34
of Jerusalem, Mohammed Amin al-Husayni (1897–1974), and in his wake
a host of Palestinian and Syrian sycophants. A year later, they were rein-
forced by many more who arrived disguised as ‘teachers.’ Baghdad became
the hub of pan-Arab intrigue. The ex-Mufti associated himself ever more
with the Italian legation, which became the main centre for the produc-
tion and distribution of Axis propaganda. As the German armies swept
through country after country in Europe, many gathering points for influ-
ential Iraqis, such as the Muthanna Club, became subcentres for the dis-
semination of triumphal Axis and pan-Arab propaganda.^13
In the Iraqi army, Nazi propagandists were faced with a problem of
exploitation rather than conversion. Stirred by the way in which the Arabs
had been fighting in Palestine, and believing, originally with the personal
encouragement of King Ghazi, that the army was a strong and effective
instrument, they were eager for action. This took the shape of interference
in affairs of state as the army gradually developed into a powerful political
weapon. At the same time, the Germans tried hard to indoctrinate the
Iraqi army by means of their educational programmes, ensuring that any
young men selected as potential officers would already be thoroughly edu-
cated in Nazi ideology. In addition to their network of propaganda cells,
the German legation showed generous hospitality to young army officers
and always employed attractive young German women to lend a feminine
touch to social occasions. The principal focus of German activity remained,
however, encouraging and subsidizing the intrigue and subversive projects
of senior army officers.^14
With the Iraqi tribes, the Germans had far less success. Shadowy figures
like the archaeologist and Nazi agent Julius Jordan, who was in the advan-
tageous position of being an honorary director of the Antiquities Museum
while also under diplomatic cover as archaeological attaché to the German
legation, moved freely among the tribes spreading Nazi propaganda.^15
Another was a commercial representative named Sauter, who toured the
country for Bayer AG,^16 particularly the Middle Euphrates area, liberally
distributing product samples and stocking the pharmacies in tribal towns
and villages on very favourable credit terms. Such pharmacies were often
used as propaganda and subversion cells. German firms also developed
municipal utilities (electricity and water) in tribal areas. When agricultural
and other machinery was supplied by German manufacturers, offers of
debt liquidation were made ‘in exchange for services rendered or prom-
ised.’ The Germans achieved their greatest successes among tribesmen