“The Russian Jew does not object to fight either for Russia or for England. What he objects to is to be deprived of the consequent reward – the right to enjoy the fruits of his toil in peace in those lands for whose cause he is ready to lay down his life.”
Paralleling the numerous items published in The Jewish Chronicle pertaining to the military service of Jews in the Russian army during the early years of the Great War, was another stream of reporting, albeit in a context altogether different: News coverage of the debate and discussion – vigorous and animated; within English Jewry and beyond – concerning military service by recent Jewish immigrants to England from Russia (particularly resident in their newly adopted country’s major metropolitan areas), within the Allied – specifically British – armed forces. The central issue at hand was not military service per se, but rather, military service within the context of a global war in which Imperial Russia was a central ally of England and France (the pre-war Triple Entente).
In this sense, the conundrum facing Jews newly arrived in Britain from Russia, whether naturalized or not, was that military service in the army of their adopted country would – to degrees uncertain and abstract, but still definite – indirectly support the country from whose political system, society, and historical legacy they had fled (or escaped, as the case may be), with its host of ambivalent to negative associations and memories. Given the nature, impact, and historical legacy of life in the Pale of Settlement upon Russian Jewry, perhaps such feelings could not have been otherwise.
Though I don’t know the extent to which this mindset animated newly arrived Russian Jews in England (I’m sure that this topic has been the subject of much study in the field of British Jewish history!), what it notable is the frequently commented upon ancestry of Jewish soldiers – specifically from the Russian Pale of Settlement then serving in the British armed forces – whose stories and letters appeared within the pages of The Jewish Chronicle.
In this, the background of Jews serving in the armies of France and the United States (yes, especially the United States!) during the Great War was very similar.
Below, you’ll find a smattering of articles from The Jewish Chronicle pertaining to this complex and intriguing topic, many other similarly themed items having appeared in the newspaper’s pages in the latter years of the war.
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RUSSIAN JEWS IN LEEDS
July 7, 1916
Mr. Louis Rosenberg, hon. recruiting officer for the Jewish community in Leeds, says the Yorkshire Observer, is being supplied by the alien registration authorities with a list of Russian Jews in the city with a view to their services being secured for the Russian or British armies. There are about one thousand Russian Jews of military age in Leeds, of whom one hundred and forty have joined the Army.
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THE PLEA OF THE RUSSIAN JEW
From Mr. S. PAUL, 26, Amisdale Grove, Reddish, near Stockport. [TO THE EDITOR.]
July 21, 1916
SIR, – I have read with much discomfiture the rather lengthy letter by “Mentor,” addressed to the Home Secretary, with regard to the enlistment of the Russian Jews. I think that the abuse heaped upon their heads is unjust and unfair. The Russian regards himself as being put in a rather uncertain position. The memories of his treatment in Russia are still too fresh in his mind; the present state of affairs there does not tend to relieve it. He is well aware of the fact that while his kith and kin of military age whom he left behind are laying down their lives on the battlefield for the cause of the Allies, his fathers, mothers, little sisters and brothers are treated in a yet more stringent persecution than heretofore, in the full view of the civilisation and the cause he is called upon to fight for. Now, let us have fair play. The Russian Jew does not object to fight either for Russia or for England. What he objects to is to be deprived of the consequent reward – the right to enjoy the fruits of his toil in peace in those lands for whose cause he is ready to lay down his life.
Suppose you and I had returned from the battlefield maimed for life; would we still receive the usual answer to our pleas: “Go back to your country”? and would jobs offered in the columns of the press still contain the informing words “not of Jewish origin,” or the more fashionable words “ne yevreyee?” Would you and I be permitted to visit the graves of our fathers and fallen brothers in Russia without molestation?
With all these reflections in one’s mind one may well question the fairness of “Mentor’s” onslaught on the poor Russian Jews.
But if the status of the Russian Jews were assured and put on a level with all the other nationalities in the allied countries, I do not for a moment hesitate to state, on behalf of the majority of them, that they would not murmur a single word against Englishmen now resident in Russia and enjoying full freedom, while the Russian Jews brethren are fighting their battle. He is quite used to such anomalies – Isn’t he in Goluth?
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RUSSIAN JEW’S APPEAL
November 17, 1916
A Russian Jew, aged twenty-seven years, who had lived in this country since he was two years old, appealed at Newcastle for exemption. He was not a naturalised subject but two of his brothers had joined up at the beginning of the war, of whom one was killed and the other maimed. The appellant supported his father and four sisters and the advocate who appeared for him said that his client attested under a misapprehension and as a Russian subject he was not liable to be called upon to serve. An exemption until January 3rd was granted.
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RUSSIAN-BORN JEWS AND MILITARY SERVICE
November 17, 1916
In the House of Commons, yesterday week, SIR HENRY DALZIEL asked the Prime Minister whether, having regard to the fact that there are over 30,000 Russian Jews of military age in this country who are not political refugees, he proposes to take any steps for this immediate recruitment.
MR. BONAR LAW: This matter has been carefully considered by the Cabinet and certain steps are now in operation.
SIR H. DALZIEL: Does that mean steps will be taken soon?
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Russians in the British Army
ATTESTATION IN EGYPT
February 2, 1917
In the case of one Kaufman, for whom a rule had been obtained for liabens corpus, the rule came on for argument before the Lord Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Ridley, and Mr. Justice Coleridge, on Wednesday. The applicant had stated that he had enlisted in Egypt by signing attestation forms he did not understand. He, therefore, submitted that he was not lawfully a member of the British Army.
The Lord Chief Justice (Mr. Justice Ridley, and Mr. Justice Coleridge agreeing), discharged the rule, because he totally disbelieved the story of the applicant upon which the rule had been obtained. It was clear he understood fully the attestation form.