Einsatzgruppe Egypt

Einsatzgruppe Egypt (German: Einsatzgruppe Ägypten) was an SS unit led by SS-Obersturmbannführer Walther Rauff, which was formed in occupied Greece during World War II.[1]

Walther Rauff, 1945

Historians Klaus-Michael Mallmann and Martin Cüppers, based on archival research, state that the unit's purpose was to carry out a mass killing of the Jewish populations in the British mandate of Palestine and Egypt.[2] Despite the word "Palestine" never being mentioned in the archival documents, the researchers state that the unit's objective was to go there in order to enact systematic mass murder of Jews.[3] Given its small staff of only 24 men, Mallmann and Cüppers theorize the unit would have needed help from local residents and from the Afrika Korps to complete their assignment.[4] On 20 July 1942 Rauff was sent to Tobruk to report to Rommel, Commander of the Afrika Korps. But since Rommel was 500 km away at the First Battle of El Alamein, it is unlikely that the two were able to meet.[4][5] Former Iraqi prime minister Rashid Ali al-Gaylani and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini played roles, engaging in antisemitic radio propaganda, preparing to recruit volunteers, and in raising an Arab-German Battalion that would also follow Einsatzgruppe Egypt to the Middle East[6]

According to historian Haim Saadon, Director of the Center of Research on North African Jewry in World War II, Rauff's documents show that his foremost concern was assisting the Wehrmacht, and his plan for this was to place the Jews in forced labour camps. In relative terms, the North African Jews escaped the Final Solution.[7][8]

The plans for Einsatzgruppe Egypt were set aside after the Allied victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein.[9]

See also

References
  2. Mallmann & Cüppers 2006.
  3. Klaus-Michael Mallmann, Martin Cüppers: „Beseitigung der jüdisch-nationalen Heimstätte in Palästina.“ Das Einsatzkommando bei der Panzerarmee Afrika 1942. In: Jürgen Matthäus, Klaus-Michael Mallmann (Hrsg.): Deutsche, Juden, Völkermord. Der Holocaust als Geschichte und Gegenwart. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2006, (Veröffentlichungen der Forschungsstelle Ludwigsburg der Universität Stuttgart, Bd. 7).
  4. Mallmann, Cüppers & Smith 2010.
  5. Shepherd 2016, p. 357.
  6. Mallmann, Cüppers & Smith 2010, pp. 127–130.
  7. Benishay 2016.
  8. Cohen 2015.
  9. Krumenacker 2006.

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.
  • Mallmann, Klaus-Michael; Cüppers, Martin; Smith, Krista (2010). Nazi Palestine: The Plans for the Extermination of the Jews in Palestine. New York: Enigma. ISBN 978-1-929631-93-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Krumenacker, Thomas (7 April 2006). "Nazis Planned Holocaust for Palestine: historians". Red Orbit. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2018.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading
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