WHEN OPERATION CRUSADER BEGAN, EPPLER was in Berlin. He had been summoned back almost certainly at the behest of Ritter and Canaris, who considered him an ideal candidate for placement in Egypt. Almásy had already been to Abwehr HQ to discuss ‘the penetration of southern Egypt via the desert’. (British Intelligence were aware Almásy now headed the Commando in North Africa.1) However, Operation Crusader drove Rommel back to Agedabia beyond Benghazi and the Siege of Tobruk was relieved. The idea of a new operation had to be shelved.
Meanwhile the political wheels turned. Hadji Mohammed Amun el-Husseini, the Grand Mufti, had left Iran in July for Turkey, crossing the border on foot. He was soon an embarrassment to the Turks, who quickly moved him on to Italy. On 27 October he had a meeting with Mussolini, but Count Galeazzo Ciano considered him unreliable and unlikely to achieve anything.2
He then travelled to Germany, where he was housed in a splendid villa deep in the Zehlendorf Park. Amidst the trees and lakes of the Grunewald forest, where many Nazi officials had retreats, he was guarded by the SS. Eppler went there to visit him.
He talked with me about his visit to Rome and his meeting with the Fascist leader, who he assured me, was eating out of his hand. There was nothing to impede the progress towards the creation of a United Arab movement with the help of Rome and Berlin.
Then he stunned Eppler with his request that he should act as his interpreter in a meeting with Hitler. He felt ‘upset’ yet at the same time ‘attracted’ by the prospect. ‘Even if I distrusted Caesar, I had to admit that not everyone had the opportunity to shake his hand.’3
The Mufti was relieved that he agreed to the request, fearing he might have been given a German interpreter not so sympathetic to his position. He was unaware that Eppler thought him a schemer of little value.
The Mufti was kept waiting for his audience with Hitler, and Eppler kicked his heels at the Abwehr offices. On 28 November they were finally taken to the Chancellery in a huge Mercedes. Eppler recorded that it was an ‘enormous building, like a pompous Roman temple – impressive and chilly’.
They waited their turn in the great hall, which was thronged with people and officials. After some time a flunky informed them they would see the Führer shortly, and then proceeded to instruct them on how to greet Hitler: ‘We were to say “Heil mein Führer” and extend our arms horizontally, not vertically as done in Italy.’4
Shortly after this they were approached by Von Ribbentrop, the Foreign Minister. He told the Grand Mufti that Hitler was well briefed on the pro-Axis United Arabia. They were then searched before being led into the Führer’s presence. Eppler recorded that there were four men at the meeting, including Ribbentrop, but the official minutes state there were five; Fritz Grobba – the old ambassador to Iraq and by then the foreign minister in waiting for the Arab States – was present.5
According to Eppler’s account of the meeting, they found the room in semi-darkness; the curtains were drawn across the huge windows. Hitler was known to suffer from bouts of giddiness and light may have had some bearing on this.6 Hitler was seated behind a desk, which he left to greet the Mufti. Eppler thought he was rather short, only having previously seen him on newsreels. He was dressed in civilian clothes and wore highly polished shoes. ‘Yet his eyes were piercing and one could appreciate the hypnotic effect he had on so many people.’ The Führer shook the Mufti’s hand he asked if he was having a comfortable stay.7
It should be noted here that in the account Eppler gave of the meeting to Leonard Mosley, ‘The Mufti approached the Führer and held out his hand for Hitler to shake, and then as he saw that no handshake was to be given, he drew it back and put his hand to his heart and his head, in the Arabic way, and sat down.’ Eppler reminded Hitler that they had forgotten the coffee, an Arabic custom, and the Führer flew into a rage and left the room. All this seems highly unlikely and is not in Eppler’s own written account; was he embellishing the story for Mosley’s benefit?8
In Eppler’s own account, Hitler, after greeting the Mufti, had turned to him shaking his hand and remarked that Arabic was ‘a handsome language’. With protocol over they sat in armchairs, and the Mufti began his spiel about the Jews, Britain and Bolshevism, and how the Arabs were natural allies of the Axis powers. He stated that the Arabs wanted a declaration of friendship from Hitler and help for their cause. Eppler says he went on like this ‘for at least fifteen minutes. At times I was hard pressed to translate these fiery platitudes with some degree of conviction.’
Hitler then gave his point of view, concluding that nothing could be achieved until the German armies were victorious in the great world struggle. The Grand Mufti would then become the leader of the Arabs everywhere, but until then he would not raise false hopes with a public statement.
The Mufti then suggested the drawing up of a secret treaty. Translating this Eppler felt a change in the Führer.
He was not pleased with this. He barely listened to my last words, before he declared in an ice-cold voice that a secret agreement, treaty or declaration known to several people could not long remain secret … he had given the Mufti precisely that confidential declaration just now.
Hitler then rose, bringing the meeting to a close. He shook hands again, asking the Mufti to ‘treat Germany as his own home’. He accompanied them to the doors, and they left, leaving Hitler and Ribbentrop behind.
Walking down the corridors of the Chancellery, Eppler thought: ‘How much of what had been said would ever happen? How much did either of them trust the other? There had been promises and hand shaking. Was there anything else?’9
See here for a list of abbreviations used in the below notes
1 KV 2/88
2 Jorgensen, p.179
3 Eppler, p.194
4 ibid, p.194–195
5 Documents on German Foreign Policy p.881
6 Bullock, A., Hitler a Study in Tyranny p.614
7 Eppler, p.195
8 Mosley, L., The Cat and the Mice p.28–29
9 Eppler, p.196–197