World War I, Interwar Europe, and the Third Reich

Abstract This chapter connects the colonial governance of Islam during the times of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the German Kaiserreich with the German Reich’s Islam policies. Following an introduction to the marginal role of Muslims in the interwar period, the most important institutions and political figures that shaped the Nazi Reich’s Islam policies are discussed. It analyzes the attempts made by the Foreign Office, the Wehrmacht, and the SS to deploy Islamic religious leaders as a source of authority to legitimize the Second World War against the Allied forces, who for their part had mobilized Muslims to fight against the Third Reich. It explains the creation of Islamic religious institutions that were running educational and training institutions to mobilize and train Muslim soldiers and presents Islam policies as policies of international affairs and conflict.