Died 30 January 1959, Baden-Baden, Germany Books Germany's Covert War in the Middle East: Espionage, Propaganda and Diplomacy in World War I | ||
Curt Max Prüfer (July 26, 1881 in Berlin-Friedenau - January 30, 1959 in Baden-Baden) was a German diplomat.
Life
Prüfer studied Semitic languages at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and graduated in 1906. He received his doctorate in the same year with his dissertation on the art of Egyptian shadow play. In 1907 he was hired as an interpreter for his exceptional Arabic language skills in the Foreign Service in Cairo. Early in his tenure in Cairo, Prüfer worked under the supervision and mentorship of eccentric statesman and archaeologist Max von Oppenheim, who instilled in Prüfer anti-British ideology, and a strategy of sabotage against British rule in Egypt. Until 1919 he was in Cairo and Constantinople. In 1928 he wrote an introductory level textbook on the introduction of the Arabic dialect of Egypt.
During the First World War, he organized reconnaissance in the Ottoman territories of Palestine and Syria, wrote reports for the Ottoman governor of Palestine Djemal Pasha, and was involved in the organization of attacks on the British post at the Suez Canal. From 1926-27 he was posted in Tbilisi.
From 1930 to 1936 Prüfer was worked for the government administration in Berlin as Deputy Head of Anglo-America and the Orient. From 1936 to 1939, he was head of the Foreign Office on Wilhelmstrasse. In December 1937 he joined the Nazi Party, and was tasked with removing officials with Jewish ancestry and wives. Early in the Second World War, Prüfer was sent to Brazil to confer with President Getúlio Vargas. By mid-1943 he had returned to the Reich and was promoted to head of the Oriental Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and directly oversaw the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini. In September 1943 Prüfer retired with his family to Switzerland.