| Johannes von Leers | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 january 1902 Karbow-Vietlübbe, Germany |
| Died | 5 march 1965 Cairo, Egypt |
| Allegiance | Nazi Germany |
| Service/branch | Waffen-SS |
| Rank | Sturmbannführer |
Dr. Johann von Leers, alias Omar Amin (January 25, 1902 – March 5, 1965), was an Alter Kämpfer[1] and an honorary Sturmbannführer[1] in the Waffen SS in Nazi Germany, where he was also a professor known for his anti-Jewish polemics. He was one of the most important ideologues of the Third Reich, serving as a high-ranking propaganda ministry official. He later served in the Egyptian Information Department as well as an advisor to Gamal Abdel Nasser.[2] He published for Goebbels, in Peron's Argentina, and for Nasser's Egypt. He converted to Islam, and changed his name to Omar Amin.
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von Leers was born in Vietlübbe, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany on January 25, 1902. He studied law at Berlin, Keil, and Rostock and eventually worked as an attache in the foreign office.[3] He was involved in the Viking Free Corps.[4] von Leers became actively involved in voelkisch politics during the Weimar Republic, and he joined the NSDAP in 1929.[5] He was a district speaker and leader of the National Socialist Students' League,[3] and in 1933 signed the Gelöbnis treuester Gefolgschaft, the "vow of most faithful allegiance" to Adolf Hitler.[6]
von Leers supported himself writing freelance articles for the NSDAP press,[4] and joined the Waffen SS in 1936 as a sub-Sturmbannführer, eventually becoming an a full honorary.[4][1][7] He would serve as a professor at the University of Jena.[1] He eventually was summoned by Joseph Goebbels to work in the propaganda ministry. There he was assigned to proliferate party propaganda, eventually penning 27 books between 1933-1945.[3]
He wrote the notorious anti-Semitic tract (published and popular during the Third Reich), Juden sehen dich an (Jews Are Looking at You). He was fluent in five languages, including Hebrew and Japanese.[5]
Jeffrey Herf reports that in December 1942, von Leers published an article in Die Judenfrage, a journal which belonged to the anti-Semitic intellectual world, entitled "Judaism and Islam as Opposites". As the title indicates, the author's perspective is Hegelian, presenting Judaism and Islam in terms of thesis and antithesis. This essay also reveals the ingratiating National Socialist perspective which von Leers projected on the Islamic past as well as the intensity of his hatred for Judaism and Jewry. The following passage is part of the original text:
von Leers was a proponent of realpolitik, advocating a race-free foreign relations policy on the basis of relationship and alliance. He authored the memo which led to the exemption of non-Jewish racial minorities from race laws in the nation in 1934, 1936, and 1937.[9]
In 1945 he fled to Italy, living there for five years, and then moving to Argentina in 1950 where he continued his propaganda activities. He was praised by Haj Amin al-Husseini for his loyalty to Arab nationalism.[3] Thereafter he moved from Argentina to Egypt.[5]
von Leers was welcomed in Egypt by al-Husseini[10] and he became the political adviser to the Information Department under Muhammad Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser.[3] He continued to specialize in anti-Semitism as head of the Institute for the Study of Zionism , managing anti-Israel propaganda.[11] He was a mentor of Ahmed Huber and networked with Muslim emigres in Hamburg,[11] while also being an acquaintance of Otto Ernst Remer in the country.[12]
He converted to Islam, and changed his name to Omar Amin.[13]. His anti Judeo-Christian worldview was cited by U.S. intelligence reports in 1957 after monitoring his activities in Egypt and with the Arab League:[10]
In its first decade, the West German government tried in vain to have him extradited for war crimes. He died in Cairo in 1965.