In 1926, the first Nazi Party cell was set up in Alexandria, Egypt. It would soon be followed by one in Cairo, along with similar cells to coordinate “military and SS intelligence”. “Businessmen and academics” would be tasked with spreading Nazi influence across the region. Cells would soon sprout in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, and Tunisia. While they were composed primarily of German families in the Middle East and North Africa, they would soon expand by enlisting the support of Islamists and anti-imperialists.
The historical legacy of these actions lives on to this day — almost 100 years later — through a dedicated network of Farsi and Arabic-speaking Nazis spread across Telegram, Facebook, and YouTube. They represent Egypt, Iraq and Iran, and have increasingly begun to rely on the same aesthetics as their western counterparts. While their numbers remain small, collectively just over 29,000 across platforms, they have expanded their online presence significantly, building out libraries with hundreds of gigabytes of content, e-magazines, and online retailers catering to a small but growing Middle East Nazi community.
Read more at the Global Network on Extremism & Technology
