Naturally, innumerable article in the Wochenschrift have little to nothing to do with the Great War itself, instead focusing on varied aspect of Jewish life “in general”. Here are two such examples, one from 1917 and the other from 1918. The first article focuses on the Bene Israel of India (albeit not specifically using that term), and the second a place known as Oswiecim, which makes a passing reference to Jewish self-defense.
The articles appear in the same format as the related posts about the Wochenschrift: The English-language translation is first, followed by a verbatim transcript of the article in German (in blue), then an image of the article as it appeared in the newspaper, and finally an image of the entire page in which the news item appeared.
Black Jews in India
February 9, 1917
Issue Number 6, Page 90 (Issue page 10)
It is well known that there are black Jews in Abyssinia. But also in distant India lives a Jewish tribe with black skin color. In the farthest reaches of India there lives a tribe of a peculiarity which is such that the most learned minds would have to concern themselves ex officio with its origins. These are the Jews of Cochin. Whence the conspicuous color (deep dark, almost black, like that of the Negro); whence the race (pronounced European-Jewish)? The Holy Scriptures give information. 3,000 years ago, King Solomon repeatedly equipped circuitous coastal voyages for trading purposes to the fabled land of Ophir (near modern-day East Africa). These each lasted three years. Some of the participants settled, then wandered on, in these distant lands, founded tribes that had survived through the millennia. These “black Jews” belong to them, because certain Bible texts speak of them so clearly that their identity can now be considered irreproachable. At the last of the “Eastern European Reception Evenings”, which the associations created in Berlin hold every Wednesday in the Hotel “Prinz Albrecht” in Berlin for a better acquaintance with our new allies in the east and south-east, the connections were shown in a highly interesting way by Dr. Hermann von Staden, a guest in Cochin on his trip to India. The black Jewish dignitaries met him in a patriarchal, venerable manner, remarkably friendly in those districts where – the Englishman is to blame! – otherwise the Europeans are extremely suspicious. The people have their own synagogue in the middle of the Indian kingdom; They feel European, practice their cult according to old rites, course: they have remained the same, although three millennia have passed. It is significant that, like the most armed elements of the Indian people, their hatred of the British vampire goes to their hearts. The British also hoarded this beautiful Cochin early on as the “God-willed lord of creation”, if only because it has a beautiful harbor. But the black Jews, together with their non-religious compatriots, cherish the deepest wish that this war may come to an end as soon as possible, so that the conquerors of India can finally feel the weapons that the peaceful natives taught them early on as masters (for their purposes). Don’t you know that the frivolous word came from the mouths of the English: “The dead Hindu is the best…”
Of particular interest is the relationship between the black Jewish colony and a white Jewish community that has lived there for a long time. The black Jews live completely separated from the white ones, hold their services for themselves. Marriage between black and white Jews is forbidden. Externally, the difference between the two communities is all the more striking as there are many blond types among the white Jews. After a long slumber, which it had fallen into since the Portuguese heyday, Cochin has awakened to the growing attention that its port has received, not least through the activities of the Hamburg-America Line and other German shipping companies that go to this remote corner as bearers of culture.
Schwarze Juden in Indien
Schwarze Juden gibt es bekanntlich in Abessynien. Aber auch im fernen Indien wohnt ein judischer Volksstamm mit schwarzer Hautfarbe. Im fernsten Indien haust ein Volksstamm von einer Eigenart, die durchaus dazu angetan ist, dass die gelehrtesten Köpfe sich um seine Herkunst ex officio tümmern müssten. Das sind die Juden von Kotschin. Woher die auffällige Farbe (tiefdunkel, fast schwarz, wie die des Negers), woher die Rasse (ausgesprochen europäisch-jüdisch)? Die heilige Schrift erteilt Auskunft. Vor 3000 Jahren rüstete Konig Salomo zu wiederholtenmalen umständliche Küstenfahrten zu Handelszwecken nach dem sagenhaften Lande Ofir aus (unferent heutigen Ostafrika). Diese dauerten jede hut ihre drei Jahre. Manche von ven Teilnehmern siedelten sich, dann weiterwandernd, in diesen fernen Landen an, gründeten Stämme, die sich durch die Jahrtausende zu erhalten mussten. Zu ihnen gehören diese „schwarzen Juden“, denn bestimmte Bibeltexte sprechen von ihnen so greifbar deutlich, dass ihre Identität jesst als einwandfrei festgestellt erachtet werden kann. Auf dem letzten der „osteuropäischen Empfangsabende“, die die in Berlin geschaffen Verbande für ein näheres Bekanntwerden mit den uns in Osten und Südosten neu Verbündeten jeden Mittwoch im Hotel „Prinz Albrecht“ zu Berlin abhalten, zeigte in hochinteressanter Weise die Zusammenhänge Dr. Hermann von Staden auf der Gast in Kotschin auf seiner Indienreise gewesen ist. Patriarchenhaft-ehrwürdig kamen ihm die schwarzen jüdischen Honoratioren entgegen, auffalend fruendlich in jenen Bezirken, wo man – der Englander hat Schuld! – sonst dem Europäer denkbar misstrauisch gegenübersteht. Die Leute haben ihre eigene Synagogre mitten im Inderreich; sir fleiden sich europaisch, äben ihren Kultus nach altem Ritus aus, kurs: sie sind dieselben geblieben, obwohl drie Jahrtausende darüber verstrichen sind. Bezeichnend ist, dass ihnen, wie den waffentüchtigsten Elementen des Indervolkes, der Hass gegen den britischen Vampyr bis ins Herzblut geht. Der Brite hat auch dieses schöne Kotschin, schon weil es einen schönen Hafen hat, früh zeitig als der „von Gott gewollte Herr der Schöpfung“ eingehamstert. Die schwarzen Juden aber hegen mit den ihnen glaubensfremden Landesgenossen den innigsten Wunsch, dass dieser Krieg baldigst zu Ende gehen möge, damit die Bezwinger Indiens endlich die Waffen zu spüren bekämen, die zu frühren sie die friedlichen Eingeborenen herrenmässig (fur ihre Zwecke) gelehrt haben. Wissen sie doch, dass aus Engländermunde das frivole Wort-kam: „Der tote Hindu ist der beste…“
Besonders interessant ist das Verhältnis zwischen der schwarzen jüdischen Kolonie und einer auch seit langen Zeiten dort heinrischen weissen jüdischen Gemeinde. Die schwarzen Juden leben völlig von den weissen getrennt, halten für sich ihre Gottesdienste. Heirat zwischen schwarzen und weissen Juden ist ausgeschlossen. Aeusserlich ist der Unterschied zwischen beiden Gemeinden umso auffallender, als unter den weissen Juden sehr viele blonde Typen sind. Kotschin ist nach langen Schlafe, in den es seit der portugiesischen Blützeit gefallen war, durch die wachsende Beachtung, die sein Hafen fand, erwacht, nicht zum wenigsten durch die Betätigung der Hamburg – Amerika-Linie und anderer deutschen Schifffahrtsgesellschaften, die in diesen weltverlorenen Winkel als Kulturträger kamen.
A Requisition in Oswiecim
September 27, 1918
Issue Number 38, Page 619 (Issue page 11)
As reported by Oswiecim, a commission of several “detective” officers suddenly appeared on the 4th d. M., allegedly charged with searching and requisitioning goods in the homes of the Jews. Supported by the anti-Semitic district headquarters, the commission penetrated Jewish houses, broke cupboards and stole goods of all kinds, especially privately used linen and clothing, even a shtreimel fell victim to this strange requisition. A confirmation of the removal of the items was denied. The goods were deposited with the Silesians. Only the intervention of the Jews, organized as a self-organized youth, made an end of the bustle.
Eine Requisition in Oswiecim
Wie aus Oswiecim berichtet wird, erschien dort am 4 d M. plötzlich eine aus mehreren “Detektivs” bestehende Kommission, die angeblich den Auftrag hatte, in den Häusern der Juden eine Durchsuchung und Requisition von Waren vorzunehmen. Von der antisemitischen Bezirkshauptmannschaft unterstützt, drang die Kommission in die jüdischen Häuser ein, erbrach Schränke und raubte Waren aller Art, insbesondere dem Privatgebrauche dienende Wäsche und Kleidungstücke, selbst ein “Strejmel” fiel dieser seltsamen Requisition zum Opfer. Eine Bestätigung uber die Wegnahme der Gegenstände wurde verweigert. Die Waren wurden bei den Salesianern deponiert. Erst das Eingreifen der jüdsichen, als Selbstwehr organisierten Jugend machte dem Treiben ein Ende.
