Einsatzgruppe Egypt

Einsatzgruppe Egypt (German: Einsatzgruppe Ägypten) was a special mobile SS death squad. According to historians Klaus-Michael Mallmann and Martin Cüppers, their purpose was to carry out a mass killing of Jews in British mandate of Palestine similar to the way they operated in eastern Europe. "Einsatzgruppe Egypt" was standing by in Athens and was ready to disembark for Palestine in the summer of 1942, attached to the "Afrika Korps" led by the famed desert commander General Erwin Rommel. The Middle East death squad, similar to those operating throughout eastern Europe during the war, was to be led by SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Walther Rauff.[1][2] However, the Nazis' plans for the destruction of the Yishuv could not be carried out as the Nazi advance across North Africa and towards Palestine was reversed following the Axis' defeat in the Second Battle of El Alamein.

In 2006, Mallmann and Cüppers published Halbmond und Hakenkreuz: Das dritte Reich, die Araber und Palästina.[3] The book is a study of Einsatzgruppe Egypt and Nazi plans for mass annihilation of Jews in the Middle East. According to Shepherd, these forced labour camps came in effect when the Afrika Korps had already been retreating and there is no proof of contact between Rommel and the unit.[4] According to historian Haim Saadon, Director of the Center of Research on North African Jewry in WWII, there was no extermination plan: Rauff's documents show that his foremost concern was helping the Wehrmacht to win, and he came up with idea of forced labour camps in the process. This was in no way benevolent, but in relative terms, the North African Jews escaped the Final Plan.[5][6]

See also

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ Nazis planned Holocaust for pre-state Israel (Israel News 04-08-06)
  3. ↑ Crescent moon and Swastika: The Third Reich, the Arabs, and Palestine (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft)
  4. ↑ Shepherd 2016, p. 357.
  5. ↑ Benishay 2016.
  6. ↑ Cohen 2015.

Bibliography

  • Benishay, Guitel (4 May 2016). "Le journal de bord du chef SS en Tunisie découvert". Création Bereshit Agency. LPH info - Création Bereshit Agency. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  • Cohen, Nir (17 April 2015). "Inside the diary of SS officer known as gas chamber 'mastermind'". Yedioth Internet. Ynetnews. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  • Shepherd, Ben H. (28 June 2016). Hitler's Soldiers: The German Army in the Third Reich. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507903-6.
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