[Jim O]

I agree with Tom. Rommel may have been an ambitious officer but it doesn't seem that he ever had a great deal of respect for the little corporal or for the chicken farmer.

Certainly by mid-late 1941 the Einsatzgruppen were extremely active in Belorussia and Ukraine and it would be no surprise that the Nazis would rather kill Jews in Palestine immediately rather than have to keep track of them, feed them, and house them. The Aktion Reinhardt camps were operational in early 1942 and Auschwitz II (Birkenau) was operational in late 1941. So clearly the "Final Solution" was well underway by the time of the Second Battle at El Alamein in late 1942.

That doesn't mean that Rommel was aware of the actual plans if a military success occurred. But certainly he had to be aware of what was happening elsewhere. In the circles in which he traveled (other generals, etc.) the goings in in the east were well known. To think that he didn't know would be silly. Jews were being "resettled in the East" from the Altreich in 1942 and everyone knew it. There may have been "plausible deniability" as to what was happening to them for the average German, but not for high ranking military officers.