Though the Jewish Chronicle, and, the Wochenschrift were published in countries within alliances that were at war with one another, during the early part of the Great War both publications occasionally featured news items about the military service and patriotism of Jews in “the enemy camp”. Such articles focused on Jews who received significant awards for military services in the armed forces of the opposing country, or, persons involved in unusual or singular military activity. Though such news items were relatively few in total number and decreased in frequency as the war horribly ground on, the very fact that such articles were even published – to begin with – was I think remarkable, and remarkably unapologetic.
Four examples of these articles follow.
The first item, published well over a year after the war’s beginning in August of 1914, is a survey of Jews in the British Army. The second and third articles relate to Major Alfred Dreyfus: His son Peter; Major Esterhazy (Charles Marie Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy) the actual spy in the Dreyfus Affair; his nephew Emile. The fourth article, two Jewish aviators in the British armed forces, “Barnato” (Isaak Henry Woolf ‘Jack’ Barnato of the Royal Naval Air Service, and, “Cyril Davis”.
Like my other posts about the Wochenschrift, the articles below follow the same format of English-language translation first, then verbatim transcript of the article in German (in blue), next an image of the article as it appeared in the newspaper, and finally an image of the entire page in which the news item appeared.
Jews in the English Army
October 8, 1915
Issue 40, Page 747 (Issue page 11)
The Copenhagen “Jewish People’s Daily” writes from London: There are over 25,000 Jews in the English army. This fact is confirmed by Rabbi Herz and Rabbi Adler, who recently returned from the Belgian theater of war, as well as by the British Minister for War. There are now no fewer than 20,000 Jews at the front and no more than 5,000 Jewish soldiers in the military camps in England itself. Considering that there are 220,000 Jews in England in all, 10 per cent of the total Jewish population of England is now under arms, a comparatively very large number. Everywhere it is admitted that the Jews display great patriotism. They were the first to heed the war call. On the battlefields they demonstrated the courage to make sacrifices. “No English soldier has yet shown more bravery and ability than the Jewish,” was the opinion French said publicly. In the British War Office and everywhere, the devotion and sacrifice of the Jewish soldiers is recognized. Rabbis Herz and Adler made a special investigation and organized the Jewish soldiers to hold special services for them. In this way it was determined exactly how many soldiers are serving in the English army. Among the Jewish soldiers and officers are representatives of all strata of English Jewry, from the richest to the poorest: many sons of rabbis have already fallen. The Jewish aristocrats, like the Rothschild family and others, sent their sons into the army. An interesting fact is reported by the well-known Jewish writer Zangwill that 10 percent of the Zouaves (from Algiers) are Jews.
Juden in der englischen Armee
Aus London schreibt man der Kopenhagener “Jüdischen Volkszeitung”: Ueber 25,000 Juden befinden sich in der englischen Armee. Diese Tatsache wird von Rabbi Herz und Rabbi Adler, die vor kurzen vom belgischen Kriegsschauplatz zurückgekehrt sind, sowie auch vom englischen Kriegsminister bestätigt. An der Front befinden sich jetzt nicht weniger als 20,000 Juden und in den militärischen Lagern in England selbst nicht mehr als 5,000 jüdsiche Soldaten. Wenn mann in Betrach zieht, dass es in England im ganzen 220,000 Juden gibt, so stehen jetzt 10 Prozent der gesamten jüdsichen Bevölkerung Englands unter Waffen, eine verhältnismässig sehr grosse Zahl. Ueberall gibt man zu, dass die Juden grossen Patriotismus an den Tag legen. Sie waren die ersten, die dem Kriegsruf Folge geleistet haben. Auf den Schlachtfelderm bewiesen sie feltenen Opfermut. “Kein englischer Soldat hat bis jetzt mehr Tapferkeit und Fähigkeit bewiesen als der jüdische”, war die Meinung, die French öffentlich sagte. Im englischen kriegsministerium und überall erkennt man die Ergebenheit und Opferwilligkeit der jüdischen Soldaten an. Die Rabbis Herz und Adler stellten eine spezielle Untersuchung an und organisierten der jüdischen Soldaten, un für sie spezielle Gottesdienste abzuhalten. Auf diese Weise wurde genan festgestellt, wie viel Soldaten in der englischen Armee dienen. Unter den jüdsichen Soldaten und Offizieren befinden sich Vertreter aller Schichten des englischen Judentums, von den reichsten bis zu den ärmsten: viele Söhne von Rabbinern sind schon gefallen. Die jüdsichen Aristokraten, wie die Familie Rothschild und andere, schickten ihre Sohne in die Armee. Eine interessante Tatsache meldet der bekannte jüdsiche Schriftsteller Zangwill, dass 10 Prozent der Zuaven (aus Algier) Juden seien.
Alfred Dreyfus’ Son
May 19, 1916
Issue Number 20, Page 338 (Issue page 6)
The son of the exile from Devil’s Island, Artillery Lieutenant Peter Dreyfus, has been praised for his bravery before Verdun in the Order of the Day. Especially on the 26th, 27th, and 28th of February, but also in March, as an observation officer in the fiercest enemy fire, he maintained the connection with his battery and secured its own effective fire. Gustave Herve, who literally prints the words of the daily order in the “Victorie” (Volume 4), remarks: “What joy does that, after so much bitterness, mean for Father Alfred Dreyfus?” One can only agree with that, because no one in the world will want this late recognition for the officer so terribly abused by French militarism.
Alfred Dreyfus’ Sohn
Der Sohn des Verbannten von der Teufelsinsel, Artillerieleutnant Peter Dreyfus, ist wegen seiner Tapferkeit vor Verdun im Tagesbefehl gelobt worden. Besonders am 26, 27 und 28 Februar, aber auch im März het er als Beobachtungsoffizier im heftigsten feindlichen Feuer die Verbindung mit seiner Batterie aufrechterhalten und ihr eigenes wirksames Feuer gesichert. Gustave Herve, der in der “Victorie” (vom. 4) den Wortlaut des Tagesbefehles wörtlich abdruckt, bemerkt dazu: “Welche Freude mag das, nach soviel Bitterkeiten, für den Vater Alfred Dreyfus bedeuten?” Dem kann man sich nur anschliessen, denn niemand in der Welt wird dem vom französischen Militarismus so furchtbar misshandelten Offizier diese späte Anerkennung missgonnen wollen. (“Abend” v. 10 Mai)
The Dreyfus Affair
June 30, 1916
Issue Number 26, Page 8
The “Cry of Paris” writes: The “holy unity” has also devoured the Dreyfus Affair. Major Alfred Dreyfus commands artillery in a sector of Paris. His son Pierre has just been honored for his heroic behavior at Douaumont. His nephew Emil, the son of Mathieu Dreyfus, fell in the Champagne Battle and received the ribbon of the Legion of Honor. Colonel Paty de Clam and his sons received the War Cross. Captain Lauth was promoted to lieutenant colonel and is in Lorraine. And Esterhazy? Nobody knows what happened to him. Is he hiding under a false name? Is he dead? Nobody can answer these questions.
(Sous Lieutenant Emile Dreyfus, a member of the 32eme Regiment d’Artillerie de Campagne, died of wounds at Mourmelon-le-Grand, Marne, on October 22, 1915. He was born at Mulhouse, Haut-Rhin, on May 22, 1891. His name appears on page 30 of Les Israelites dans l’Armée Française. The two “Partie À Remplir Par Le Corps” cards pertaining to his casualty status, from the “Morts pour la France de la Première Guerre mondiale” (“Died for France in the First World War”) database, are shown below.)
Affaire Dreyfus
Der “Cri de Paris” schreibt: Die “heilige Einigkeit” hat auch die Dreyfus-Affäre verschlungen. Major Alfred Dreyfus kommandiert die Artillerie in einem Sektor von Paris. Sein Sohn Pierre wurde soeben wegen seines heroischen Verhaltens bei Douaumont ausgezeichnet. Sein Neffe Emil, der Sohn von Mathieu Dreyfus, fiel in der Champagne-Schlacht und erhielt das Band der Ehrenlegion. Oberst Paty de Clam und seine Söhne erhielten das Kriegskreuz. Hauptmann Lauth wurde zum Oberstleutnant befördert und steht in Lorhringen. Und Esterhazy? Was aus ihm geworden ist, weiss niemand. Versteckt er sich unter einem falschen Namen? Ist er tot? Niemand kann auf diese Fragen eine Antwort geben.
English Aviation Officers
June 30, 1916
Issue Number 26, Page 8
As aviation officers, the Jews Barnato and Cyril Davis have distinguished themselves in England. The “Jewish World” calls them the true “air people.”
Englische Fliegeroffiziere
Als Fliegeroffiziere haben sich in England die Juden Barnato und Cyril Davis ausgezeichnet. “Jewish World” nennt sie die wahren “Luftmenschen”.
