This Day (May 7) in 1945, Nazi Germany finally surrendered. The same day, Grand Mufti Amin al-Husseini fled Berlin by plane. Here’s how he escaped justice for his war crimes (spoiler alert: blame France again!).
First, the Mufti landed his plane in Bern, Switzerland and begged for asylum.
The Swiss said no. They detained him and immediately handed him over to French authorities.
What happened next is one of the most brazen post-war scandals in modern history.
Instead of standing trial, the Mufti was placed under “house arrest” in a luxurious villa just outside Paris. For an entire year he lived in comfort, shaved his iconic beard, wore Western suits, and moved about with virtual freedom while Britain and Yugoslavia demanded his extradition as a war criminal.
France refused to hand him over.
Then, on May 29, 1946, using a fake passport in the name of Ma’ruf al-Dawalibi, the Mufti simply walked out, boarded a TWA flight to Cairo ... and vanished.
The French Foreign Minister didn’t even realize he was gone for more than 12 days.
In Egypt, he was greeted as a conquering hero. King Farouk gave him protection and luxury. The Muslim Brotherhood hailed him as “the Arab hero and symbol of jihad.”
No trial. No shame. No consequences. And his legacy, unfortunately, endured.
As this documentary clip puts it: “The Grand Mufti's place as leader of the Palestinian Arabs was eventually taken by a relative ... Yasser Arafat. In August 2002, Arafat gave an interview in which he referred to al-Husseini as a symbol of Palestinian Arab resistance. He called him simply, ‘a hero.’”
This is how war criminals become legends to be emulated and revered — when a likeminded ideology protects and lionizes them.
Primary source proof — the actual 1943 telegram straight from Himmler’s own hand to the Grand Mufti.
Key lines:
“The National-Socialist Movement of the Greater German Reich has since its inception upheld the fight against World Jewry … The common recognition of the enemy and the joint struggle against it is what creates the firm foundation between Germany and freedom-seeking Muslims around the world … I am pleased to convey to you … warm wishes for your continued struggle until the great victory.”
Lesser-known detail: Himmler timed this for the Mufti to read aloud at a massive Nazi rally in Berlin’s Luftwaffe Hall — while the Mufti was already living as Hitler’s honored guest and personally recruiting thousands of Bosnian Muslims into the Waffen-SS “Handschar” division to fight alongside the Nazis.
This wasn’t some vague sympathy. It was a formal, operational alliance against the Jews — documented in real time.
The same eliminationist ideology that partnered with the Nazis in 1943 is still alive today.