IOR/L/PS/11/99 P 4180/1915

(1) Note dated 1 Dec 1915 from Harold Nicolson, Foreign Office, to Arthur Hirtzel, Assistant Under Secretary of State for India, saying the News Department of the Foreign Office will produce an article based on information sent in a paper from Henry McMahon, British High Commissioner in Cairo.

(2) Minute paper dated 13-15 Nov 1915 with subject “The War – German attempts to fan Islamic feeling” with an annotations from Arthur Hirtzel, Assistant Under Secretary of State for India, and Thomas William Holderness, Deputy Under Secretary of State for India, regarding the possible publication of a paper written by Henry McMahon, British High Commissioner in Cairo, to Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Secretary.

(3) Cover sheet dated 13 Nov 1915 forwarding a copy of Henry McMahon’s paper.

(4) Paper dated 3 Nov 1915 from Henry McMahon, British High Commissioner in Cairo, to Sir Edward Grey, Foreign Secretary. The paper is in 3 sections:

No. 1: Introductory paragraph from Henry McMahon saying he is forwarding “a note from the Intelligence Department containing evidence gleaned from refugees and other sources, which shows that German officials and private individuals have in many cases supported the preaching of the Jehad and actively promoted anti-Christian spirit among Moslems”. McMahon mentions a letter supposed to have been written by German Emperor Wilhelm II to the Senussi and discusses speculation about the German Emperor becoming an adherent of Islam.

Enclosure 1 in No. 1: Brief section dated 23 Oct 1915 from Lieutenant-Colonel G. F. Clayton, Director of Intelligence in Cairo, to Sir Milne Cheetham, High Commission, Cairo, saying that “although definite proof of specific cases would be difficult to obtain now, there is a considerable amount of evidence gleaned from refugees and other sources …”.

Enclosure 2 in No. 1: Longer section headed “Note on propaganda, &c., on the part of Germans giving the impression that they or their sovereign and government had embraced Islam or were in sympathy with anti-Christian manifestations on the part of ignorant or fanatical Moslems”. This section mentions the following:

• Wilhelm Wassmuss, ex-consul and German agent, declaring himself a Muslim.
• Rumours that German Emperor Wilhelm II had become or was about to become a Muslim.
• Refugees from Syria reported seeing German officers wearing armlets bearing the Muslim profession of faith.
• Lack of confirmation of a statement made in the Daily chronicle regarding an alleged letter written by Wilhelm II to Sheik-es-Senussi “in a manner calculated to lead the latter to believe that he had become a Moslem”.
• Evidence of German officials leading people to believe they were Muslims or in sympathy with extreme Muslim ideas.
• German officials encouraging and approving of the perpetration of crimes against the Armenian population by Turkish officials.
• The publication of pro-German propaganda bulletins and postcards by the News Bureau founded by Richard von Kühlmann at Constantinople and the effect of these publications on Muslims – “At any hour of the day these untutored beings might be seen gazing with envy, admiration, and awe at these proofs of the destructiveness of German ‘culture’”.
• Former Belgian vice-consul at Haifa Herr Lange seeking support of the Abd-el-Hadi family for the Jehad against the Allies but not getting that support.
• The German Vice-consul at Haifa, Herr Loytved von Hardegg causing bills to be distributed appealing to all Muslims to each kill at least 2 French or British subjects; making speeches in which Germany was described as the sole friend and protector of Islam; defiling graves of French soldiers on Mount Carmel and attending a solemn service at Ommeyad Mosque in Damascus.
• The participation of German and Austro-Hungarian consular officials or agents in Muslim religious demonstrations.
• German officers reportedly using “language calculated to excite Moslems to attack and slaughter the Orthodox, Catholic and other Christians of Damascus and the vicinity”.
• General van Back Pasha, a Catholic, being against this.
• Herr Loytved von Hardegg making speeches advocating the killing of non-German Christians and proposing to show films of the “Massacre of Christians in 1860” – his proposal was vetoed by local authorities.
• German vice-consul at Jaffa reported to have made speeches advocating the massacre of Christians.
• No proof that speeches advocating massacre had any effect on Muslim Arab populations of South and Central Syria.
• Approval and encouragement shown by Germans of Turkish persecution of the Armenian population in Northern Syria.
• Deportation of the Armenians from Cicilia and Northern Syria carried out with the approval of Walter Rössler, German consul at Aleppo and Herr Fleichzig, dragoman to the German consulate at Aleppo.
• Baron Max von Oppenheim, a Jew, making speeches in mosques approving of the massacre of Armenians.