A Book
Les Israelites dans l’Armée Française (Israelites [Jews] in the French Army), Angers, 1921 – Avant-Propos de la Deuxième Épreuve [Forward to the Second Edition], Albert Manuel, Paris, Juillet, 1921 – (Réédité par le Cercle de Généalogie juive [Reissued by the Circle for Jewish Genealogy], Paris, 2006
Two of the articles pertain to Wilhelm Frankl, one of which reveals that the German Jewish aviator had a younger brother living in Vienna. To these I’ve included some images from Heinz Nowarra’s 1967 biography of Frankl, The Jew With the Blue Max. (I picked up Nowarra’s book at the Smithsonian some years ago.)
Though there exist compilations of aerial victories and losses for the World War One air arms of the Allies (specifically covering the British Commonwealth, France, and the United States) and Germany (albeit solely comprising aviators’ names, not information about their aircraft), I don’t know if any such works have ever been compiled pertaining to the K.u.K. Luftfahrtruppen.
The articles appear in the same format as my other posts about the Wochenschrift: The English-language translation first, followed by a verbatim transcript of the article in German (in blue), then an image of the article as it appeared in the newspaper, concluding with an image of the entire page in which the news item appeared.
The Death of the Austrian Aviator Rosenthal
April 2, 1915
Issue Number 14, Page 3
The Lemberg newspapers, which appeared under Russian censorship, reported the death of the aviator Rosenthal as follows: Rosenthal came to Zolkiew during a reconnaissance flight and noticed that a Russian aviator was billeted in a house. He began bombing the house, but did no damage. When the Russian aviator recognized the enemy, he took off, and now a bitter duel with guns developed between the two aviators in the air. The result of this peculiar duel was that the Russian pilot, fatally wounded, fell to the ground with his aircraft and in the crash dragged Rosenthal’s plane with him. The Russian plane, which was of French manufacture, landed almost unharmed, while the Austrian plane was a veritable heap of rubble, from which the plane was pulled out, still alive but badly injured. Rosenthal suffered a fracture of the spine and passed away after a few minutes. Reporting on the Austrian pilot’s tragic end, Russian newspapers praised his boldness and heroism.
Der Tod des österreichischen Fliegers Rosenthal
Die unter russischer Zensur erscheinenden Lemberger Zeitungen brachten über den Tod des Fliegers Rosenthal folgende Darstellung: Rosenthal kam während eines Erkundungsfluges nach Zolkiew und bemerkte, dass in einem Hause ein russischer Flieger einquartiert war. Er begann das Haus mit Bomben zu belegen, die aber keinen Schaden anrichteten. Als der russiche Flieger den Gegner erkannte, stieg er auf, und nun entwickelte sich in den Lüften zwischen den beiden Fliegern ein Revolverzweikampf von grosser Erbitterung. Das Ergebnis dieses eigenartigen Duells war, dass der russiche Flieger, tötlich getroffen, mit seinem Apparat zu Boden stürzte und im Absturze das Flugzug Rosenthals mit sich riss. Das russiche Flugzeug, das französisches Fabrikat war, gelangte fast unversehrt zu Boden, das österreichische bildete dagegen einen wahren Trümmerhaufen, unter dem man den Flieger noch lebend, aber schwerverletzt hervorzog. Rosenthal hatte einen Bruch der Wirbelsäule erlitten und verschied nach wenigen Minuten. In den Berichten über das tragische Ende des österreichischen Piloten hoben die russischen Zeitungen dessen Kühnheit und Heldenmut anerkennend hervor.
The Hero of F-10
April 9, 1915
Issue Number 15, Page 5
“Egyenlösseg” reports: Corporal Ludwig Helfer, motor driver at Z. Flugpark, is the hero of the “F. 10”. “F 10” is an army flying machine on which Oberleutnant Osvath flew up from Rszeczow with Corporal Helfer on March 4 to bring mail and orders to Przemysl. After four hours of flight, they arrived at the besieged fortress. The lieutenant took orders and mail and they flew back. In Skala, the first lieutenant was directing the plane to land when a Russian patrol suddenly appeared and saw the “F. 10” under fire. The two pilots defended themselves with their pistols, but a bullet hit the gasoline reservoir 10 meters up and the machine exploded and crashed to the ground. An Austro-Hungarian patrol, which had meanwhile arrived, drove out the Cossacks and hurried to help the inmates of the flying machine. Lieutenant Osvath lay lifeless under the rubble. Ludwig Helfer, with four bullets in his body, was still fully conscious and with the last effort handed over the post and command of our patrol. After that he lost consciousness. In the Jaroslau hospital, where he has been cared for ever since, he received the second class silver medal for bravery.
Der Held des F. 10
“Egyenlösseg” berichtet: Korporal Ludwig Helfer, Motorführer beim Z. Flugpark, ist der Held des “F. 10”. “F 10” ist eine Flugmaschine unserer Armee, auf welcher Oberleutnant Osvath mit Korporal Helfer am 4 März von Rszeczow aufflog, um Post und Befehle nach Przemysl zu bringen. Nach vierstündigem Flug langten sie in der belagerten Festung an. Der Oberleutnant übernahm Befehle und Post und sie flogen zurück. In Skala dirigierte der Oberleutant die Maschine zur Landung, als eine plötzlich aufgetauchte russische Patrouille die abwärts sausende “F. 10” unter Feuer nahm. Die beiden Piloten verteidigten sich mit ihren Pistolen, eine Kugel traf jedoch in 10 Meter Höhe das Benzinreservoir und die Maschine explodierte und stürzte zu Boden. Eine inzwischen eingetroffene österreichisch-ungarisch Patrouille vertrieb die Kosaken und eilte den Insassen der Flugmaschine zu Hilfe. Oberleutnant Osvath lag leblos unter den Trümmern. Ludwig Helfer war mit vier Kugeln im Leibe noch bie Bewusztsein ünd übergab mit letzter Kraftanstrengung Post und Befehl unserer Patrouille. Hierauf verlor er das Bewusztsein. Im Jaroslauer Spitale, wo er seitdem gepflegt wird, erhielt er die silberne Tapferkeitsmedaille zweiter Klasse.
Field Pilot Lieutenant Mandl
April 7, 1916
Issue Number 15, Page 5
The “Fremdenblatt” (March 30, 1916) is asked by a higher active officer to publish the following obituary for Field Pilot Lieutenant Hans Mandl, who died in Görz: “The relentless Grim Reaper has demanded a new, noble sacrifice. The name Hans Mandl has a good reputation far beyond the borders of our homeland, as this young human life was full of duty and heroism. The achievements that he accomplished for the emperor and the empire are marked with golden pencils in the history of the fifth weapon, which played such a prominent role in the world war. Hans Mandl! All those whom knew, valued, and loved you are shaken, the only thing left to us is the memory of your amiable personality, but we will faithfully preserve it. Countless friends mourn at your grave; the air fleet, who lost one of their noblest; the whole fatherland, which you so dearly loved and so ardently defended!”
Feldpilot Oberleutnant Mandl
Von einem höheren aktiven Offizier wird das “Fremdenblatt” (30. Marz 1916) um Veröffentlichung folgenden Nachrufes für den bei Görz gefallenen Feldpiloten Oberleutnant Hans Mandl gebeten: “Der unerbittliche Sensenmann hat ein neues, edles Opfer gefordert. Weit über die Gaue unserer Heimat hinaus hat der Name Hans Mandl einen guten Klang, war doch dieses junge Menschenleben vollausgefüllt von Pflichterfüllung und Heldentum. Die Leistungen, die er für Kaiser und Reich vollbrachte, sind mit goldenen Griffel in der Geschichte der am Weltkriege so hervorragend beteiligten fünfsten Waffe eingezeichnet. Hans Mandl! Alle, die wir dich kannten, schätzten und liebten, sind erschüttert, uns bleibt nur die Erinnerung an deine liebenswürdige Persönlichkeit, die aber wollen wir treulich bewahren. An deinem Grabe trauern zahllose Freunde, die Luftflotte, die einen ihrer Vornehmsten verloren, das ganze von dir so heiss geliebte und heiss verteidigte Vaterland!”
The following brief sketch of Lieutenant Mandl’s life and military service isn’t from Dr. Bloch’s Öesterreishische Wochenschrift, instead having been published in the 1916 edition of the German aviation journal Flugsport. I found the text and image via Oogle Books.
Aviation Illustrated Technical Journal for the Whole of Aviation
Oskar Ursinus – Frankfurt am Main
1916
Field pilot Lieutenant Hans Mandl is killed. Field pilot Hans Mandl, first lieutenant in Fortress Artillery Regiment No. 4, died a hero’s death in a flight near Gorizia. Mandl, who was only 29 years old, was one of the best and most efficient Austrian pilots. In 1912 he was assigned to the Air Corps, passed the field pilot’s examination on February 24, 1913 and then worked as a flight instructor in Wiener-Neustadt until the outbreak of war. On August 24, 1913, Mandl, who was still a lieutenant at the time, made the flight from Wiener-Neustadt via Graz to Ljubljana. This was the second crossing of the Pemmering in an airplane and the first flight over this long distance, which Mandl flew in three and a half hours at an average speed of over a hundred kilometers. For his outstanding service in the war he was awarded the Order of the Iron Crown, third class, and recently the Signum laudis.
