Jewish Officers in The German Army of WW1

[Dave Danner]

Kev,

Walter Transfeldt in his "Wort und Brauch in Heer und Flotte" gives the following figures: 96,000 Jewish soldiers participated in WW1 of which 2000 were commissioned plus a further 1200 medical officers.

There was not an Austro-Hungarian Jewish Field-Marshal although Generaloberst Samuel Baron von Hazai was a Jewish convert to christianity.

Regards

Glenn

For what it's worth, and for context, Austria-Hungary's Jewish population in 1900 was 2,076,277 (1,224,899 in Austrian lands and 851,378 in Hungary). Germany's in 1901 was 586,948.

So with approximately 100,000 German Jewish soldiers to 96,000 Austro-Hungarian Jewish soldiers, you can see that even though the k.u.k. Armee was by policy more open to Jewish soldiers, in practice Jews were far less likely to serve.

Glenn probably knows more background on this than I, but if I had to guess, I'd say the main difference is that most Jews in Germany were German Jews, with a smaller percentage of Polish Jews in Silesia, Pomerania and Posen, but most Jews in Austria-Hungary were Polish, Ukrainian/Ruthenian, and Hungarian Jews, with German Jews a smaller percentage. About two-thirds of the over 1.2 million Austrian Jews were in Austrian Galicia. The k.u.k. Armee would already be heavily dominated by Austrian Germans and Hungarians, and to the extent regiments recruited in Slavic areas with large Jewish populations, in many cases the local Slavs were even more hostile to Jews.

It wouldn't surprise me if a significant number of the Jews in the k.u.k. Armee were from the assimilated German Jewish population, including secular Jews and Christian converts, of Vienna and other large cities in the western empire, rather than major Jewish population centers like Brody.

Edited April 28, 2013 by Dave Danner

[Glenn J]

Dave,

Transfeldt's figure are for German Jewish citizens, not Austro-Hungarians.

Regards

Glenn

[Dave Danner]

Dave,

Transfeldt's figure are for German Jewish citizens, not Austro-Hungarians.

Regards

Glenn

Oh, OK, my confusion. Any idea what the numbers are for the Austro-Hungarian Army?

Edited April 28, 2013 by Dave Danner

[Ulsterman]

Oh, OK, my confusion. Any idea what the numbers are for the Austro-Hungarian Army?

see post #23!

[Dave Danner]

Based on that it looks like Austria-Hungary and Germany were roughly the same. My bad.

I found another source which provides interesting contemporaneous information. Because it was written at the time, it has some outdated information, and because it was written by American civilians unfamiliar with German military terminology, it has some inaccuracies (like Verdienst translated as service rather than merit). But otherwise it is a wealth of information on the topic.

It is the American Jewish Congress' American Jewish Year Books for the war years. The "Review of the Year" for each year includes country-by-country reviews of significant events, deaths, including combat deaths, and honors and awards, including combat decorations. It is in PDF format.

Review of the Year (1915-1916): http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/..._YearReview.pdf

(covers July 1, 1914 to May 31, 1915)

Review of the Year (1916-1917): http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/..._YearReview.pdf

(covers June 1, 1915 to May 31, 1916)

Review of the Year (1917-1918): http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/..._YearReview.pdf

(covers June 1, 1916 to May 31, 1917)

Review of the Year (1918-1919): http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/..._YearReview.pdf

(covers June 1, 1917 to May 31, 1918)

A snippet from a Germany section:

[Dave Danner]

A snippet from an Austria-Hungary section:

[Eric Stahlhut]

hey, i happen to have an EK1 (surprise!) with the words,

"festung verdun 1916 alois horwitz"

scratched on the back. last name sound kinda jewish?

anybody wanna see it?

[Kev in Deva]

Hallo Eric,

personally I tend to view anything "scratched" on the back of a medal / Cross with suspicion.

As its all to easy to do, and no way to verify that it belonged to the person named.

No doubt there were many Jewish receipiants of the EK I and EK II and other German State awards,

long before the nazi edict against Jews serving in the Armed Forces of the Reich.

Many are well documented, as are the stories of old Jewish WW1 veterans

showing their medal bars as they were being rounded up for transportation.

I seem to recall a monument at Verdun dedicated to Jewish Combatants,

but cannot remember if it was for German Jews, French Jews or all Jews who fought at Verdun.

Kevin in Deva.

[Eric Stahlhut]

ok man, sorry to bother you!

Edited June 10, 2008 by Eric Stahlhut

[PKeating]

http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/righitpix.html

[Eric Stahlhut]

there's a guy in israel who claims this represents an austrian or german 'Bund Juedischer Frontsoldaten'. i think it's pretty interesting! it's a fairly large badge. has anyone seen this item or heard of such an organization before?

unfortunately, no image of reverse. yet.

Edited July 5, 2008 by Eric Stahlhut

[Ulsterman]

There was such a Bund.

It might well be such a badge. I have never seen one, but know the Bund existed and met annually in Vienna until 1938.

[Obergefreiter]

Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank, served in WWI, and earned an EKI

[Chris Boonzaier]

The commander of Sturmbataillon Rohr!

[Chris Boonzaier]

The new Wernitz book on the EK has a special section on Jewish soldiers who got the EK.

I wish there was more info on Major Rohr!!