SS-Division "Handschar" photos

[Ivan Ž.]

Hello, BG44

Local imams supporting the formation of the division shouldn't be surprising, considering the grand mufti's public support. Sorry again for the confusion, I thought we were talking about division imams, which were yet to be recruited.

Cheers,
Ivan

[balkanguy44]

It’s alright! I should had pointed out that we were talking about local (civilian) imams.

Cheers,
BG44

[FlyingStukas]

Hello, Ivan

Later in the book (Für Prophet und Führer [...] by David Motadel) it’s mentioned that Muhamed Pandža was involved in the recruitment for the Handschar Division. It also says that he used all his resources like pro-German imams to promote the division along the Muslims in Bosnia.

Cheers,
BG44

Hello, BG44
Love that quote "pro-German"... wonder how many imams didn't want to participate in this?

Cheers, Filip

[balkanguy44]

Hello, Filip

As Motadel mentioned in his book, motivations and political views were different from imam to imam.

Cheers,
BG44

[Mujo]

source: Rolf Michaelis Gebirgs-Divisionen der Waffen SS
The Sturmscharfuhrer is identified as "Philipp D".
The bottom two photographs show men of Nachr. Abt 13.

[balkanguy44]

Hello, Mujo

I’ve never seen this pictures before. Thanks for sharing!

Any more info on Philipp D.?

[Ivan Ž.]

source: Rolf Michaelis Gebirgs-Divisionen der Waffen SS

The bottom two photographs show men of Nachr. Abt 13.

GebirgsDivs2a.jpg (168.98 KiB) Viewed 1086 times

An original copy of the above photo was sold on eBay in August 2015 (seller: esten-paule). The inscription reads: "Uscha. Nokurath [?], Essen" (I know there's a surname Makurath, but this one here looks like "Nokurath").

Cheers,
Ivan

[Huska]

Guys,do you know who this is?

This is Ćamil Hrustemović,volunteer of Handschar Div.
And after war he became na officer of the army defending Palestine from Israel.
I had a picture of my grandpas uncle in the uniform of Handschar But without the cap,Fez.the Picture is lost.
He probably died during the actions in Bosnia in '44

[DFrolov1992]

...according to the book "Für Prophet und Führer: Die islamische Welt und das Dritte Reich" by David Motadel, Imams were used for the recruitment-tour in 1943.

It only says there that Berger would have liked that the imams were in charge of the recruiting.

It says “am liebsten ganz [...]”, “would have liked that the imams were completely in charge of the recruiting” and that leads to that Imams were used already, or not?

No and it doesn't make sense since, as I already wrote, they were being recruited too, like others, and were yet to be trained.

Just to be clear, I would like to add that I assumed that the imams in question were military imams. Only later I've noticed that it's not clear whether the text referred to officers or civilians. Still, I have no info on civilian imams participating in recruiting efforts either. I don't find it impossible though, quite the contrary.

Cheers,
Ivan

Hi Ivan!

Imams (including divisional officers, in particular Halim Malkoč) took part in the recruitment of volunteers in 1944 in the Brčko mosque. Then, according to the source, 500 volunteers joined the division, but according to the author of the article, this information was not analyzed critically.

"Mehr Aufmerksamkeit widmeten die Berichterstatter der Rolle bosnisch-muslimischer Geistlicher. Stereotyp für ihre Darstellung ist eine Zeugenaussage, wonach zwei Imame, Mustafa und Halim Malkoč, vor der Moschee in Brčko die Gläubigen nach dem Gebet aufgefordert hätten, der 13. Waffen-SS-Division beizutreten. In der Folge hätten sich 500 Freiwillige gemeldet. Diese Angaben werden nicht kritisch überprüft –
angesichts der insgesamt nur ca. 3 000 Freiwilligen ist es schwer vorstellbar, dass sich an einem Tag nach einer einzigen Predigt so viele freiwillig meldeten –, sondern als willkommener Beweis in die Argumentationskette aufgenommen."

Source: Ferhadbegović S. Vor Gericht. Die Soldaten der Handschar-Division im Nachkriegsjugoslawien Südost-Forschungen. – 2010. – № 6970. – s. 228-251.

[Ivan Ž.]

Hello, Dmitry

The division imams participating in the 1944 recruiting has been mentioned before, but thanks for the detailed post.

Some imams, however, did call the people to join the division - after the return to Bosnia, in 1944.

However, the question was about (apparently civilian) imams participating in the 1943 recruiting efforts.

Does anyone know where to find photos of the Imams during the recruitment-tour in 1943? I know that they held speeches in villages and towns in Bosnia.

Cheers,
Ivan

[balkanguy44]

Hello, DFrolov1992

Thanks for the detailed post.

Do you know anything about imams participating in the 1943 recruiting efforts?

Cheers,
BG44

[Huska]

Anybody have a better resolution of this Handžar photo?

[balkanguy44]

Anybody have a better resolution of this Handžar photo?

Hello, Huska

I hope this helps.

[Huska]

Thanks BG44!

[Huska]

Can ANYONE Identity people on this photo ?
Source of the color ones is German newsreel 693 and the BW ones:NARA