Flugsport Illustriert-Technische Zeitschrift fur das Gesamte Flugwesen von Oskar Ursinus – Frankfurt am Main
Feldpilot Oberleutnant Hans Mandl gefallen. Feldpilot Hans Mandl, Oberleutnant im Festungsartillerieregiment Nr. 4, hat bei einem Fluge in der Nahe von Görz den Heldentod gefunden. Mandl, der erst im 29. Lebensjahre stand, war einer der besten und tüchtigsten Österreichischen Flieger. Im Jahre 1912 liess er sich dem Fliegerkorps zuteilen, legte am 24. Februar 1913 die Prüfung als Feldpilot ab und war dann bis zum Ausbruch des Krieges als Fluglehrer in Wiener-Neustadt tätig. Am 24. August 1913 hatte Mandl, damals noch Leutnant, den Flug von Wiener-Neustadt über Graz nach Laibach gemacht. Es war dies die zweite Ueberquerung des Pemmerings im Flugzeug und der erste Flug über diese weite Strecke, welche Mandl in dreieinhalb Stunden mit einer Durchschnittsgeschwindigkeit von über hundert Kilometer durchflog. Für seine hervorragenden Leistungen im Kriege wurde er durch die Verleihung des Ordens der Eisernen Krone dritter Klasse und kürzlich durch die Verleihung des Signum laudis ausgezeichnet.
Here’s the cover of Flugsport’s 1916 edition…
______________________________
Lieutenant Mandl crashed to earth east of Gorizia, Italy, near the source (head) of the Lijak Stream, within present-day Slovenia, during an interregnum between the fifth and sixth Battles of the Isonzo. In this air photo, the head of the Lijak Stream appears near the very center of the image. The stream itself flows to the southwest, and can be seen – as a narrow and irregular strip of vegetation – just to the right (east) of a small airstrip in the lower left center of the image.
Zooming out, you can see the Lijak Stream’s head near the right edge of the image. The stream itself (farmland to the right and forest to the left) flows south-southwest, and is crossed by highway 444. The white line running north-northeast to west-southwest in the left side of the image is the national border between Slovenia to the east and Italy to the west. The cities of Nova Gorica and Gorizia are respectively situated on opposite sides of the border.
This map, at the same scale as the above photo, shows the geography of Gorizia and Nova Gorica.
At an even smaller scale, this map shows the border between Italy and Slovenia. The two above-mentioned cities are situated near the center of the map.
Five images of the spot where Lt. Mandl crashed, and, a plaque in his memory mounted upon on a rock wall at the site, can be viewed at Mihel Spomemnik’s August, 2005 post at Pro Hereditate 1915-1917 (“avstroogrskemu pilotu nadporočniku Hansu Mandlu” [“Austro-Hungarian pilot Lieutenant Hans Mandel”]). As described at the post, “Tekstovni opis V bližini izvira potoka Lijak stoji večja skala, na kateri je pritrjena napisna plošča, postavljena v spomim na sestreljenega avstroogrskega pilota Hansa Mandla.” (“Near the source of the stream Lijak there is a larger rock, on which is attached an inscription plaque, erected in memory of the downed Austrian pilot Hans Mandel.”)
The monument bears this inscription:
He stormed in front of the enemies on March 30, 1916 Kaiserliche und Königliche First Lieutenant HANS MANDL Knight of the Iron Cross III Class Cross of Military Merit – Old Reward Files In 1914, 1915 and 1916 Austria’s best flyer. ——————————— Dedicated by Flying (?) 19
Original German text:
Hier stürmte vor dem
Feinde am 30. März 1916
der k. u. k. Oberlt
HANS MANDL
Ritter des E.K.III Kl.
M. V. K. A. B. A.
In den Jahren 1914,15 u. 16
Östr. bester Flieger.
——————————–
gew. von der Fliegerad. 19
As described below by Harald D. Groller in St. Radegund. A Styrian health resort and its history, Lieutenant Mandl is buried at the Sankt Radegund Cemetery. The municipality of St. Radegund (for Sankt Radegund (English: Saint Radegund)) is in the district of Braunau am Inn in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. The cemetery itself is located at Braunau am Inn, Braunau am Inn Bezirk.
“Anyone who knows the St. Radegund cemetery a little better will perhaps have noticed one of the most peculiar gravestones in the country: it is that of the brothers Dr. Viktor Mandl, judge in Fürstenfeld, who had already fallen in November 1914 in Galicia, and Lieutenant Colonel Hans Mandl, who fell in March 1916 in the southern theater of war. Both dead were sons of the St. Radegund spa director at the time.
As the gravestone makes it easy to guess, Hans Mandl was one of the flying aces of his time. In 1913 he became the second Austrian to fly over the Semmering and he was the pilot of the first Austrian long-distance flight from Vienna to Ljubljana, although this triumph was diminished by the fact that the plane burned down on the return flight. Hans Mandl was also the first Austrian pilot to fly one – and then several – loops, thereby writing sports history. In the years 1914 to 1916 the best Austrian pilot, he crashed on March 21, 1916 on the Isonzo front near Gorizia and died.”
____________________
Wer den St. Radegunder Friedhof etwas näher kennt, dem wird vielleicht schon einer der eigenartigsten Grabsteine des Landes aufgefallen sein: Es handelt sich um jenen der Brüder Dr. Viktor Mandl, Richter in Fürstenfeld, der bereits im November 1914 in Galizien gefallen war, und des Oberstleutnants Hans Mandl, gefallen im März 1916 am südlichen Kriegsschauplatz. Beide Gefallenen waren Söhne des damaligen St. Radegunder Kurdirektors.
Wie der Grabstein unschwer erahnen lässt, handelt es sich bei Hans Mandl um eines der Fliegerasse seiner Zeit. Ihm gelang es 1913 als zweitem Österreicher, den Semmering zu überfliegen, und er war der Pilot des ersten österreichischen Langstreckenfluges von Wien nach Laibach, wobei dieser Triumph dadurch geschmälert wurde, dass das Flugzeug beim Start zum Rückflug abbrannte. Hans Mandl war auch der erste österreichische Pilot, der einen – und gleich darauf mehrere – Loopings flog und damit Sportgeschichte schrieb. In den Jahren 1914 bis 1916 bester österreichischer Flieger, stürzte er am 21. März 1916 an der Isonzofront bei Görz ab und kam dabei ums Leben.
Harald Groller’s article includes a photograph of the eagle-headed monument erected at the grave of the Mandl brothers, as shown in this 2017 photo by HLK / Meinhard Brunner. The fact that Hans Mandls’ death in combat was reported upon in Dr. Bloch’s Öesterreishische Wochenschrift, yet he and his brother were buried in a Christian cemetery, suggests that the though the family were Jews, by the advent of the First World War the family’s ties to or affiliation with the Jewish community – whether in terms of religion, history, community, kinship, or simple feeling – had attenuated to the point of dissolution.
…and so I wonder: Will an as-yet-unknown film director, years or decades from 2023 – if movies continue to exist – make a parallel, non-saccharin, non-Spielbergian visual chronicle about the Jews of the United States, viewed through the multi-generational chronicle of a single family’s history?
This article pertains to Vizefeldwebel Frankl’s shooting down of BE2c 4109 of No. 7 Squadron. On an Artillery Registration Flight, the aircraft departed at 2:10 P.M. and was shot down in flames, crashing at Ploegsteert Wood. 2 Lt. Edward G. Ryckman and 2 Lt. John R. Dennistoun were both killed.
Wilhelm Frankl
May 19, 1916
Issue Number 20, Page 6
The daily report of the German Supreme Army Command reported on 6 May:
South of Varneton, on May 4th, Vice Sergeant Frankl shot down an English biplane, knocking out his fourth enemy aircraft. His majesty has expressed his appreciation for the achievements of the able aviator by promotion to officer.
Pilot William Frankl has previously been awarded the Iron Cross I and 2 Class.
Wilhelm Frankl
Der Tagesbericht der deutschen Obersten Heeresleitung berichtete am 6 Mai: Südlich von Varneton hat Vizefeldwebel Frankl am 4 Mai eine englischen Doppeldecker abgeschossen und damit sein viertes feindliches Flugzeug ausser Gefecht gesetzt. Seine Mjestät hat seiner Anerkennung für die Leistungen des tüchtigen Fliegers durch die Beförderung zum Offizier Ausdruck verliehen. Flugzeugführer Wilhelm Frankl wurde bereits früher mit den Eisernen Kreuze I und 2 Klasse ausgezeichnet.
