Muslims in the Waffen SS During WWII

The SS-Mullah School and the Association of Turkestan in Dresden
Posted by: Titus Steering

A short chapter in a strange kind of understanding in Germany, the establishment of institutions for for the training of Islamic chaplain in the Army and the Waffen-SS dar.
During World War II on German side fought for different reasons, many Muslims. It was often common enemy (communism, Jews) or to escape a pragmatic collaboration and the desire of a prisoner of war marked by deadly famine, the Muslims led to the German side. However, she is in the motif of "flight" from the camps is still the question why some prisoners of war to the construction and supply units and others reported to the armed units.

Ideological whip this alliance was the notorious anti-Semite, Mohammed Amin al-Husseini (1893-1974), who as Grand Mufti of Jerusalem had a certain religious authority. The Muslims from the Soviet Union (Azerbajan, Crimea and Volga Tatars, North Caucasians, Bashkir, Uzbek and other Central Asian peoples) wer with other members of non-Russian minority peoples of the Soviet Union (Armenians, Georgians, Ukrainians) in the armed forces as may be determined Ostlegionen, in which only Non-Russians were. They were recruited mainly among Soviet prisoners of war.


Later, Soviet Muslims also served in the Waffen-SS units, such as 1st Ostmuselmanisches SS regiment with the weapon groups "Idel-Ural", "Turkestan" and "Crimea" that was established in 1943 to model the Ostlegiionen. By war's end, there was next to several majority Muslim SS division, whose members came mostly from the Balkans. These were the Bosniak '13 Waffen-SS Mountain Division dagger "(named after the Arabic term for a scimitar), the Albanian '21 Weapons Mountain Division of the SS Skanderberg "and the Albanian" 23 Weapons Mountain Division of SS Kama", but did not have stock. Furthermore, there was an "Arab Legion", which was in January 1942 formed with the approval of Hitler of British prisoners of war and probably of 6,000 Arab and North African Muslims was (Anton Maegerle/Herbert Schiedel), and there were even smaller Arab SS units. Most Muslim SS units but came from the Balkans. On 10/02/1943 Himmler allowed the establishment of a Waffen-SS unit of Muslims from the Balkans.

Overall, there was the German Wehrmacht six majority Muslim legions, and the SS three divisions, a brigade and a weapons Association (MS Abdullah:35) with a majority Muslim members. At least from the Waffen-SS units serious warcrimes at the "anti-partisan warfare in the Balkans are know. Particularly in eastern Bosnia, the area of origin of most hand-divisional troop members, the unit set up in 1943/44 of "Operation Lightening Orb" a bloodbath (W. Oschlies).

The officers of the Muslim units were mostly so-called "ethnic German", that members of German-speaking minorities. From the SS Headquarters was the work of imams in the individual battalions approved and confirmed compliance with the Islamic dietary laws. Even the observance of Muslim funeral rites has been granted (J. Hoffman: 139). Each unit was also a young Muslim Mufti as a spiritual adviser. Muslim chaplains are often trained but had yet to come.

This happened in June 1944 in 14-day later, 3- to 4-week Imam or Mullah courses at the Islamic Studies Bertold Spuler (1911-1990) at the Islamic Institute of the University of Göttingen (J. Hoffman: 139). In the six courses each, held 30-40 Legionnaires in Muslim theological knowledge and ritualism of Islam were taught. Language of instruction was mainly Turkish (J. Hoffmann: 140) in addition to religious content and often had some little existing knowledge of Arabic can be improved. It often cme from these courses on inter-religious and inter-ethnic conflicts and tensions. Spuler therefore recommended, for example, the separation of Shiites and Sunnis (P. Heine: 234). In 1944, schools for the training set up by Muslim military chaplain.

It speaks for the ideological blindness of the Nazis that were also takenin the near defeat of yet tackled such projects. On the other hand, this time from a human plight out against the "Aryan" elite understanding just recruited Muslims. Politically, it was for their home regions very different schedules, the Bosnian Muslims remain under the rule of the croatian Ustasha government (W. Oschlies), there was the fantastic plans for Central Asia of an independent United Turkestan (P. Heine: 236; J. Hoffmann: 107). With the approach of the front lines in Germany, such considerations were increasingly unlikely, but apparently also planned to sell units was behind the line to fan in the rear under the non-Russian population revolts. In the capital, Berlin, meanwhile, has hosted several national governments emigration, such as the "unit Nationalturkestanische Committee (NTEK).

Chairman of the NTEK 1942-1945 was bornin 1905 in Bukhara Weli Khajum Khan. He introduced, sponsored by the influential ideologues Rosenberg, in August 1942 the committee together. Written NTEK organ was the magazine "National Turestan", which initially has a circulation of 15,000 and most recently in a print run of 80,000 copies was published (FV Seidel: 278). After the war came "National Turkestan" way back as a journal of the surviving Muslim Nazi collaborators from Central Asia government.

