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2010-09-06

The book Lives of Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers published in Poland

More than 130,000 Jewish men fought in the army of the Third Reich. Their fate is described by Bryan Mark Rigg, an American historian, in the book “Lives of Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers”, which can now be found in bookshops.

The historian based his book on interviews with ex-soldiers of the Wehrmacht. These private soldiers and officers who served both in the regular army and in the Waffen-SS had Jewish ancestors; and they were Jews according to Nazi racial laws. They came from different families, many of them with military and Christian background. Due to patriotism, fear, and willingness to protect their families from persecution, these men joined the army.

In his book, the author analyzes experiences of soldiers who claimed to be Jews, and he publishes the scripts of interviews with people having both fascinating and terrible biographies. Most of so called partial-Jews (Mischlinge) connected with National Socialism rejected identification with Jewishness. They perceived themselves as Germans. They often declared anti-Semitism, mostly against so called “Eastern Jews” (Ostjuden). Rigg quotes Hans Herder, who was extremely depressed when he found out that his grandfather was a Jew. “I openly tell you that I do not like Jews”, he told Rigg in 1996. Another Wehrmacht soldier of Jewish origin added, “in most cases, Mischlinge considered themselves Germans, not Jews. Some of them would willingly join SS if they did not have Jewish blood.”

Rigg writes that soldiers with whom he spoke wanted to prove that they were worthy to be called Germans and fought with great stubbornness, exposing themselves much more than others. He examined exactly 1671 cases of Jewish soldiers and Mischlinge (including 26 members of Nazi Party): 163 were killed, 279 were honored for courage (as many as 15 of them with the Knight’s Cross). Very often they wanted to help their Jewish families by serving in the army. At the same time, as the author states, such soldiers thought that they “betrayed the people they wanted to protect.”

Likewise, Rigg endeavours to answer the question concerning what Germans of Jewish origin knew about the Holocaust. According to his studies, “most Mischlinge did not do anything to help Polish Jews who were mistreated by their colleagues-soldiers. (…) They cared little about persecuted Polish-Jewish civilians.” Some of them actively took part in the Holocaust. Hans Eppinger was responsible for pseudo-scientific medical experiments in Dachau. Elke Sirewiz, who had false documents with another surname (Fritz Scherwitz), became a member of the Nazi Party. He served in the Waffen-SS as an Obersturmfuehrer and was a commanding officer of the concentration camp in Lenta near Ryga. However, each of the Jewish soldiers of the Wehrmacht examined by the historian lost approximately 8 members of their families during the Holocaust. The cruelty of Hitler’s Jewish soldiers cannot undermine the suffering of the victims of the Holocaust.

Source: PAP

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The book Lives of Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers published in Poland

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