There appear to have been two picture postcards created with formal portraits of Wilhelm Frankel. One of these cards bears an image of Frankl standing before an Albatross while wearing a heavy coat, bearing the date “31.1.1917” in large script at the bottom of the card.
Photographic postcard depicting the Jewish-German pilot Wilhelm Frankl, hand-signed by him. Berlin: W. Sanke, [1916 or 1917].
In the picture, Frankl is seen in the uniform of the German Air Force, wearing the Pour le Mérite decoration on his neck and the Iron Cross on his chest. The postcard is signed at lower recto by Frankl (W. Frankl) and inscribed on verso. Appearing alongside the addressee’s address is a stamp of the fourth squadron of the German Air Force.
Wilhelm Frankl (1893-1917) is considered the most famed Jewish fighter pilot of World War I. He started studying aviation immediately after graduating from school and in 1913 earned pilot’s license number 49. With the outbreak of World War I, he was recruited to the fourth squadron (Jagdstaffel 4) of the German Air Force and quickly proved to be a brilliant fighter pilot (he is credited with 20 aerial victories throughout the war, three of them on the same day). For his successes, Frankl was awarded the highest order of merit of the German army – the Pour le Mérite and the Iron Cross. On April 8, 1917, during a series of daring combat maneuvers, his aircraft began falling apart in the air and Frankl fell to his death. He was 23 when he died.
Due to his untimely death, Frankl’s signatures are extremely rare.
Approx. 8.5X14.5 cm. Good condition.
(This isn’t a “plug” for Kedem. Rather, I always try to provide links and citations to the sources of the images in my posts, regardless of the source!)
The following three pictures are among the nineteen illustrations in Heinz J. Nowarra’s 1967 biography of Wilhelm Frankl, The Jew With The Blue Max. The three pictures are accompanied by their original captions.
“Oberleutnant Buddecke, leader of Jasta 4, and Frankl at Vaux.”
____________________
“Lt. Frankl testing the Pfalx D Vi.”
____________________
“The first new Albatross D III sent to Jasta 4 at Hivry-Circourt. January, 1917.”
Lieutenant Wilhelm Frankl
August 18, 1916
Issue Number 33, Page 4
Lieutenant Wilhelm Frankl, who was awarded the Order Pour le Merite by Kaiser Wilhelm in recognition of his outstanding achievements as a flying officer after his participation in the successful air battles south of Baupaume on August 9, is a Hamburger and is 22 years old. The youngest knight of the order Pour le merit had distinguished himself as a sportsman and especially as an aviator even before the beginning of the war. He had volunteered for military service, aspired to be assigned to the airship department and passed his pilot’s exam with distinction. His activities during the war began as a vice sergeant; he had already shot down half a dozen enemy aircraft in aerial combat and had been promoted to lieutenant and awarded the Iron Cross, first and second class. The number of enemy planes he has neutralized has now reached eight. Lieutenant Wilhelm Frankl is no stranger to Vienna. Both in aeronautical circles and in society, to which he occasionally repeated. Visits to his brother in Vienna found connections; the bold young aviator is well known. His brother is the head of the business building on the corner of Kärntnerstrasse and Schwangasse, which deals in Persian and antique carpets. Hermann Frankl also enlisted at the beginning of the war, but was then released from military service. He and those around him follow his younger brother’s activities as a pilot with understandable interest.
Leutnant Wilhelm Frankl
Leutnant Wilhelm Frankl, der in Anerkennung seiner hervorragenden Leistungen als Fliegeroffizier nach seiner Beteiligung an den erfolgreichen Luftkämpfen südlich von Baupaume am 9 August vom Kaiser Wilhelm mit dem Orden Pour le merite ausgezeichnet wurde, ist ein Hamburger und steht im 22 Lebensjahre. Der jüngste Ritter des Ordens Pour le merit hat sich schon vor Beginn des Krieges als Sportsmann und namentlich als Flieger hervorgetan. Er hatte sich freiwillig zum Militärdienste gemeldet, strebte seine Zuteilung zur Luftschifferabteilung an und legte das Piloteneramen mit Auszeichnung ab. Als Vizefeldwebel begann seine Tätigkeit im Kriege, ein halbes Dutzend feindliche Flugzeuge hatte er bereits im Luftkampfe abgeschossen und war zum Leutnant befordert und mit dem Eisernen Kreuz erster und zweiter klasse ausgezeichnet worden. Nunmehr hat die Zahl der von ihm unschädlich gemachten feindlichen Flugzeuge die Ziffer acht erreicht. Leutnant Wilhelm Frankl ist in Wien nicht fremd. Sowohl in den aeronautischen Kreisen als auch in der Gesellschaft, zu der er gelegentlich wiederholter. Besuche bei seinem Bruder in Wien Beziechungen fand, ist der kühne junge Flieger bekannt. Sein Bruder ist der Chef des an der Ecke der Kärntnerstrasse und der Schwangasse befindlichen Geschäftshauses, der mit persischen und antiken Teppichen Handel treibt. Auch Hermann Frankl war zu Beginn des Krieges eingerückt, wurde aber dann aus dem Kriegsdienste entlassen. Er sowie seine Umgebung verfolgen mit begreiflichem Interesse die Tätigkeit des jüngeren Bruders als Flieger.
Flyer – Lance Corporal Robert Fried
December 29, 1916
Issue Number 51, page 6
Robert Fried from Budapest is a well-known motor and two-wheeled biker; who won the first prize in various races. In the Ljubljana Military Bicycle Race he won the prize honored by Honvedminister [Royal Hungarian Army National Defense Minister] Baron Samuel Hazai. The first mobilization met him as an active soldier of a Vienna air force regiment. He came to the Serbian theater of war, where he performed successful reconnaissance services. From there he came to the Italian theater of war, took part in the bombardment of the Italian cities. Then he was transferred to the Russian front, carried out here also successful enlightenment, for which he was awarded by the German Emperor with the Iron Cross second class. Now he is proposed for promotion and distinction. As “Egyenloseg” reports, Fried’s three brothers are still on different fronts, where they have already distinguished themselves.
Flieger-Gefreiter Robert Fried
Robert Fried aus Budapest ist ein bekannter Motor- und Zweirad-Wettfahrer; der in verschiedenen Wettfahrten den ersten Preis gewann. In dem Laibacher Militär-Fahrrad-Wettfahren gewann er den vom Honvedminister Baron Samuel Hazai gewidmeten Preis. Die erste Mobilisierung traf ihn als aktiven Soldaten eines Wiener Fliegerregiments. Er kam auf den serbischen Kriegsschauplatz, wo er erfolgreiche Ausklärungsdienste leistete. Von dort kam er auf den italianischen Kriegsschauplatz, hat an der Bombardierung der italianischen Städte teilgenommen. Dann wurde er an die russische Front versezt, führte auch hier erfolgreiche Aufklärungen durch, wofür er vom deutschen Kaiser mit dem Eisernen Kreuz zweiter Klasse ausgezeichnet wurde. Jetzt ist er zur Beförderung und Auszeichnung vorgeschlagen. Wie “Egyenloseg” berichtet, sind noch drei Brüder des Fried an verschiedenen Fronten, wo sie sich bereits ausgezciehnet haben.
A Little Bit of Flying
May 18, 1917
Issue Number 19, Page 9
Lieutenant Rosin from Freiburg i. B., the son of the local Geh. Council Prof. Dr. Rosin, a Jew, was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class, in the air arm for excellence in aerial combat. The war correspondent of the “Frankfurter Zeitung” tells about the reason for this: “On the same night as Laon was hit with bombs, a German plane received the order to drop a load of 500 kilograms of dynamite on an important traffic point behind the enemy front. He rose, seeking his target but unable to explore in the rising mist, he flew back to catch a better hour. Above Laon he saw detonation points from anti-aircraft guns in the air and soon discovered the French squadron in question. Then an idea occurs to him: carefully he hangs on the squadron’s tail and follows it unnoticed in the darkness over the enemy line. He’s confident that people will take him for a keen Frenchman, and I think he was. It wasn’t long before he saw the landing lights from the French airdrome below. The pilots of the squadron went gliding to the ground and our plane was the last to prepare for it. With strange awkwardness he steered quite close over the hangar, dropped his load from a very short distance, maybe only 50 meters, jerked up the controls and disappeared into the night. The explosive charge, fitted with a 60-second timer, detonated precisely and with terrible effect.”
