Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military

347 Pages·2002·7.56 MB·English

by  Bryan Mark Rigg

Lives of Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers
Untold Tales of Men of Jewish Descent
Who Fought for the Third Reich
Bryan Mark Rigg
university press of kansas
© 2009 by the University Press of Kansas
All rights reserved Unless otherwise noted, all photographs and documents are from the Bryan Mark
Rigg Collection, German National Archives (Bundesarchiv).
Published by the University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas 66045), which was organized by the
Kansas Board of Regents and is operated and funded by Emporia State University, Fort Hays State
University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University, the University of Kansas, and
Wichita State University.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rigg, Bryan Mark, 1971– Lives of Hitler's
Jewish soldiers : untold tales of men of Jewish descent who fought for the Third Reich / Bryan Mark
Rigg.
p. cm. — (Modern war studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7006-2340-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-70062341-9 (e-book)
1. Jewish soldiers—Germany—History—20th century. 2. World War, 1939–1945—Participation,
Jewish. 3. Children of interfaith marriage—Germany—History—20th century. 4. National socialism.
5. Germany—History, Military—20th century.I.
Title.
DS134.255.R54 2009
940.54'04—dc22 2008042553
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data is available.
Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication is recycled and contains 30 percent postconsumer waste. It is acid
free and meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials z39.48–1992.
Do not judge thy comrade until thou hast stood in his place.
—Hillel, the Jewish Sage
This book is dedicated to Harvard Knowles and David Weber,
two incredible teachers at Phillips Exeter Academy. They
inspired me to write and explore the power of language. It is
also dedicated to two fellow Yale students and friends, Kee
Bong Kim and Stuart White, both of whom helped me to
explore military history and the men who fought during World
War II. It is dedicated to my Cambridge adviser, Jonathan
Steinberg, who went beyond the call of duty to help me with
this study. And finally, it is dedicated to my Starpoint TCU
teacher Mary Stewart, who healed my soul and taught me how
to read. After I failed first grade twice, she got me back on track
and has been an angel in my life.
contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
List of SS and Wehrmacht Ranks
Prologue: A Brief History of the Wehrmacht
Introduction
1 Jews and Mischlinge Hiding Their Identities
2 Half-Jews, the Wehrmacht, and OT Forced Labor Camps
3 Mischlinge Who Received the Deutschblütigkeitserklärung
4 Mischlinge and the Process of Getting a Genehmigung
5 Mischlinge and Uncommon Rescue Stories
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Half Jew First Lieutenant Joachim Sonntag’s grave on the Russian front. This picture was
taken in November 1942 by Achim von Bredow, a “37.5 percent Jew” according to Nazi
law.
preface
1942
In a former German soldier entered SS headquarters in Berlin. He
walked uneasily. His civilian jacket was adorned with medals he had earned
in battle. An SS officer asked what he wanted. Hugo Fuchs wished to know
where they had taken his Jewish father. The SS officer, upset, said, “I would
send you straight where your father is if you didn’t have those medals!”
Fuchs would never see his father again. He had been killed in the
Sachsenhausen concentration camp.1
1942
It was winter and Walter Gross ran for his life across snow-covered
tundra on the eastern front in Russia. He heard the loud explosions of
mortar shells and the whizzing of bullets as the enemy took aim at him.
Things had gone wrong while he led a reconnaissance patrol. The enemy
had killed everyone in his unit and he was desperately trying to make it back
to his lines. As he reached the edge of the defensive trench, an explosion and
shrapnel slammed his body against the earth. As he rolled over at the
bottom of the ditch, he looked at his lacerated belly as his entrails poured
out onto his legs. The warm blood soaked into his pant legs. With
unbearable pain, he started to scream. One of his closest comrades, Joachim
Schmidt, who had remained behind in the defensive trench, tried to shove
his guts back into his body but he did so in vain. Gross and his comrade
knew he was dying. Gross gave his friend a strange smile, shook his head,
and said that this was a shitty war. He was dying for a country that had
persecuted him and his family. He asked Schmidt to protect his Jewish
mother. Schmidt promised. He knew that Gross was a Mischling. Blood
continued to pour out of Gross. When his head slumped over and his body
went limp, another Jewish soldier had died for the Fatherland. His mother
committed suicide before her deportation to Auschwitz two months later.2
Fuchs and Gross were not alone in bravely serving their country while
the Nazis murdered their families. During World War II, likely thousands
of Jews and tens of thousands of partial Jews (Mischlinge) served in the
Wehrmacht. A few even held high positions in it. Here follow some of their
stories.
Knocked-out Russian T-34 tank with a dead body in front of it (top) and Russian corpses
on the battlefield (bottom). These pictures were taken on the Russian front in 1943 by
Achim von Bredow, a “37.5 percent Jew” according to Nazi law. These were the types of
tanks men like quarter-Jew Horst von Oppenfeld, half-Jew Helmuth Kopp, and half-Jew
Horst Geitner attacked during their time in combat.
acknowledgments
Several of the men whose stories appear in the following pages—along
with their families—offered support, advice, and often food and housing.
Their help was critical for my research, and from the bottom of my heart, I
thank them all.
Also, many historians, academics, and writers gave invaluable help.
Foremost on the list is Michael Berenbaum. I cannot begin to express my
gratitude to Michael Berenbaum of the University of Judaism for his
constant support and willingness to help make my work stronger—it is not
often that one has the help of one of the foremost Holocaust historians, and
I am grateful for his support.
Next, Mark Bernheim of the University of Miami in Ohio was a
tremendous help. He provided invaluable advice and feedback not only for
this book, but also for my first book, Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers. His insights
and constructive criticism have made both works better.
Many thanks go to the lawyer Peter Schliesser, himself a “half-Jew” under
the Nazis, for his extensive editorial help. His guidance and extensive
editing throughout the writing of this book have been greatly appreciated.
He is a true mensch. I would also like to thank the journalist David Seeley
and author Michael Skakun for their comments.
Warm thanks go to my graduate advisor at Cambridge University,
Jonathan Steinberg, who encouraged the exploration of such a project back
1996
in . His years of guidance and help mean more than he knows. Author
of Frontsoldaten, Stephen Fritz, and Günther Montfort, Bundes-archiv-
Militärarchiv in Freiburg, provided useful feedback on the structure and
content of the book.
James Tent, an expert on the Mischlinge (see his excellent book, In the
Shadow of the Holocaust), of the University of Alabama at Birmingham has
proven most helpful. His feedback during the editorial stage of this
manuscript has greatly strengthened it. University of Virginia history
professor Hans Schmitt, also a “half-Jew” during the Nazis years, gave me
incredible feedback. His support and help these last few years have been
tremendous. I also thank the late Andy Baggs at American Military