I have looked further into the matter of whether the German troops in Libya participated in rounding up Jewish citizens, given that some people continue to claim there is evidence. 1/ @militaryhistori @ITM_archives @BloodPhilip @JeffCRutherford @DrPaulFroehlich @robert_lyman

TLDR: There is no evidence for any organised participation. There is evidence that, particularly during the retreat from Alamein German soldiers mistreated civilians, which may have included Jewish civilians, although many of them would have been in the Giado camp by then. 2/

There is no evidence for any orders to Rommel in early 1941 to round up Jewish citizens in Libya. This doesn't mean there wasn't an order, but if there was, we have not found it. I consider the likelihood that it existed very low, considering Libya was Italy to all intents. 3/

It is possible, although we have no evidence, that the German rear area units in Tripoli, Benghazi, and elsewhere, which included a Landesschützenbatallion and Baubatallione, may have carried out organised anti-Jewish actions. These troops are practically unresearched. 4/

So we simply don't know. In Russia, it would have been many of these troops that were implicated in genocide. In Libya, the records seem to be gone, or have not been looked at, both on the German and Italian side. For example, the war diary of Korück 556 would be critical. 5/

I need to look for it though, not sure it exists. In any case, there is Holocaust research to be done there. But it's not my line of work. What I feel reasonably confident in saying is that the combat troops of Panzergruppe Afrika were not engaged in persecution in 1941. 6/

As there is no evidence for them to have been engaged in this, and they were placed far from population centres. The locations with substantial German presence in this period were Tripoli, Benghazi and Derna. They would have rear area admin, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine presence 7/

So we know of no order or http://action.As  always, this concerns Libya ONLY. I base this on my research and that of Patrick Bernhard. 8/ @CedricMas @KarlJames_1945 @Hutch_and_Sons @davne @StephenClarkeNZ @mike_bechthold @NavalHistWar @warriorscomeout @Falo12147944

Tunisia is well researched by comparison, and hypothetically I have zero doubt that German troops would have committed a Holocaust by bullet in Eypt and Palestine, had they been given the opportunity to do so in 1942, as was planned. 9/

To recap, the war in North Africa was not a clean war. It was brutal, many people died, including many civilians, and atrocities were committed and human rights violated. While the absolute numbers killed are small, in the context of the much smaller population they are large 10/

The 'clean war in North Africa' is a feel-good story people tell themselves so we can be in awe of the arrows on the map and the pictures of tanks throwing up dust without the queasy feeling in our stomachs that Russia gives us. It's a lie. 11/

That's it for the claims of that particular academic who will remain blocked and isn't worth engaging with, but I believe this maybe of interest to some other people engaged in this debade. 12/ends