitler’s reign, Al-Husyni expressed his support for the Nazi regime, subsequently the connection with Germany allowed him to be in the European countries occupied by the Nazis, visit (according to unconfirmed information) several concentration camps and meet Hitler on November 28, 1941. There is evidence of his meetings with many other Nazi leaders, including Henry Himmler.

After the war, Al-Husyini asked for refuge in Switzerland, but he was refused. Then he was detained by the French military and placed under house arrest. Great Britain and several other countries insisted on the extradition of al-Husyni as a military criminal and accomplice of the Nazis, France considered his persecution politically motivated and did not give out mufti. Subsequently, al-Hushesi escaped from Paris to Egypt, where he received a shelter. In 1974, he died in Lebanon.

How was it really?

Adolf Hitler spoke of the “final solution to the Jewish issue” back in 1919, so it was quite strange to argue that it was al-Husyni that prompted him to destroy the Jews. Hitler and Al-Huseyni really met on November 28, 1941 and discussed the destruction of the "Jewish-Communist Empire in Europe." Al-Khuseyni called Arabs friends of Germany due to the fact that they have the same enemies: Great Britain, Jews and Communists. The meeting is well documented , but it does not follow from it that al-Huseyni advised Hitler to destroy the Jews. Judging by the preserved documents, nothing similar to the Netanyahu retold by Netanyahu during the meeting of the mufti and the leader of Nazi Germany did not occur, there was no evidence that al-Huseyni and Hitler uttered such words.

Moreover, by November 1941, the persecution of Jews from Nazi Germany had long been limited to deportation and other restrictions on rights. Two months before the meeting of Hitler and Al-Huseyni, executions began in Babi Yar in Kyiv, where more than 50 thousand Jews were killed in two weeks.

Reaction

After his speech, Netanyahu hastened to explain that in no case did he want to take responsibility for the Holocaust from Hitler, but only was going to emphasize the role of the mufti of Jerusalem in the destruction of the Jews. But it was too late. Netanyahu’s statement was replicated by all world media, it was ambiguously perceived both abroad and in Israel. The most straightforwardly spoke in the apparatus of German Chancellor Angels Merkel. Her spokeswoman Steffen Zaybert said : “All Germans know the bloody history of the Nazis racial obsession, which led to a turning point for civilization-the Holocaust. This is taught in German schools for a reason, it should not be forgotten. And I see no reason to review our view of history. We know that the responsibility for this crime against humanity lies with Germany and in many ways on us. ”