Ali Haidar Pasha (1866-1935), Sheriff of Mecca, Damascus railway station, April 1917.

Ali Haidar Pasha (1866-1935), Sheriff of Mecca, Damascus railway station, April 1917.

German propaganda postcard edited by F. Volckmar and based on a photograph taken on the platform of Damascus station in April 1917.

This meeting should be seen in the political and military context of the Levant and the Hedjaz in 1916-1917. Ottoman military and civilian personalities, as well as Syrians, can be seen greeting the Sherif of Mecca, Ali Haidar Pasha, appointed to replace Hussein Ibn Ali, who had refused to launch the Djhad against the enemies of the Ottoman Empire, as he stepped off the train. In the center, Ottoman governor Djemal Pasha wears Ottoman and German decorations, a reminder of his alliance with Kaiser Wilhelm II. This propaganda postcard looks back on these episodes. Following the Ottoman defeat, Sherif Ali Haidar Pasha left the Hedjaz and took refuge in Damascus, where he was received by Djemal Pasha in April 1917. A rare image of this Meccan sheriff. Rare image figuring Ali Haidar Pasha (1866-1935), Sheriff of Mecca, Damascus railway station, April 1917, postcard.