Ein Fliegerstückchen
Leutnant Rosin aus Freiburg i. B., der Sohn des dortigen Geh. Rats Prof. Dr. Rosin, ein Jude, wurde bei einer Fliegertruppe wegen herrvoragender Leistungen im Luftkampf mit dem eisernen Kreuz erster Klasse ausgezeichnet. Ueber die Veranlassung hiezu erzählt der Kriegsberichterstatter der “Frankfurter Zeitung”: “In derselben Nacht als Laon mit Bomben heimgesucht wurde, erhielt ein deutscher Flieger den Auftrag, eine Ladung von 500 Kilogramm Dynamit auf einen wichtigen Verkehrspunkt hinter der feindlichen Front abzuwverfen. Er stieg auf, suchte sein Ziel, konnte es aber im aufstiegenen Nebel nicht erkunden und flog zurück, um eine bessere Stunde wahrzunehmen. Ueber der Höhe von Laon sah er Sprengpunkte von Abwehrgeschützen in der Luft und entdeckte auch alsbald das betroffene franzüsische Geschwader. Da kommt ihm ein Gedanke: vorsichtig hängt er sich dem Geschwader an den Schwanz und folgt ihm unbemerkt in der Dunkelheit über die feindliche Linie. Er vertraut darauf, dass man ihn für einen ausgepichten Franzosen halten werde, und so war es wohl auch. Nicht lange, so sah er unter sich die Landungsfeuer des französischen Flughafens. Die Piloten des Geschwaders gingen im Gleitflug zur Erde und als letzter schickte sich auch unser Flieger scheinbar dazu an. Er steurte in sonderbaren Ungeschick recht nahe über die Flugzeugschuppen hin, liess-aus geringster Entfernung, 50 Meter vielleicht nur, seine Ladung fallen, riss die Steuerung hoch und entschwand in der Nacht. Die Sprengladung, mit 60 Sekunden-Zeitzünder versehen, krepierte genau und mit furchtbarer Wirkung.”
Aviation Officers
June 29, 1917
Issue Number 25, Pages 410-411 (Issue pages 6-7)
At the. 13d. M. the first lieutenant in the Radetzky Hussars Maximilian Bardach Edler v. Shlumberg fell from a height of 150 meters and died instantly. Lieutenant v. Bardach son of the deceased hussar major Wolf Bardach Edlen v. Shlumberg, was mustered from the Maerisch-Weisskirchen cavalry cadet school at the age of 18. Since the outbreak of war he fought almost continuously in various theaters of war and was awarded twice for brave behavior in front of the enemy, in 1914 with the signum laudis and in 1916 with the military cross of merit. On May 15, 1917, after voluntarily reporting, he was sent to the Air Officers’ School, where he died just before completing his training. The body was found on 15 d. M. was transferred to Vienna with all military honors, with the participation of his superiors, comrades and the civilian population. In the air, aviators circling the funeral procession gave the last escort to their dead comrade. The burial in Vienna took place on Sunday, 17 d. M., in the central cemetery (Isr. department) in all silence, only in the presence of the closest relatives, the former cavalry division officer of the deceased, FML Baron Peteani, the deputations of the Count Radetzky Hussar Regiment and the Air Officers School as well as some comrades and friends, in one of Heroes’ grave dedicated to the Israelite religious community. Lieutenant Maximilian Bardach Edler v. Shlumberg was well known in sports circles as a successful cavalryman, had won prizes as a jumper at various cavalry events, and was extremely popular for his cheerfulness, camaraderie, and friendliness.
Herr Fritz Steiner, lieutenant in an air company, owner of the signum laudis with the swords and the silver medal for bravery first class, found his death in the air on March 20th, 24 years old, in the northern theater of war.
Fliegeroffiziere
Am. 13 d. M. ist der Oberleutnant bei den Radetzky-Husaren Maximilian Bardach Edler v. Shlumberg aus einer Höhe von 150 Meter abgestürzt und sofort tot liegen geblieben. Oberleutnant v. Bardach Sohn des verstorbenen, 1866 mit der goldenen Tapferkeitsmedaille auszgezeichneten Husarenmajors Wolf Bardach Edlen v. Shlumberg, wurde mit 18 Jahren aus der Kavalleriekadettenschule Mährisch-Weisskirchen ausgmustert. Seit Kriegsausbruch kämpfte er fast ununterbrochen auf verschiedenen Kriegsschauplätzen und wurde für tapferes Verhalten vor dem Feinde zweimal, 1914 mit dem Signum laudis, 1916 mit dem Militär-verdienstkreuze ausgezeichnet. Am 15 Mai 1917 wurde er nach freiwilliger Meldung in die Fliegeroffiszierschule kommandiert, wo ihm knapp vor Beendigung seiner Ausbildung der Fleigertod ereilte. Die Leiche wurde am 15 d. M. mit allen militärischen Ehren unter grosser Beteiligung seiner Vorgesetzten, Kameraden und der Zivilbevölkerung nach Wien überführt. In den Lüften gaben Flieger, den Trauerzug umkreisend, ihrem toten Kameraden das letzte Geleite. Die Beisetzung in Wien erfolgte Sonntag, den 17 d. M., auf dem Zentralfriedhofe (isr. Abteilung) in aller Stille, bloss in Anwesenheit der engsten Angehörigen, des ehemaligen Kavalleriedivisionnärs des Verstorbenen, FML Baron Peteani, der Abordnungen des Husarenregiments Graf Radetzky und der Fliegeroffizierschule sowie einiger Kamerden und Freunde, in einem von der israelitischen Kultusgemeinde gewidmeten Heldengrabe. Oberleutnant Maximilian Bardach Edler v. Shlumberg war in Sportkreisen als erfolgreicher herrenreiter sehr bekannt, hatte bei verschiedenen kavalleristischen Veranstaltungen als Preisspringer Preise erworben und war wegen seines Frohsinnes, seiner Kameradschaftlichkeit und Liebenswurdigkeit ausserordentlich beliebt.
Herr Fritz Steiner, Leutnant bei einer Fliegerkompagnie, Besitzer des Signum laudis mit den Schwertern und der silbernen Tapferkeitsmedaille erster Klasse, fand am 20 d M, 24 Jahre alt, auf dem nördlichen Kriegsschauplatz den Tod in den Lüften.
Tenth Award of a Jewish Aviation Lieutenant
July 20, 1917
Issue Number 28, Page 456 (Issue page 4)
Flight Lieutenant Hermann Back, son of the late Smichow Rabbi Dr. S. Back has received the Iron Cross First Class for excellence in the Asian theater of war as the tenth war award.
Zehnte Auszeichnung eines jüdischen Flieger-Oberleutnants
Fliegeroberleutnant Hermann Back, Sohn des verstorbenen Smichower Rabbiners Dr. S. Back, hat für hervorragende Fliegerleistungen auf dem asiatischen Kriegsschauplatz als zehnte Kriegsauszeichnung das eiserne Kreuz erster Klasse erhalten.
Heroic Death of a Jewish Aviator
August 16, 1918
Issue Number 32, Page 5
We are written from Gloggnitz:
The family of the board of directors of our busy southern railway station, Herr Imperial Council Anton Zinner, has suffered a heavy and bitter loss. At the youthful age of only 23 years, the hopeful, elder of the two sons, Lieutenant Karl Zinner, died a heroic death as a pilot on the south-west front after being severely wounded in an air battle on 6th March. After graduating from middle school in Wiener-Neustadt, where he was one of the most diligent and attentive students of the religion professor Landau, Lieutenant Karl Zinner immediately enlisted for military service and volunteered as an officer for the air force. He held the Military Merit Cross, the Signum laudis, the silver and bronze medals for bravery and the Karl Troop Cross. Now the terrible fate of war has abruptly torn him from his deeply mourning family and from the fatherland, for the glory of which he fought heroically. The young officer will have an honorable place in the hero book of the Austro-Hungarian army alongside the numerous other Jewish sons of heroes whom we can draw the attention of our hateful opponents to.
Heldentod eines judischen Fliegersoffiziers
Aus Gloggnitz wird uns geschrieben:
Einen schweren und herben Verlust hat die Familie des Vorstandes unserer verkehrsreichen Südbahnstation, Herrn kaiserl. Rates Anton Zinner, erlitten. Im jugendlichen Alter von nur 23 Jahren hat der hoffnungsvolle, ältere der zwei Söhne, Herr Leutnant Karl Zinner, an der Südwestfront nach schwerer Verwundung im Luftkampfe am 6 d M. den Heldentod als Flieger gefunden. Leutnant Karl Zinner ist nach Absolvierung der Mittelschule in Wiener-Neustadt, wo er einer der fleissigisten und aufmerksamsten Schüler des Religionsprofessors Landau war, sofort zur militärischen Dienstleistung eingerückt und meldete sich als Offizier freiwillig zur Fliegertruppe. Er besass das Militärverdienstkreuz, das Signum laudis, die silberne und bronzene Tapferkeitsmedaille und das Karl-Truppenkreuz. Nun hat ihn das grause Kriegsgeschick seiner tieftrauernden Familie und dem Vaterlande, für dessen Ruhm er heldenhaft kämpfte, jäh entrissen. Der junge Offizier wird im Heldenbuche der österreichisch-ungarischen Armee neben den zahlreichen anderen jüdsichen Heldensöhnen, auf die wir unsere hasserfüllten Gegner aufmertsam machen können, einen ehrenvollen Platz einnehmen.
