https://doi.org/10.1177/0968344516641457 War in History 2017, Vol. 24(4) 520–543 © The Author(s) 2016 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0968344516641457 journals.sagepub.com/home/wih Living Propaganda and Self-Serving Recruitment: The Nazi Rationale for the German-Arab Training Unit, May 1941 to May 1943 Thomas J. Kehoe Faculty of Health, Arts, and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia Elizabeth M. Greenhalgh University of New England, Armidale, Australia Abstract In 1941 Hitler set aside racial purity restrictions for the Wehrmacht to form the German- Arab Training Unit. New sources reveal Arab recruitment was self-serving, meant to bolster Nazi propaganda and foment anti-Allied Arab violence. Racism towards Arabs was pervasive throughout the Nazi regime and the Wehrmacht, stemming from Nazi ideology and older colonial attitudes. Consequently, the unit’s two-year history from May 1941 to May 1943 was defined by tension between retaining racial segregation and feigning collaboration. The results were command indecision, neglect, reticence to deploy into combat, and reluctant expansion, which together created dysfunction and disorder in the unit. Keywords Nazi racism, colonial soldiers, Arab collaboration, Arabic propaganda Race, militarism, and conquest were core interrelated concepts in Nazi ideology. Establishing racial hierarchy and extending Aryan supremacy were equally high priori- ties; military values of discipline and self-sacrifice became a model for civilian society and the Wehrmacht was the ‘racially pure’ army that conquered ‘living space’ (Lebensraum) Corresponding author: Thomas J. Kehoe, PhD, Faculty of Health, Arts, and Design, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia. Email: tkehoe@swin.edu.au 641457WIH 0 0 10.1177/0968344516641457War in HistoryKehoe and Greenhalgh research-article 2016 Article