World War I and the Jews: Conflict and Transformation in Europe, the Middle East, and America

354 Pages·2017·3.305 MB·English

by  Marsha L. Rozenblit (editor), Jonathan Karp (editor)

World War I and the Jews

World War I and the Jews
Confl ict and Transformation in Europe,
the Middle East, and America
Edited by
Marsha L. Rozenblit and Jonathan Karp
berghahn
N E W Y O R K • O X F O R D
www.berghahnbooks.com
Published in 2017 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
© 2017 Marsha L. Rozenblit and Jonathan Karp
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages
for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book
may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented,
without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Rozenblit, Marsha L., 1950– editor. | Karp, Jonathan, 1960– editor.
Title: World War I and the Jews : confl ict and transformations in Europe, the
Middle East, and America / edited by Marsha L. Rozenblit and Jonathan
Karp.
Description: New York : Berghahn Books, [2017] | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2017014887 (print) | LCCN 2017015411 (ebook) | ISBN
9781785335938 (e-book) | ISBN 9781785335921 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: World War, 1914–1918—Jews. | World War, 1914–1918—
Infl uence. | World War, 1914–1918—Social aspects—Europe. | World War,
1914–1918—Social aspects—Middle East. | World War, 1914–1918—Social
aspects—America.
Classifi cation: LCC D639.J4 (ebook) | LCC D639.J4 W77 2017 (print) |
DDC 940.3089/924—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017014887
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78533-592-1 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-78533-593-8 (ebook)
To Judith Siegel
Our friend and a true friend of scholars

Table of Contents
Figures ix
Tables x
Maps xi
Acknowledgments xii
Introduction: On the Signifi cance of World War I and
the Jews 1
Jonathan Karp and Marsha L. Rozenblit
Part I. Overviews
1. World War I and Its Impact on the Problem of Security
in Jewish History 17
David Engel
2. The European Jewish World 1914–1919: What Changed? 32
Marsha L. Rozenblit
3. Jewish Diplomacy and the Politics of War and Peace 56
Carole Fink
Part II. Local Studies
4. Bravery in the Borderlands, Martyrs on the Margins:
Jewish War Heroes and World War I Narratives in France,
1914–1940 85
Erin Corber
5. The Budapest Jewish Community’s Galician October 112
Rebekah Klein-Pejšová
viii Table of Contents
6. Confronting the Bacterial Enemy: Public Health,
Philanthropy, and Jewish Responses to Typhus in Poland,
1914–1921 131
Daniel Rosenthal
7. The Union of Jewish Soldiers under Soviet Rule 151
Mihály Kálmán
8. Global Confl ict, Local Politics: The Jews of Salonica and
World War I 175
Paris Papamichos Chronakis
9. Recounting the Past, Shaping the Future: Ladino Literary
Representations of World War I 201
Devi Mays
10. Women and the War: The Social and Economic Impact
of World War I on Jewish Women in the Traditional
Holy Cities of Palestine 222
Michal Ben Ya’akov
11. Baghdadi Jews in the Ottoman Military during World War I 242
Reeva Spector Simon
12. Unintentional Pluralists: Military Policy, Jewish Servicemen,
and the Development of Tri-Faith America during
World War I 263
Jessica Cooperman
13. American Yiddish Socialists at the Wartime Crossroads:
Patriotism and Nationalism versus Proletarian
Internationalism 279
Gennady Estraikh
14. Louis Marshall during World War I: Change and Continuity
in Jewish Culture and Politics 303
M. M. Silver
Index 326
Figures
4.1. French postcard depicting the death of Rabbi Abraham
Bloch, who, upon offering a crucifi x to a wounded Catholic,
fell under shellfi re in 1914. 89
4.2. Monument to David Bloch in Guebwiller. Postcard from
interwar period. Personal collection of Michel Rothe,
reprinted with his permission. 97
6.1. Workers under the auspices of the League of Nations
Epidemic Commission operate a disinfection chamber
in Eastern Poland, c. 1921, using hydrogen cyanide gas.
Report of the Epidemic Commission of the League of Nations
(Geneva, 1921). 138
9.1. Cover page of Nissim Shem-Tov ‘Eli’s Haggadah dela
Gerra por Dia de Pesach (Constantinople: Sosieta
Anonima de Papeteria i de Impremeria, 1919). 205
10.1. Food Distribution at the Central Soup Kitchen,
Jerusalem, World War I. Courtesy of the Central
Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, Zadok Basan Collection,
photo GNZB 401450. 229
13.1. Abraham Cahan. Courtesy of the Forverts Archive. 280
14.1. Meeting of the Joint Distribution Committee Executive
Committee, 1918. Louis Marshall is seated front, far left.
Painting by Geza Fischer, 1929. Courtesy of the American
Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. 306