Death Of Last Nazi War Criminal Deprives Palestinians Of Chance To Honor Him

“Our struggle was his struggle.”

Ramallah, November 25 – Representatives from the office of President Mahmoud Abbas voiced their regret today, following the passing of the last known participant in the organized slaughter of millions of Jews during the Second World War, that they never had an opportunity to present him with recognition and appreciation for his efforts during that dark time.

Gunther Kleist, 102, died Saturday of renal failure in Stuttgart, his demise coming just weeks after German authorities unsealed an indictment against him for his role in an Einsatzgruppe, a “special squad” whose euphemistic title referred to its operations in Eastern Europe during WWII to kill more than a million Jews by firing squad, often with the collaboration of local non-Jews. Palestinian leaders lamented that they will no longer get a chance to honor him for his important contribution, but vowed to do their utmost to carry on his work.

“We regret we have been prevented, for numerous reasons, from giving Mr. Kleist proper recognition,” stated Nabil Aburdeineh, a confidante of President Abbas. “We had our most recent opportunity when German media brought his case to public attention several years ago, but his failing health made any proper ceremony impracticable.”

“We promise, however, not to let this milestone pass without recommitting to the values for which Mr. Kleist and millions of other Germansm, Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Croats, Hungarians, and many others picked up a gun, knife, club, axe, saw, or whatever implement they had on hand, to further once the Third Reich gave them a path forward. Our struggle was his struggle. Gunther was but one of many, but the passing of the last person to actively participate in the Final Solution to the Jewish Question challenges the rest of us to take up our own implements and recommit to those values.”

Aburdeineh noted that Palestinian leaders such as Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini worked during the war to recruit Muslims to the Nazi cause, even helping to raise a Muslim SS unit in occupied Yugoslavia. His correspondence with Nazi leaders concerning the disposition – and disposal – of Jews in Palestine following an anticipated German conquest underscored a set of shared values that both sides hoped to implement in the Holy Land, but which German reversals in North Africa rendered moot. Husseini’s people nevertheless attempted to engineer such a pursuit of those values with the help of armed forces from neighboring Arab countries in 1948, but failed.

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