Jewish Integration in the German Army in the First World War

Jewish Integration in the German Army in the First World War PDF Author: David J. Fine
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110268167
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Get Book

Book Description
In Jewish Integration in the German Army in the First World War David J. Fine offers a surprising portrayal of Jewish officers in the German army as integrated and comfortably identified as both Jews and Germans. Fine explores how both Judaism and Christianity were experienced by Jewish soldiers at the front, making an important contribution to the study of the experience of religion in war. Fine shows how the encounter of German Jewish soldiers with the old world of the shtetl on the eastern front tested both their German and Jewish identities. Finally, utilizing published and unpublished sources including letters, diaries, memoirs, military service records, press accounts, photographs, drawings and tomb stone inscriptions, the author argues that antisemitism was not a primary factor in the war experience of Jewish soldiers.

Jewish Integration in the German Army in the First World War

Jewish Integration in the German Army in the First World War PDF Author: David J. Fine
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110268167
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Get Book

Book Description
In Jewish Integration in the German Army in the First World War David J. Fine offers a surprising portrayal of Jewish officers in the German army as integrated and comfortably identified as both Jews and Germans. Fine explores how both Judaism and Christianity were experienced by Jewish soldiers at the front, making an important contribution to the study of the experience of religion in war. Fine shows how the encounter of German Jewish soldiers with the old world of the shtetl on the eastern front tested both their German and Jewish identities. Finally, utilizing published and unpublished sources including letters, diaries, memoirs, military service records, press accounts, photographs, drawings and tomb stone inscriptions, the author argues that antisemitism was not a primary factor in the war experience of Jewish soldiers.

Beyond Inclusion and Exclusion

Beyond Inclusion and Exclusion PDF Author: Jason Crouthamel
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1789200199
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 418

Get Book

Book Description
During the First World War, the Jewish population of Central Europe was politically, socially, and experientially diverse, to an extent that resists containment within a simple historical narrative. While antisemitism and Jewish disillusionment have dominated many previous studies of the topic, this collection aims to recapture the multifariousness of Central European Jewish life in the experiences of soldiers and civilians alike during the First World War. Here, scholars from multiple disciplines explore rare sources and employ innovative methods to illuminate four interconnected themes: minorities and the meaning of military service, Jewish-Gentile relations, cultural legacies of the war, and memory politics.

A Deadly Legacy

A Deadly Legacy PDF Author: Timothy L. Grady
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300192045
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Get Book

Book Description
A groundbreaking reassessment of the crucial but unrecognized roles Germany's Jews played at home and at the front during World War I

For the Honor of Our Fatherland

For the Honor of Our Fatherland PDF Author: Tracey Hayes Norrell
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1498564887
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book

Book Description
For the Honor of Our Fatherland looks at the role of German Jews on the Eastern Front during World War I. German officials believed the Jewish population in the East was vital to their success, but then, as the war began slipping away from Germany, those same officials turned on their own Jewish community and abandoned the Polish Jews.

Loyal Sons

Loyal Sons PDF Author: Peter C. Appelbaum
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780853039990
Category : Germany
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
During World War I, approximately 100,000 Jews served in the German army, of whom around 80,000 fought on the Front and 12,500 were killed, died, or went missing in action. About 35,000 were decorated, 23,000 promoted, and more than 2,000 became officers. Using excerpted diaries and memoirs of soldiers from all branches of the army, this book - now available in paperback - describes their war experiences on the Western, Eastern, Balkan, and Ottoman Fronts. It also looks at the impressions of other nationalities and their varied feelings about anti-Semitism in the army. Historiographical details, as well as religious and other details, are provided, and, in the process, a look inside the vanished world of Eastern European Jewry is given by the soldiers who served there. The book also contains an extensive analysis of the Judenzahlung (Jewish census) of October 1916 - a pivotal event in the post-war development of German anti-Semitism. Loyal Sons closes with a few examples of the fate of these veterans, whose Fatherland 'thanked them' for their loyal service less than two decades later with all the horrors of the Holocaust. *** ''...Appelbaum's well-written study probes the wide range of experiences of Jewish soldiers, sailors, and airmen on Germany's four different battle fronts in WW I. Recommended. All levels/libraries.'' -- Choice, Vol. 52, No. 10, June 2015 *** ''...an important source of the condition of Jews in Germany, and especially during WWI, presenting their life and thoughts.'' -- AJL Reviews, May/June 2015 [Subject: History, Military Studies, Jewish Studies, German Studies, World War I]

Antisemitism in the German Military Community and the Jewish Response, 1914–1938

Antisemitism in the German Military Community and the Jewish Response, 1914–1938 PDF Author: Brian E. Crim
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739188569
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 231

Get Book

Book Description
Antisemitism in the German Military Community and the Jewish Response, 1914–1938 explores how German World War I veterans from different social and political backgrounds contributed to antisemitic politics during the Weimar Republic. The book compares how the military, right-wing veterans, and Jewish veterans chose to remember their war experiences and translate these memories into a political reality in the postwar world. Antisemitism addresses several neglected issues. First, there is relatively little scholarship discussing antisemitism in the imperial German army and the impact former imperial officers had on the antisemitic predilections of veteran associations. This subject deserves attention given that veteran politics during the Weimar Republic were of tremendous significance to the collapse of democracy and the rise of National Socialism, and that the primary architects of the Third Reich and the “Final Solution” were either World War I veterans or had been members of paramilitary organizations in the interwar period. The second issue addressed is how veterans influenced the definition of “Aryan” identity, or how race came to be perceived through the prism of war and political violence. Since German Jews had to fight both accusations of shirking military service and the perception of the “Jew” as effeminate, the manner in which these veterans tried to reforge Jewish identity and their relationship with their former comrades is an extraordinarily important issue. The third issue concerns situational antisemitism, or the process by which an organization expressed an opinion or policy concerning Jews in response to internal dissension and external influences.