In addition to an on 21.04.1944 in Guben opened Imam School (Mufti papers:212.213), it was in November 1944 in Dresden, one at the behest of the Nazi leader and chief Heinrich Himmler founded SS Mullah school especially for so-called "Russia Turks", ie Muslims the territory of the USSR, who served in the SS (J. Hoffmann: 142). These were organized specifically in the "eastern Turkey Federation weapons" and "weapons Caucausian organization " within the SS.

Based on this device was a pre-existing "Association eV Turkestan". This working group was established in January 1944 in the framework of the "German Oriental Society (DMG) was founded. The Association had two addresses, one in Berlin and one in Dresden, and more specifically on Taschenberg 3 Dresden in the inner city.

The headquarters of the Association in the middle of the city is expected from the bombing of Dresden on 13th February 1945 have been affected severely.

Managing Director of the Dresden office of the Association was a certain Dr. Korad Schlons (Bl. Brentjes:157). Equipped with the Association of stolen goods (eg books) from Riga, Tartu (Estonia), Holland or Paris (B.l Brentjes: 158) was. The working group was divided into nine working areas (geography and transport, soil science and geology, climatology and agriculture, folklore, folk art, Islam, folklore, mediciine, lieterature), which were led by eight professors and a doctor. Some of these should have been according to the researchers Burchard Brentjes earlier foreign agents.

As part of the military service of the Humanities, the AG was primarliy military and political purposes, such as the geographic support the Air Force (H. Kißmehl: 150). The objectives of the founding of this institution can also be recognized that, although officially the DMG has been assigned, but actually as the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) - Office was VI group G associated research institute (H. Kißmehl: 145), which was also funded by the RSHA (B. Brentjes: 157). The RSHA Amt VI was responsible for espionage abroad, so was the "Security Service (SD) of actually lead actor (B. Brentjes: 153/54) at the end of 1943, establishing the already planned facilites (B. Brentjes: 154). For the direct instructions of teh SD DMG was the AG under the established "for the > AG thus
"At the opening of the Imam of the Easter Turks Institute in Dresden, for their keen interest inthe Islamic-German cooperation is to be regarded as another character. I submit to you the sincere thanks and best wishes of the Muslims). [spelling in the original] "(Mufti papers:229

The training of Muslim religious defense should feed into the spiritual authoritiees in the home countries of the Muslim units pro-German. Unlike the courses in Göttingen was in Dresden for Shiites and Sunnis a unified educational program, while the aforementioned Spuler protested (J. Hoffmann: 142). A possible indicator of the involved in the founding of the school Turkestan AG can also be found in the policies of the Nazis Jewish chronicler Victor Klemperer. Klemperer notes in his diary entry of his 12th November 1944:
"With her, now lives a comer of interpreter of the Crimea, which is now at the Lorraine border road 2 home Moslem group [obviously Crimean Tatars], the mysterious, service has done or still does. "

The Lorraine was then Route 2 in Dresden to the so-called "Jewish houses". Houses of former Jewish owners had to live where most of the remaining Jews packed together. Maybe it is a part of the above-mentioned working group or toan independent Crimean Tatar grop in the Waffen SS or Wehrmacht. From a total of 200,000 living on the Crimean Tatars at least 20,000 volunteers served in "Tatar formations" on the German side (J. Hoffmann: 39-50). In 1944 an attempt ws evacuated from (Crimean) Tatars in Hungary to form a mountain brigade of the Waffen-SS (J. Hoffman: 50). The school itself is likely to have survived the massive bombing in February, not unscathed. In the subsequent chaos in any case is likely not a meaningful education for the approximately 50 students (B. Brentjes: 157) have taken
place anymore. Against the war in any case the labor community fled with 70 relatives from the approaching front and met on 02/23/1945 in White Rock. Prominent members such as the medical officer and SS Lieutenant Olzscha Rainer, who headed the SS Skin Official D workspace voluntary associations, went into U.S. custody. Whether the consorium members as other Nazi scientists were soon in the beginning of the cold war on the Allied side use is uncertain.

Dresden was not, moreover, theonly city in the Saxony, the Grand Mufti was staying longer. He lived because of the bomb threat in Berlin in the summer of 1944 to April 1945 as a personal guest of Hitler along with his staff of about 60 Arabs (FV Seidel: 266) in the small spa town of eastern Saxony Oybin. After the war, fled the Muslims who had fought during the Second World War on the German side as far as possible in the zones of the Western Allies. Her they were the group of so-called Muslim refugees and settled down here, especially in the south and particularly in Swiss francs, or were settled there.

This group organized itself in founded in 1951 in Munich "Spiritual Administration of Muslim refugees in the Federal Republic of Germany", a type of care association for former members of the Wehrmacht Muslim faith. The church adminstration organized in Nuremberg, Neu-Ulm, Augsburg, Pforzheim, Erlangen, Bamberg, Waldkrailburg, Schwabach, Forchheim, Dieburg and Osnabruck religious education for Muslim children. For Nuremberg and Munich, there were also two imams. The body of the spiritual administration was the magazine "Al-Muhajiround (The Refugees). In contrast to later Muslim groups, this almost completely assimilated into the majority population.

Author: Titus Lenk