Nazi propaganda in the Arab world by Jeffrey Herf

Bataween
Point of No Return
14 February '10

What is remarkable about this interview with Jeffrey Herf, author of Nazi propaganda for the Arab world, is that it was conducted in an Egyptian newspaper, al-Masry-al-Youm. The book's findings are best summed up by Bassam Tibi of Cornell University, who writes on the flyleaf: "The traces of Germany's Nazi antisemtism disclosed in this groundbreaking analysis persist, despite the Islamization of this ideology":

"Jeffrey Herf, professor of modern European history at the University of Maryland, College Park, recently authored Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World, published by Yale University Press. In 2006 he published The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda during World War II and the Holocaust. Al-Masry Al-Youm spoke with Herf to discuss his latest publication.

Al-Masry Al-Youm: The West in general uses the term anti-Semitism, although both Arabs and Jews are Semitic. Are there other terms that are more apt?

Jeffrey Herf: The answer to this and other questions are in my book, Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World. An entire chapter explores the extensive efforts made by the Nazi regime to avoid the use of the term "anti-Semitism." It was, its officials stressed, a regime animated by antagonism toward the Jews but not towards Arabs and Muslims in general. The term anti-Semitism has long entered academic discourse to refer to hatred of Jews.

Al-Masry: Most Arab historians agree that the Nazis did not contribute great ideas that grew in the region, but you posit the opposite. What evidence supports your position?

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