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What was the link between the Maghreb and World War I?

What was the link between the Maghreb and World War I?

Producer Julia Tieke & curator Elke Falat spoke about documenting the role of South Asian ‘colonial recruits’ in the war
Updated 03 Jun, 2016

KARACHI: In place of the first jihad camp in Germany, where Muslims were recruited from different parts of the world to fight in World War I, there is now a refugee camp. Located in the south of Berlin at Wünsdorf-Zossen, it is also where the first mosque in Germany was constructed in 1915.

Speaking at a talk titled ‘Digging deep, Crossing Far’ held at T2F, radio producer Julia Tieke and curator Elke Falat spoke about working on their audio project that documented the role ‘colonial recruits’ from South Asia and the ‘Maghreb’ played in World War I.

Tieke spoke about how she came across a postcard showing the mosque at Wünsdorf-Zossen that first piqued her interest in the project. “Thousands of such postcards were printed to show that Muslims were treated well,” she said. “The Germans had designed a ‘jihad programme’ with the Ottoman Empire. For the Sikhs and Hindus there were small sites as well but the focus was on Muslims.”

She also showed clippings of ‘Hindustani Urdu’ newspaper that was distributed at the camp containing a fatwa from the Ottoman sultan supporting it as well. Most of the ‘colonial’ soldiers at the camp were Prisoners of War who were fighting on behalf of the British and were captured in France.

During their research in Karachi they uncovered an Urdu pamphlet dating back to 1918 asking people to contribute monetarily to the war. Another document shown at the talk was by the Karachi War League in 1917 offering a prize of Rs1,000 for the “best forecast of the war”.

“Although most of the soldiers were recruited from Punjab but they would go through the harbour in Karachi,” said Tieke. She showed an old map of Pakistan showing Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan, Punjab with marking dots and numbers scribbled on it. Those were the locations from where the Prisoners of War at the camp were from along with the number of recruits.

“The jihad programme wasn’t very successful,” added Tieke, “So they stopped quite early and opened the camp to researchers. A person who wanted to record and create an audio museum came and started a commission and would record from these camps.” She showed a photo of men waiting in line to get recorded.

“This was known as the Half Moon camp,” she said adding, “because it had the most faraway and most diverse languages.”

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2016

Comments

Zak Jun 03, 2016 11:28am
Pakistani soldiers saved the British empire wars.
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Rashid Sultan Jun 03, 2016 12:15pm
In WW1 recruited Indian soldiers were from all religions. They were not segregated by religion. Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and Christians fought loyally for the crown in all theaters of war. Division of the military is as recent as 1947. Before 1947 it was a single fauj - British, Mughal, Rajput, Sultanate, Maratthas, etc had soldiers and officers from all religions.
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saif Jun 03, 2016 12:48pm
Apparently, Madeeha has misunderstood, what the speakers meant by "Maghreb". The arabic term Maghreb, used in the same sense in English and German is the geographic region comprising of Morocco, Algeria and Tunis. This was the region, where most other jihadis besides indian muslims came from. However, I know why you have chosen this title for your article. It should be rather "Link between West and Neo-Jihadism"
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Ahmedj Jun 04, 2016 02:57am
Magrhrib is mainly the North African countries up to Mali in the south, mainly desert. For the Indian soldiers from Punjab, the British shipped the troops to Europe through Egypt. Since Suez canal was not built then, the troops were taken to Port Taufiq in Egypt and then transported by train to Alexandria and from there taken on voyage to France at Marseille. After embarking at Marseille the soldiers were taken straight to the trenches on the western front. The Indian soldiers fought the Great War in Europe for two years and later withdrawn to Mesopotamia which is present day Iraq. From the wet and cold trenches of France and Belgium, the new weather of Iraq suited the Indian British Army. German influence in British controlled territory of India and Egypt is unlikely and that too via Karachi. However, to save the Ottoman empire a volunteer Army was created by the Indian Muslims who set on foot to Turkey via Afghanistan.
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Ahmedj Jun 04, 2016 03:54am
Talking about the German and British influence on Indian soldiers. One such interesting story is of two Afridi brothers Mir Dast and Mir Mast. Mir Dast while fighting bravely earned the highest military award of Victoria Cross for his distinguished actions. His brother, Mir Mast, deserted his regiment to the Germans where he won the highest award for bravery the Iron Cross while fighting for the Germans. Both the brothers awarded the highest military awards but from the opposite warring armies
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