Die Vierte Mosche
Nazis, CIA und der Islamische Fundamentalismus

"Ohne die Moschee am Rande Münchens ist der Aufstieg des Islam in Deutschland und Europa künftig nich mehr zu erzählen."
Andreas Zielcke, Süddeutsche Zeitung
Als der Journalist und Pulitzer-Preisträger Ian Johnson 2003 eine Londoner Buchhandlung betritt, macht er eine sensationelle und unheimliche Entdeckung:

Als wichtigste Moscheen werden Mekka, Jerusalem, Istanbul und eine Moschee in München genannt. Warum München? Welche Moschee? Das islamische Zentrum von München wurde seit dem Dritten Reich und dem Kalten Krieg von Nazis, Agenten, gestrandeten Muslimen, islamistischen Fanatikern,von Akteuren aller Couleurs zum Bollwerk gegen die Sowjetunion aufgerüstet. Die CIA und andere Geheimdienste spinnen Intrigen, steuern Machtkämpfe und unterstützen radikale Islamisten der Moslembruderschaft – immer hinter dem Rücken der Öffentlichkeit. Das Drama, das sich in München abspielte, reichte vom politischen Skandal bis zur Schizophrenie der Ideologen und mündet in der jüngsten Zeitgeschichte: In der vierten Moschee wurde der Westen zum Paten des 11. September 2001.
Lob für die englische Ausgabe
"Mosque in Munich’ is an important book about an important subject. But Ian Johnson is more than a brilliant journalist and tireless researcher; he is a writer of the first rank. His story of an extraordinary Muslim community in Germany is instructive, enlightening, and beautifully done."
Ian Buruma, author of Taming the Gods: Religion and Democracy on Three Continents and "Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh".
"I thought I knew something about blowback: the way U.S. support for anti-Soviet Muslim militants in Afghanistan two decades earlier came back to haunt us on September 11, 2001. But Ian Johnson has unearthed an extraordinary episode of similarly disastrous American judgement that begins well over half a century ago, whose full consequences we've not yet seen. It's a chilling piece of history few people know, and he tells the story with a novelist's skill."
Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghosts and Bury the Chains.
"Ian Johnson is one of the best foreign correspondents working today. His language skills and patient research have uncovered important stories in Asia and Europe, and in A Mosque in Munich he explores a previously unknown chapter in Cold War history..."
Peter Hessler, National Book Award finalist for Oracle Bones, correspondent for The New Yorker.
"Ian Johnson is a natural storyteller. He leads the reader on a fascinating ride from Turkestan to Egypt, Washington, Munich and Geneva following the stories of CIA agents, former Nazis, Muslims who fled the Soviet Union, and modern day Islamists..."
Hope M. Harrison, Director, Institute for European, Russian & Eurasian Studies, George Washington University.
"The story is a complicated one -- involving Cold War politics, Nazi holdovers, religious fanaticism, personal and institutional rivalries, and widespread naïveté in the West -- but Ian Johnson tells it superbly. Readers are likely to feel a mix of shock, anger, and bafflement as they watch events unfold and the same mistakes being made over and over. Johnson's vivid, absorbing narrative underscores how decisions made decades ago can still haunt us today."
Mark Kramer, Director, Cold War Studies Program, Harvard University.
"It is especially timely in light of recent calls to recalibrate American and Western approaches to Islam and to radical Islam. It should be read in the corridors of power and by citizens who take a serious interest in the continuing issue of how best to address the challenge posed by political Islamism both in Europe and the Middle East."
Jeffrey Herf, Professor of History, University of Maryland and author of The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda During World War II.