Beirut: Farewell to the Arabs
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sonally, then register him with the Beirut police as a friend of
the Arab cause. The police issue an identity card and all is in
order."
Von Hardenberg was in his thirties, a tall, lean, handsome
man. He showed me a photograph of himself receiving a second Iron Cross. "I was against Hitler, who wanted to attack
Russia at the same time as attacking the West," he said. "We
militarists knew Russia better than Hitler." Von Hardenberg
had succeeded in escaping to Rumania with a group of antiHitler Nazis and eventually was captured by the British. Sent
to Palestine as a prisoner, he claimed he was given a free hand
to travel among the Arab States. "We Germans have to work
with somebody," he said. "We cannot work with the Americans and we do not like the Russians or French. It is possible
to work with the English. . . ."
I saw von Hardenberg many times. He told me of frequent
trips that German officers were making to Beirut, and stated
that they were finding positions in various Arab armies. These
Germans belonged to a secret group called Deutsches Hilfskomittee for den Nahen Osten, German Aid Committee for the
Near East, of which he was chairman, von Hardenberg told
me.
"Is it with the Lebanese army that the Germans are finding
positions?" I asked.
"No. Lebanon is not militarist."
"Then I would say it was Egypt."
"It is Syria," von Hardenberg answered. "There are already
many Germans working with the Syrians as trainers and technicians."
THE STONE ON MY HEART
I FELT I was finished with my investigations of Arab and
German Nazis. There now remained the Dashnags of the