The Passion of Max von Oppenheim: Archaeology and Intrigue in the Middle East from Wilhelm II to Hitler by Lionel Gossman (review)

Curt M. Prüfer kept a diary and, in mid-1943, recorded that Max von Oppenheim had met with him in Berlin. The diary refers to Oppenheim as “uncle Max.” The night before the meeting, Ambassador Prüfer met with Jerusalem’s grand mufti, Amin al-Husaini. Meanwhile, the British looked on as Oppenheim plotted jihad with Arabs in British Mandatory Iraq. London advised the Arabs be told that Oppenheim was a Jew. It is not easy to say just what he was. His father was a Jewish convert to Christianity and his mother a Catholic. In wartime, as an honorary Aryan, he worked for the Nazis. In peacetime, he was an archaeologist working in Syria, unearthing artifacts. This mysterious life is the topic of Lionel Gossman’s absorbing study.

I should add that those talks of mid-1943 were not conducted in Berlin, as recorded; Prüfer doctored his diary. His talk with al-Husaini of July 6 took place at Heinrich Himmler’s East Prussian bunker, where they had been meeting since July 4. Hitler’s place was nearby, and they met with him too. Prüfer’s text, July 17: “Mufti joined me for lunch, insisted on getting rid of Jewish settlements in Palestine.” July 19: “The Führer is a very great man.”