Otherwise…
Some Books…
Bailey, Frank W., and Coney, Christopher, The French Air Service War Chronology 1914-1918, Grub Street, London, England, 2001
Henshaw, Trevor, The Sky Their Battlefield – Air Fighting and The Complete List of Allied Air Casualties From Enemy Action in The First War, Grub Street, London, England, 1995
Nowarra, Heinz J., The Jew With The Blue Max, John W. Caler, Sun Valley, Ca., 1967
Hans Mandl …
… Pro Hereditate 1915-1917 (“avstroogrskemu pilotu nadporočniku Hansu Mandlu” [“Austro-Hungarian pilot Lieutenant Hans Mandel”]), by Mihel Spomenik, August, 2005
Harald D. Groller, Hans Mandl. In: Bernhard A. Reismann / Harald D. Groller (Hgg.), St. Radegund. Ein steirischer Kurort und seine Geschichte, Bd. 2 (St. Radegund 2016), 287–289, hier 287f. [Groller, Harald D., “Hans Mandl”, In: Bernhard A. Reismann / Harald D. Groller (eds.), St. Radegund. A Styrian health resort and its history, vol. 2 (St. Radegund 2016), 287-289, here 287f.]
Reismann, Bernhard A., “Der Erste Weltkrieg im Schöcklland”, (in) Mitteilungen der Korrespondentinnen und Korrespondenten der Historischen Landeskommission für Steiermark, Robert F. Hausmann im Auftrag der Historischen Landeskommission für Steiermark [“The First World War in Schöcklland”, (in) Communications of correspondents and correspondents of National Historical Commission for Styria“, Published by Robert F Hausman on behalf of the Historical State Commission for Styria], Graz, Austria, 2017 (p. 55)
… Haaretz (“In Germany, a Fight to Preserve the Grave of a Jewish Flying Ace Erased by the Nazis”, by Ofer Aderet, Feb. 28, 2021) ((yeah, yeah; I know it’s Haaretz, but still, this is worthwhile…))
… Kedem Auction House (“Postcard Hand-Signed by Pilot Wilhelm Frankl – The Jewish Flying Ace of the German Air Force – World War I”)
… flickr (“Voisin Canon (SFA number V.991) was shot down by Leutnant Frankl on 10 January 1916 near Woumen (Belgium).”)
Then, one evening, he sat in a train travelling westward and felt as if he was not making this journey of his own free will. Things had turned out as they always had in his life, as indeed much that is important does in the lives of others, who are deceived by the more noisy and deliberate nature of their activities into believing that an element of self-determination governs their decisions and transactions. However, they forget that over and above their own brisk exertions lies the hand of fate.
And if the forest should fall, will it be remembered?
The Great War ended over one hundred years ago, though its political, cultural, and perhaps even theological impact (the latter in a secular guise) have persisted to the present, and doubtless will continue – even if in muted and unrecognized form – into the future. Typical of transformative civilizational events, the war has inspired and generated an incalculably expansive body of literature – fiction; personal memoirs; poetry; unpublished manuscripts and personal correspondence; historical studies; archival records – the volume of which is an indirect measure of the scope of its effects.
Such for “the world” in general, and as much for the Jewish people as well. As described by David Vital in his magisterial overview of European Jewish history A People Part – A Political History of the Jews in Europe, 1789-1939, during an era of confident if not exuberant nationalistic feeling among both the Allied and Axis powers, the war provided the opportunity for the Jews of Europe and the United States (even to some extent among the Jews of Imperial Russia) to manifest – no more or less than other peoples – sincerely felt feelings of patriotism undergirded by an ethos of acculturation and assimilation.
Regardless and perhaps in spite of the war’s outcome, in terms of trauma and human suffering, what’s particularly notable about the postwar era is the profusion of compilations of historical information concerning Jewish military service, created by individuals, Jewish communities, and organizations of Jewish veterans, within countries that comprised both the Allies and Central Powers. Among the Allies, such compilations covered military service by Jews in the British Commonwealth (the content of which overlapped onto a monograph about the military service of Jews in both Australia and New Zealand), Bulgaria, France, Italy, and Serbia. No such works were created about the military service of the Jews of the United States (I rectified that astonishing absence a few years ago; see here and here), or, to the best of my knowledge, Belgium, Greece, Romania, and Russia.
Of the four countries that comprised the Central Powers (the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire) parallel books about Jewish military service were limited to Bulgaria and Germany.
And in this, we find a forest of memory that is fallen and long-forgotten: That of the Empire of Austria-Hungary, the multi-national state formed from an alliance between those two nations that was formed in 1867 and survived until the 31st of October, 1918. According to Martin Gilbert’s Atlas of Jewish History, the Jewish military contribution in the Austro-Hungarian Empire – 320,000 in service, with 40,000 dead – far exceeded that of Imperial Germany, or, that of the British Commonwealth, France, and the United States combined. Military service and casualties among the Jews of the Empire were second in gravity only to the terrible military toll incurred by the Jews of Imperial Russia, from whom of the 650,000 in military service, 100,000 lost their lives.
And with this; and in spite of this; and probably because of this: the Empire’s dissolution, and I’d think its social and cultural effects on the Jews of the newly autonomous Austria, and, Hungary; the nominal fact that the Empire no longer existed, no compilation (to the best of my knowledge) about the military service of Austro-Hungarian Jewry was ever created, or would be created. The following video places this in perspective…
But, even in 2023 and beyond, there might be a way to created such a record. It would be approximate. It would be incomplete. It would be open-ended. But, a nominal record of Jewish military service in the Austro-Hungarian Empire it would nonetheless be. This would be via the newspaper Dr. Bloch’s Oesterreichische Wochenschrift, created (as implied by the title!) by Rabbi Joseph Samuel Bloch.
As part of the Digital Collection (Digitale Sammlungen) of Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main, this newspaper, “…was originally founded with the intention of using an offensive organ to put the enemies of the Jews in their place.” “The newspaper, under its editor of many years, was primarily directed against the influential, openly anti-Semitic Christian-social movement around Karl Lueger. Another focus of the “Österreichische Wochenschrift”, which became the official organ of the Viennese religious community soon after its founding, was the often very sharp criticism of Zionism, whose colonization plans the orthodox scholar Bloch supported in principle, but whose leaders he accused of domestic political misconduct in the implementation accused of their program.” Published weekly between 1884 and 1920, the periodical is available through the University’s Judaica Section under the Compact Memory heading, here, the University’s holdings encompassing the years 1891 (Volume 8 – January 2, 1891) through 1920 (Volume 37 – February 20, 1920).
Fortunately, I had the time to create such a record. Or, more aptly phrased, I made the time to create such a record. As described in my post about identifying Jewish military casualties of the First World War, during the early 2000s, while in the corporate world, I encountered a situation that was – by all stereotypical standards of “cubicle-land” – entirely unexpected. Rather then being utterly deluged with work, I found myself in the opposite situation: For many months, I simply had nothing to do. And so, while perusing the Internet for websites pertaining to Jewish and military history, I discovered Goethe University’s Digital Collection, and there, along with Aufbau, Dr. Bloch’s Oesterreichische Wochenschrift. Realizing that the opportunity would not again arise,I reviewed each and every issue of the newspaper published between August, 1914, and December, 1918, in an effort to identify all (seriously!)news items, articles, essays, and other items published during that time interval pertaining to Jewish military service in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as well as in Germany, or even the armed forces of the Allies.
In this endeavor, I discovered over such 3,500 items. A year-by-year tabulation follows below:
But what about Rabbi Joseph Bloch the person; himself? The Wikipedia record for Rabbi Bloch, largely based on the 1901-1906 entry in The Jewish Encyclopedia, provides an overview of his family background, early life, rabbinical positions, and subsequent career in journalism and politics – the latter geographically centered in Vienna – particularly in terms of his defense of Austrian Jews against antisemitism. However, this account makes only a brief reference to Dr. Bloch’s Oesterreichische Wochenschrift.
