Choice Reviews Online · 2010 · 107 citations · 0 references
HumanitiesCultural StudiesHistoryMiddle Eastern HistoryMiddle Eastern StudiesPropagandaHolocaust StudiesInternational PropagandaMiddle Eastern Intellectual HistoryPolitical PropagandaPropaganda HistoryWorld War IiArab MediaCultural Dimensions In ConflictHolocaust HistoriographyNazi PropagandaPro-war PropagandaSocioeconomic Cultural ContextWorld War Ii EraWorld War Ii History
Herf explores the intellectual, political, and cultural context in which German and European radical anti‑Semitism resonated with similar views rooted in a selective appropriation of Islamic traditions. Herf conducts the most comprehensive study of Nazi propaganda aimed at Arabs and Muslims in the Middle East during WWII, integrating political, military, intellectual, and cultural dimensions. He draws on previously unused archival materials, such as Arabic Axis Broadcast transcripts, and documents collaboration between pro‑Nazi Arab exiles in Berlin and the Nazis to construct the propaganda campaign. Herf demonstrates that Nazi propaganda’s anti‑Semitism contributed to the anti‑Semitism observed among adherents of radical Islam in the Middle East today.
Jeffrey Herf, a leading scholar in the field, offers the most extensive examination to date of Nazi propaganda activities targeting Arabs and Muslims in the Middle East during World War II and the Holocaust. He draws extensively on previously unused and little-known archival resources, including the shocking transcriptions of the 'Axis Broadcasts in Arabic' radio programmes, which convey a strongly anti-Semitic message. Herf explores the intellectual, political, and cultural context in which German and European radical anti-Semitism was found to resonate with similar views rooted in a selective appropriation of the traditions of Islam. Pro-Nazi Arab exiles in wartime Berlin, including Haj el-Husseini and Rashid el-Kilani, collaborated with the Nazis in constructing their Middle East propaganda campaign. By integrating the political and military history of the war in the Middle East with the intellectual and cultural dimensions of the propagandistic diffusion of Nazi ideology, Herf offers the most thorough examination to date of this important chapter in the history of World War II. Importantly, he also shows how the anti-Semitism promoted by the Nazi propaganda effort contributed to the anti-Semitism exhibited by adherents of radical forms of Islam in the Middle East today.