John Roy Carlson (1909–1991)

"With the radical I was a radical, With the communist I was a pro communist, with the fascists, pro fascist; with the anti-Zionists, anti jewish. All these and many other roles I had assumed to survive"

John Roy Carlson was a pen name for Arthur Derounian who was an American free-lance investigative journalist. In 1943 he published [Under Cover: My Four Years In the Nazi Underworld of America] - 'The Amazing Revelation of How Axis Agents and Our Enemies Within are now Plotting to Destroy the United States'. His book was a best seller and so in 1947 he decided to use his contacts to infiltrate the fascist groups that were working in Cairo Egypt to train and finance the Arab volunteers who were launching a Jehad against the Jews in Palestine following the UN resolution to partition the country. Cairo to Damascus published in 1951 was the book resulting from his undercover activities. He arguably got closer to the action and a better understanding of the situation than the bus load of journalists covering the events who were working for various newspapers.

By the very nature of his task of spinning lies and disinformation to infiltrate and meet protagonists in a dangerous war torn situation, the reader might be suspicious that Derounian's writing is as much about the exploits of Derounian as the events that he describes. While this is true to a certain extent, because he explains in some detail the manoeuvres and tricks that he carried out to achieve his aims and the dangers to himself, he does not place himself above the events that he describes. His book is an important eye witness account of a dangerous conflict by an experienced journalist who developed sympathies to people on both sides in the struggle.

Derounian used previous contacts in the fascist underworld as well as his birthright as an Armenian to gain the confidence of the Arab volunteers, who were whipped up into a holy war against the Jews in Palestine. He managed to meet the movers and shakers in the two main volunteer groups; the Green shirts and the Muslim Brotherhood. When a brigade of the Green Shirts finally left Cairo, Derounian travelled with them as a photographer and sympathiser. The only way he could achieve this was to convince his compatriots that he was also extremely anti-Semitic. The Arabs were intent on killing as many Jews as possible at the behest of Allah. Derounian lived with the fighters in their advanced position outside the gates of Jerusalem and described the horrendous conditions under which they fought. They were a rag-tag of an army indisciplined, under prepared, unruly and lacking any sort of professionalism. They were both fanatical and cowardly, but Derounian grew to understand their passion and their hospitality and became attached to some of the individuals. The Arabs launched attacks against the Jewish Kibbutz outposts, which were at times spectacularly unsuccessful, but the Arabs had the numbers and were in a position to shell the new town of Jerusalem. Derounian was able to slip out into the Armenian quarter of the old town: The Vank and from their cross over to the Jewish side and talk his way into meeting the Jewish Haganah commanders. He stayed with them while they resisted the Arab onslaught of the Jewish part of Jerusalem and reported the inhabitants hardships, the hunger, the continuous bombardment and the grief over the dead. He managed to get back to the Armenian quarter to witness the Jewish Surrender.

At the end of the British Mandate the Arabs found themselves out fought by the much better armed and trained Israelis whose passion for their new country surpassed that of the Arab invaders, but Derounian himself was under increasing suspicion from both sides in the conflict and needed to get out fast, he then travelled to Bethlehem, Jericho, Amman and Damascus. In Damascus he managed to meet briefly with the Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Hussein who was involved in financing and supporting the Arab movement. He also met with Nazi organisers and military advisers. He went onto Lebanon, before finely taking ship with Jewish refugees on their way to Israel, where he toured and experienced the Kibbutz movement at first hand. In 1948 he visited his birthplace now Alexandroupolis in Greece and was appalled by the poverty surrounding his old house before thankfully getting back to the United States.

Derounian proves to be a good reporter, he has a connection with the countries he visits, but that is tinted by his American statehood and the culture of his new country. He is amazed by the dirt and filth of Cairo and the feudal civilisation that he witnesses. The extreme poverty and the small percentage of very rich people who have an iron grip on the country. He was able to witness Jerusalem just as the British mandate finished and describes the destruction he saw at the Christian holy sites. In Damascus he witnessed an Israeli aircraft attack on the capital, just two aircraft, but an absolute shock to the Arabs who thought that were going to drive the Jews into the sea. Derounian's book captures the hatred felt by both sides through his own personal experiences: in one of his attempts to cross from the Arab front line back to Jerusalem he gets lost in the darkness and at dawn he meets an old Arab on a donkey he greets him in Arabic fashion, but the old man screams 'Yahoodi' and draws his knife a young Arab races along the track with his knife drawn and it is only Derounian's quick thinking and access to credentials that prove he is attached to the Arab military that save him. Derounian says his biggest danger was producing the wrong documents when challenged as he had pockets full of recommendations and passes from both the Arab side and the Jewish side, he had to remember which pocket held which.

Derounian finishes his book on thoughts of his life in the new dynamic civilisation of America which develops into a panegyric for his adopted homeland. He then picks up a copy of the 'New York Herald Tribune' at Athens airport while waiting for his flight home and reads of disquieting reports of political conflicts, of fear and hysteria and threats to destroy our cherished freedom and ends with:

I stood wondering: had I not already seen two worlds - the East and the West - wracked by dissension, by narrow nationalisms, by selfish interests? Was my country now beginning to travel the same path? Were we - at a time when half the world was engulfed by tyranny - beginning to darken the major beacon of faith in, and hope for the future? These were my thoughts as I left Athens.

I found it an educational experience to look though Derounian's eyes; a first hand experience of events in Arab countries after the second world war. The strong influence of German fascism that was still gripping the Arab world, the hatred fuelled by past events and the poverty that calls for for someone to blame: a whipping boy. The all pervading grip of religious calling and religious propaganda resulting in destruction and war. Derounian proves to be a lively reporter of events and even if you might think he exaggerates his own escapades, there is no doubting his keen observations from his experiences on the front line of the conflict. 4.5 stars.… (mais)

Imagine for a moment that in America there are millions of people who don’t like foreigners or people of colour, who are often fundamentalist Christians, who label all their opponents “Marxists” and who have made friends with the KKK. Imagine that those people also support a foreign policy based on America sticking up for its own interests — which they proudly call “America First”. Sound familiar?

I am describing, of course, the world inhabited by pioneering investigative journalist John Roy Carlson. The year is 1943 and this book, Carlson’s first, is a runaway best-seller. Over the course of four-and-a-half years, Carlson infiltrated the American far Right — organisations like the German American Bund, the America First Committee, the Christian Front and more. He got close to the followers of the notorious Catholic priest Charles Coughlin and the pioneering aviator (and Nazi sympathiser) Charles Lindbergh, as well as many others who are long forgotten.

I first read this wonderful book many years ago, as it had been owned by my father, but in re-reading it now, with a proud proponent of “America First” in the White House, with Nazis and Klansmen hailed as “good people”, the book has a special resonance. Too bad it’s not currently in print, except in some libraries and — if you get lucky — a used copy.… (mais)