Loyalty Betrayed

Loyalty Betrayed PDF Author: Peter C. Appelbaum
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780853038474
Category : Jewish soldiers
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
Approximately thirty Jewish chaplains served in the German army during the First World War. Documents produced by Jewish chaplains include texts of sermons they delivered, diaries, articles written for Jewish journals, official reports sent to Army Headquarters, memoires written shortly after the war, and photographs. Dr Appelbaum has translated and richly annotated a selection of these documents into English for the first time. HIs book provides a balanced view of the situation of Jews in the German army on the Western, Eastern and Balkan Fronts and also a glimpse into the vanished world of Eastern European Judaism.

The Enemy I Knew

The Enemy I Knew PDF Author: Steven Karras
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group USA
ISBN: 1616732490
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Get Book

Book Description
Jewish refugees who fled the Nazis—then returned to fight them as Allied soldiers—share their experiences: “Heroic, poignant [and] compelling.” —The Daily News Even Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel struggled with the question: Why didn’t the Jews fight back? But he finally concluded that the real question was how so many of them did. As he put it, “Tormented, beaten, starved, where did they find the strength—spiritual and physical—to resist?” In fact, over 10,000 German Jews fought in the Allied armies of World War II. This book honors those European-born combat veterans—refugees from the Nazi regime in Germany and Austria who faced their persecutors by joining the Allied forces in a fight against the country of their birth. These twenty-seven interviews take us into the unique and harrowing experiences of brave men—and one brave woman—whose service restored a sense of dignity and allowed them to rise above their former victimization. All burned with anger at the Germans who’d subjected them, often as young children, to cruelty in everyday life in their hometowns, and to ridicule in the national media. As soldiers who knew the language and psychology of the enemy better than any of their comrades, they struck back with newfound pride against the rampant injustice that had annihilated their families, destroyed their prospects, and subjected many of them to the worst forms of physical abuse, both random and terrifying. In The Enemy I Knew they tell their stories—and the world is richer for their heroic acts, and for their testimony. “It is rare to come across a book about a forgotten story from World War II, but Steve Karras has found one of the most compelling, little-known accounts from the war and he tells it brilliantly. Harrowing, breathtaking in parts, and completely absorbing.” —Andrew Carroll, New York Times–bestselling editor of War Letters “Few stories can rival the ones told in The Enemy I Knew.” —Library Journal (starred review)

State, Society and Mobilization in Europe during the First World War

State, Society and Mobilization in Europe during the First World War PDF Author: John Horne
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521561129
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314

Get Book

Book Description
This is a volume of comparative essays on the First World War that focuses on one central feature: the political and cultural "mobilization" of the populations of the main belligerent countries in Europe behind the war. It explores how and why they supported the war for so long (as soldiers and civilians), why that support weakened in the face of the devastation of trench warfare, and why states with a stronger degree of political support and national integration (such as Britain and France) were ultimately successful.

X Troop

X Troop PDF Author: Leah Garrett
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0358177421
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 373

Get Book

Book Description
WALL STREET JOURNAL BOOK OF THE MONTH "This is the incredible World War II saga of the German-Jewish commandos who fought in Britain’s most secretive special-forces unit—but whose story has gone untold until now." —Wall Street Journal “Brilliantly researched, utterly gripping history: the first full account of a remarkable group of Jewish refugees—a top-secret band of brothers—who waged war on Hitler.”—Alex Kershaw, New York Times best-selling author of The Longest Winter and The Liberator The incredible World War II saga of the German-Jewish commandos who fought in Britain’s most secretive special-forces unit—but whose story has gone untold until now June 1942. The shadow of the Third Reich has fallen across the European continent. In desperation, Winston Churchill and his chief of staff form an unusual plan: a new commando unit made up of Jewish refugees who have escaped to Britain. The resulting volunteers are a motley group of intellectuals, artists, and athletes, most from Germany and Austria. Many have been interned as enemy aliens, and have lost their families, their homes—their whole worlds. They will stop at nothing to defeat the Nazis. Trained in counterintelligence and advanced combat, this top secret unit becomes known as X Troop. Some simply call them a suicide squad. Drawing on extensive original research, including interviews with the last surviving members, Leah Garrett follows this unique band of brothers from Germany to England and back again, with stops at British internment camps, the beaches of Normandy, the battlefields of Italy and Holland, and the hellscape of Terezin concentration camp—the scene of one of the most dramatic, untold rescues of the war. For the first time, X Troop tells the astonishing story of these secret shock troops and their devastating blows against the Nazis. “Garrett’s detective work is stunning, and her storytelling is masterful. This is an original account of Jewish rescue, resistance, and revenge.”—Wendy Lower, author of The Ravine and National Book Award finalist Hitler’s Furies