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to the famous Herr Schulenburg, who was Himmler’s trusted aide. Two officers from the Palestinian fighters and three officers among the German experts were assigned to travel on the first aircraft sent to Palestine with a sample shipment of these weapons and supplies, and to begin implementing the plan. The plan was limited to storing these weapons and ammunition, training the Palestinian fighters in their use, and establishing wireless communication to send and receive the remaining shipments. They were to avoid collision and friction with the British authorities during the war and limit themselves to preparation until after the world war.

The first aircraft did in fact travel to Palestine and arrive there. Its brave officer passengers descended by parachute from a height of two thousand feet at Jericho, near Jerusalem. The details will appear in their place in these memoirs. We were extremely eager for the plan to succeed because the weapons prepared for the battle in Palestine consisted of tens of thousands of rifles, machine guns and light weapons suitable for guerrilla warfare in the mountains of Palestine, as well as a large quantity of equipment and ammunition. In addition, a large quantity of weapons and ammunition had been stored on the island of Rhodes, and another thirty thousand rifles and machine guns had been stored in Libyan territory in preparation for transfer to the Palestinian theater.

Recruitment and training in the Axis countries were not limited to Arabs. They extended to the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina and other Muslims of Yugoslavia, who during the war were exposed to savage massacres perpetrated by Serbian Chetnik bands, until the number killed among them reached two hundred thousand. We also made determined efforts with the German authorities until they recognized Albania’s independence and agreed to form military forces from its people to protect it. Among the successful efforts in which we were fortunate was the work for Indonesian independence through efforts we made with the Japanese government. All these matters will be detailed in their proper place in these memoirs, God willing.

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Himmler held a position of great importance in Germany. He was head of the national guard, Reich minister of the interior, and commander-in-chief of the famous SS formations. He supervised public security, the Gestapo and general intelligence in the German Reich and the European countries occupied by the German armies during the war. The armed forces under his administration numbered more than a million