El Jihad

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The 60th edition of El Jihad from July 15, 1917

The El Jihad (also al-Ğihād or al Djehad ; dt: The Holy War) was a propaganda newspaper published in several languages ​​by the news agency for the Orient during the First World War , which was distributed in the vineyard camp near Zossen and in the half moon camp near Wünsdorf . The aim was to ideologically influence Muslim prisoners of war with the aim of inciting them to fight against the colonial powers and thus making them usable in terms of their own military strategy. The first edition of the newspaper for the Muslim prisoners of war , so the subtitle of the paper, appeared on March 1, 1915 in Arabic, Turkotatar and Russian. Further numbers were published every fortnight, presumably by mid-October 1918 - an official hiring decision could not yet be found.

Content and structure

The essence of the El Jihad was formed by the essays written by Muslim propagandists and Arab nationalists, which were often speeches and sermons that were previously given to the prisoners of the two camps. In addition, the newspaper included selected information about current war events, announcements from the prison camps and general articles from the individual home countries, for example in the form of articles from Constantinople and various Indian newspapers. This was to avoid too intrusive propaganda , which might have aroused suspicion and thus torpedoed the actual purpose of the paper.

Emergence

The basic idea for the production of a propaganda newspaper for Muslim prisoners came from the news office for the Orient, which was set up by the General Staff and the Foreign Office for the purpose of pro-German propaganda in the Orient and among oriental prisoners of war. Together with Sheikh Șālih aš-Šarīf at-Tūnisī, Max Freiherr von Oppenheim developed the concept on which El Jihad was based, which provided for a weekly newspaper in Arabic, Turkish, Urdu, Hindi and Russian. Schabinger von Schowingen , who later succeeded Oppenheim as head of the news office, should be responsible for the editorial work . The journalist Adler should take care of the technical clearance.

El Jihad was already mentioned in a communication dated January 5, 1915 to the General Staff and the War Ministry, in which they were informed about the creation of the intelligence center. Within a few weeks, both authorities agreed to the undertaking, but only provided that each individual number was checked beforehand by the Foreign Office and the head of the political section of the Deputy General Staff, Rudolf Nadolny . The latter, however, severely restricted the undertaking and called for the scope to be reduced to the minimum and made it clear that distribution outside the two camps was not planned.

production

The editing and the technical implementation was initially done by Adler, who resigned in June 1915 and was replaced by Herbert Müller, Frederik-August Graf Rantzau , Helmuth von Glasenapp and Professor Willy Spatz . In response to Adler's criticism in his letter of resignation to the Foreign Office, you should give the paper a more agitatory tendency.

In the hope of having a more effective effect on the imprisoned Muslims, the news office for the Orient sought information from the camps, from the inmates' interests and topics of conversation to their reading habits and possible comprehension problems.

The newspapers were produced in the photolithography of the Reichsdruckerei . It initially comprised two, later four sheets and was produced in folio format for an average of eight pfennings per number.

Named authors

  • Ma'mun Abu'l-Fadl
  • Muhammad al-Ḫiḍr Husain
  • Abd al-Azīz Šāwīš, editor of al-Liwa '(central organ of the Egyptian independence movement)
  • Muhammad ibn Sa'īd at-Tūnisī
  • Abd ar-Rašīd Ibrāhīm
  • Hasan Fahmī
  • Șālih aš-Šarīf at-Tūnisī

criticism

While there were hardly any objections to the plan for the Muslim prisoners of war during the planning phase of the newspaper , the producers of El Jihad were confronted with severe criticism within a very short time after the first apparitions. One of the leading critics was the camp commandant of the half-moon camp Freiherr von Hadeln.

Publication rhythm

Prisoners and parts of the camp administration, including von Hadeln, complained in particular about the irregular publication interval at which the El Jihad was published. However, this fact cannot be traced back to errors on the part of the intelligence agency for the Orient, but rather resulted from problems in the organization of the Reichsdruckerei, which delayed delivery.

Content aspects

A problem initially neglected in production was the educational difference between the mostly cultured authors on the one hand and the more simple prisoners on the other. The high-level Arabic used often met with incomprehension among the imprisoned Muslims and was therefore criticized by several authorities. In order to counteract this effect and to make it more attractive for less educated inmates, more photos and illustrations were used. In the long term, however, this does not change the fact that the standards - both in terms of content and language - were still too high for the prisoners, as von Hadeln denounced after half a year.

Another point of criticism was the lack of up-to-date information or the lack of daily news. Schabinger pointed out more than once that the El Jihad should not replace a daily newspaper or at all, but primarily serve propaganda. Nevertheless, von Hadeln was of the opinion that this jeopardized the authenticity and credibility of the newspaper.

effectiveness

The question of effectiveness remained elementary - and tended to be rather sobering. Von Hadeln criticized the considerable effort and costs for production and distribution, which in his opinion were in no relation to the effect of the measure. Of the approximately 4,000 North Africans imprisoned in the Crescent Camp, only 800 were willing to join the Central Powers . Adler also commented on this deficiency in his letter of resignation to the Foreign Office and declared the El Jihad to be ineffective. In his opinion, the reasons for this were the prisoners' distrust of the newspaper and the high rate of illiteracy among them.

literature

  • Gerhard Höpp: Muslims in the market. As prisoners of war and internees in Wünsdorf and Zossen. Das Arabisches Buch, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-8309-2243-4 .
  • Gerhard Höpp: Arabic and Islamic periodicals in Berlin and Brandenburg 1915–1945. Historical outline and bibliography. The Arabic Book, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-86093-046-X .
  • Peter Heine: Al-Jihād: a German propaganda newspaper in the 1st World War. In: The world of Islam. Vol. 20, Issue 3/4, 1980.

Web links

Wikiversity: Course: War and Propaganda: Until World War I (WS 2016)  - course materials

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard Höpp: Muslims in the Mark. As prisoners of war and internees in Wünsdorf and Zossen . Das Arabische Buch, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-8309-2243-4 , pp. 101-104.
  2. ^ Gerhard Höpp: Arabic and Islamic Periodicals in Berlin and Brandenburg 1915–1945. Historical outline and bibliography . Das Arabisches Buch, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-86093-046-X , p. 12.
  3. ↑ Peter Heine: Al-Jihād: a German propaganda newspaper in World War I. In: The world of Islam. Vol. 20, Issue 3/4, 1980, p. 199.
  4. ^ Gerhard Höpp: Muslims in the Mark. As prisoners of war and internees in Wünsdorf and Zossen . Das Arabisches Buch, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-8309-2243-4 , p. 104.
  5. ^ Gerhard Höpp: Arabic and Islamic Periodicals in Berlin and Brandenburg 1915–1945. Historical outline and bibliography . Das Arabische Buch, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-86093-046-X , p. 9.
  6. ↑ Peter Heine: Al-Jihād: a German propaganda newspaper in World War I. In: The world of Islam. Vol. 20, Issue 3/4, 1980, p. 198.
  7. ^ Gerhard Höpp: Muslims in the Mark. As prisoners of war and internees in Wünsdorf and Zossen . Das Arabisches Buch, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-8309-2243-4 , p. 101.
  8. ^ Gerhard Höpp: Arabic and Islamic Periodicals in Berlin and Brandenburg 1915–1945. Historical outline and bibliography . Das Arabische Buch, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-86093-046-X , p. 9.
  9. ^ Gerhard Höpp: Muslims in the Mark. As prisoners of war and internees in Wünsdorf and Zossen . Das Arabisches Buch, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-8309-2243-4 , p. 101.
  10. ^ Gerhard Höpp: Muslims in the Mark. As prisoners of war and internees in Wünsdorf and Zossen . Das Arabische Buch, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-8309-2243-4 , p. 103.
  11. ^ Gerhard Höpp: Muslims in the Mark. As prisoners of war and internees in Wünsdorf and Zossen . Das Arabische Buch, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-8309-2243-4 , p. 103.
  12. ^ Gerhard Höpp: Muslims in the Mark. As prisoners of war and internees in Wünsdorf and Zossen . Das Arabische Buch, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-8309-2243-4 , p. 102.
  13. ↑ Peter Heine: Al-Jihād: a German propaganda newspaper in World War I. In: The world of Islam. Vol. 20, Issue 3/4, 1980, p. 198.
  14. ↑ Peter Heine: Al-Jihād: a German propaganda newspaper in World War I. In: The world of Islam. Vol. 20, Issue 3/4, 1980, pp. 198 f.
  15. ↑ Peter Heine: Al-Jihād: a German propaganda newspaper in World War I. In: The world of Islam. Vol. 20, Issue 3/4, 1980, p. 199.
  16. ^ Gerhard Höpp: Muslims in the Mark. As prisoners of war and internees in Wünsdorf and Zossen . Das Arabische Buch, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-8309-2243-4 , p. 103.