Robert Wistrich’s 1986 Jewish History article “Zionism and Its Religious Critics in fine-de-siècle Vienna”, provides a wider overview of the creation of the Rabbi’s newspaper, his initially positive, then ambiguous, and ultimately (ironically!) negative attitude towards political Zionism. The latter seems seems to have sprung from the theological unacceptability of human and thus purely secular – versus Divine and Messianic – efforts to recreate a Jewish nation-state, and quite astonishingly, for one who had so confidently and successfully defended the Jews against antisemitic calumnies, fear about the potential social and political repercussions of Zionism upon the Jews of Austria, and perhaps by implication (?) Europe and beyond. As noted by Dr. Wistrich, “For Rabbi Bloch, the Jews had to defend their ethno-religious interests while remaining a supranational, mediating element within the multi-national State, but they should on no account be defined as a separate political nation.” In terms of the clash between Rabbi Bloch and Theodore Herzl, specifically as presented in Dr. Wistrich’s paper, in light of political developments in Israel in 2023, Dr. Bloch was prescient about the implications of “defining Jewry as a secular political nation”. For more about this deeply fraught topic, you might want to read Israel Eldad’s The Jewish Revolution – Jewish Statehood, and, David Vital’s The Origins of Zionism.
And so, from Dr. Wistrich’s article…
The Galician-born Rabbi Joseph Samuel Bloch, perhaps the foremost defender of Jewish rights in the Austrian Reichsrat at the end of the 19th century, in his own maverick way reflected this Orthodox world-view while combining it with a pugnacious political militancy and astute sense of public relations. Bloch came from the Austrian provinces to the Viennese industrial suburb of Florisdorf at the end of 1870s and from the outset challenged the social and political philosophy of the Viennese liberal establishment. He won popularity among working-class Gentiles by lecturing to them about the advanced social doctrines in the Hebrew Bible and respect among traditional Jews by his vigorous defense of the Talmud. Above all, he became a popular Jewish hero and parliamentary candidate through his vitriolic onslaught on the Catholic anti-Semite, Canon August Rohling, whose scurrilous Talmudjude had left the official Viennese Jewish leadership, both lay and religious, floundering in impotent silence and embarrassment.
Like many other Orthodox Galician Jews, Rabbi Bloch aligned himself politically with the Polish Club in the Austrian parliament and with Count Taafe’s [Eduard Taaffe, 11th Viscount Taaffe]conservative ruling coalition. A Habsburg dynastic patriot, he constantly warned the Austrian Jews to remain neutral in the nationalities’ conflict and on no account to identify themselves with German, Czech, Magyar or any other form of national chauvinism. At the same time, militant Jewish self-defense was necessary to counteract the threat of organized political anti-Semitism – a point in which Bloch differed from other Orthodox rabbis as well as from most liberal establishment Jews. Indeed, in his aggressively political stance and with his proud, self-assertive Jewish ethnic consciousness, Rabbi Bloch in the early 1880s seemed closer to the students of Kadimah than any other prominent Jewish public figure in Austria. The journal which he founded – the Oesterreichische Wochenschrift – for all its conservative, Austrian dynastic loyalism, was also infused with a Jewish national spirit that seemed radical and even populist at the time. Not surprisingly, Rabbi Bloch was a guest of honor in December 1884 at the Maccabean dinner held by Kadimah students, though significantly he warned against misinterpreting the message of the Maccabees in a nationalistic, warlike spirit. But he shared with the early Zionists the same consciousness of the common fate of the Jews, the same determination to fight against apostasy and self-hatred within Jewish ranks, the same rejection of assimilation and reassertion of Jewish honor and self-respect.
Yet Rabbi Bloch’s attitude to the political Zionism which emerged in the 1890s was clearly ambiguous. He had always been sympathetic, like Spitzer and Güdemann, to the moderated, practical colonization efforts of the Hovevei Zion. In 1896 he had even encouraged Herzl’s first efforts to publicize his Zionist ideas and introduced him to the Austrian finance minister, Leon Ritter von Bilinski, a Catholic of Jewish origin and a leading member of the Polish Club. Like Bilinski, Bloch had been impressed by Herzl’s magnetic personality and by his vision and political insight, but remained highly skeptical about his nationalist ideology and its long-term implications for Jewry. He had been pleasantly surprised (like the Chief Rabbi of Vienna, Moritz Güdemann) that a witty feuilletonist and literary editor of the Neue Freie Presse should suddenly become passionately interested in Jewish affairs. At a private reading of what would later become known as Der Judenstaat, Rabbi Bloch had moreover liked its literary style and was relieved that there was no mention of Palestine as the future location of the Jewish State.
When Herzl subsequently evoked the historic Jewish claim to Palestine, Bloch’s reaction was, however, sharply disapproving. Recalling the disastrous episode of the “false messiah,” Shabbetai Zevi, Rabbi Bloch advised Herzl of the history of the Holy Land and its exposed geo-political position. He also lent to Herzl two addresses on the Talmud given by Dr. Jellinek [Rabbi Adolf Jellinek] nearly thirty years earlier, which reflected the prophetic supra-national spirit of Judaism and which warned against attempts to rebuild the Temple. He even recounted to Herzl the historic encounter of 1882 in Vienna between Jellinek and Leo Pinsker. Only this time he sided with the recently deceased liberal rabbi, despite the fact that Jellinek had been his bête noire for many years and had helped to block his appointment to the Chair of Hebrew Antiquities at the University of Vienna. Rabbi Bloch explained to Herzl that though residence in the land was considered a great virtue in the Talmud, Judaism forbade a mass return to Palestine and a restoration of the Jewish State before the advent of the Messiah.
Bloch, like his close friend and ally, Rabbi Moritz Güdemann, favored a philanthropic Zionism along the lines of the agricultural settlements encouraged by Sir Moses Montefiore, Baron Maurice de Hirsch and Baron Edmond de Rothschild. But he objected to Herzl’s insistence on defining Jewry as a secular political nation, holding the view that this would undoubtedly endanger the status of Jews in Austria at a time of rampant anti-Semitic propaganda calling for their disenfranchisement. For his part, Herzl was arrogantly dismissive of Bloch’s “medieval, theological tussle with the anti-Semites,” which to his mind suffered from all the familiar illusions of Jewish self-defense activity. When Herzl founded Die Welt, a rival journal to Dr. Bloch’s well-established Wochenschrift, relations deteriorated still further. By the turn of the century, Bloch’s weekly was publishing articles sharply critical of Herzl’s Regierungs-Zionismus, his reliance on high diplomacy, and his ignorance of Jewish history and of the Jewish masses in Russia and Galicia. The official line of the weekly was to support a practical emigration policy that included Palestine as one of its goals but to reject the diplomatic “Kunststücken” and utopian fantasies behind the idea of the Jewish State.
After Herzl’s death in 1904, the Austrian Zionists began to engage more openly in Landespolitik and the rivalry between them and the Austrian Israelite Union – which Rabbi Bloch had done so much to found in 1886 – grew more intense. Bloch resented Zionist politicking in Austrian parliamentary elections, though he chose to see the election of four Jewish national deputies to the Reichsrat in 1907 as a victory for his own credo of vigorous Jewish political representation. For Rabbi Bloch, the Jews had to defend their ethno-religious interests while remaining a supranational, mediating element within the multi-national State, but they should on no account be defined as a separate political nation.
Bloch’s antipathy to political Zionism appears to have grown with the years. According to one source – though the authenticity of the claim has been challenged – he received some 250 negative written opinions on Herzlian Zionism from prominent Orthodox rabbis in the period between 1897 and 1913. The successes of the Zionist movement after 1917 in the sphere of international diplomacy did not diminish his conviction that political Zionism was a great danger to the Jews, that it was playing with fire and would only serve to inflame anti-Semitism. Indeed, in a letter to his namesake, Rabbi Chaim Bloch, shortly before his death at the end of 1923, he urged the latter to work for the creation of an “anti-nationalist movement within Jewry” to contain the threat posed by political Zionism.
Here’s the front page of Dr. Bloch’s Oesterreichische Wochenschrift for the issue of July 7, 1916, symbolically chosen for this post because of the connotation of that date with the opening week of the Battle of the Somme. (Not that there’s anything about that battle in this issue!) There’s no need to display the first page of any other issue of the paper published during the Great War, because the cover design was identical from year to year to year throughout that time interval.
“Rabbi Joseph Samuel Bloch – born in Dukla 20.11.1850”
This postcard image of Rabbi Bloch from KehilaLinks at JewishGen is described by Jeffrey Alexander and Philip Ross as being one of ten postcards published by Sztetl Dukla in 2015 showing portraits of Jews from Dukla. Taken from period photographs, the postcards’ line drawings were created by Krakow artist Wojciech Gryszkiewicz, with postcard design by Judith Stola.
Here’s the original photograph upon which the Sztetl Dukla postcard is based. From the Wikipedia record for Rabbi Bloch, the image, by an unknown photographer, is described as being from Erinnerungen aus meinem Leben (Vienna & Leipzig: R. Löwit, 1922) by Dr. Joseph S. