A Mosque in Munich: Nazis, the CIA, and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West PDF
Preview A Mosque in Munich: Nazis, the CIA, and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West
A M O S Q U E IN M U N IC H B O O K S BY IAN J O H N S O N Wild Grass: Three Portraits of Change in Modern China A Mosque in Munich: Nazis, the CIA, and the Muslim Brotherhood in the West A M D S Q U E M U N I C H N A Z I S , T H E CI A, A N D T H E M U S L I M B R O T H E R H O O D T H E W E S T IAN JOHNSON HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT BOSTON NEW YORK 2010 Copyright © 2010 by Ian Johnson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003. www.hmhbooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Johnson, Ian, date. A mosque in Munich : Nazis, the CIA, and the Muslim brotherhood in the West / Ian Johnson, p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-15-101418-7 1. Islam and politics —Germany—Munich —History—20th century. 2. Mosques — Germany—Munich — History—20th century. 3. Jam’iyat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin (Egypt) — History — 20th century. 4. Islamic fundamentalism — Germany—Munich — History—20th century. 5. World War, 1939-1945 — Participation, Muslim. 6. Ex-Nazis — Germany—Munich — History — 20th cen tury. 7. Mende, Gerhard von, 1904- 8. Cold War. 9. United States. Central Intelligence Agency — History—20th century. 10. Anti-communist move ments — Germany—Munich — History—20th century. I. Title. BP65.G3J64 2010 297.30943'36409045 — dc22 2009035285 Book design by Brian Moore Printed in the United States of America DOC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 “Ginkgo Biloba” from West-Eastern Divan by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Translated by Jacques-E. Fortin in “The Armored Key” by Monique Gaudry and published online at http://archange.tripod.com/thearmoredkey123.html. Used by permission from Pierre Fortin. And there are those who built a mosque from mischievous motives, to spread unbelief and disunite the faithful. — Koran 9:107 N 1947, Margaret Dollinger went for a swim in the Isar, the Alps-fed river that runs through Munich. There she saw a bronzed, vaguely Asian-looking man. He was Hassan Kassajep, a thirty-year-old Soviet refugee hoping to start a new life. The two looked at each other shyly. ‘T knew he was the man,” she said. They parted only at his death, one year shy of their golden wedding anniversary. This book is dedicated to the Kassajeps and other Muslim emigres who fought this obscure war. Many of them faced impossible moral choices and ended up thousands of miles away from home, living in countries they didn’t really understand, hoping that their work would change his tory. It did, but in ways that they couldn’t have expected. This is a common refrain in history—the story of unintended conse quences. But in this case I felt a special poignancy. I came to know these people intimately through their letters, photos, and, in some lucky cases, through meeting people like Margaret Kassajep in person —aged survi vors of another era. I was also struck by the sadness of a life lived in secret. These people could rarely talk openly about what they had done. Some times it was because they were embarrassed by their actions — collaborat ing with an odious regime, for example, or betraying friends. At other times they felt bound by a code of silence, either directly imposed or im plicitly understood in covert operations. Most had constructed an alter nate reality: that of the scholar or the freedom fighter, the religious activist or the businessman. I wondered what remains of a life when it is stripped of a public identity. In the case of the people in this book, the answer is, a lot. Though most of them are'dead and their life stories obscure until now, their actions re verberate today as we confront similar issues. Like light refracted from a distant planet, they illuminate our own lives. Berlin April 2009 CONTENTS Cast of Characters xi Prologue: On the Edge of Town xiii HOT WARS 1. The Eastern Front 3 2. The Turkologist 13 3. The Nazi Prototype 22 COLD WARS 4. Reviving the Ostministerium 35 5. The Key to the Third World 65 6. Learning Their Lesson 76 7. “A Politically Smart Act”: The Mosque Is Conceived 91 8. Dr. Ramadan Arrives 104 9. Marriage of Convenience 125 ID. The Novelists Tale 139 II. Winning the Mosque 155 12. Losing Control 169 MODERN WARS 13. The Brotherhood Triumphant i8i 14. Beyond Munich 192 15. Defining the Debate 202 IB. 1950s Redux 217 Epilogue: Inside the Mosque 236 Acknowledgments 245 Sources 252 Notes 262 Index 298
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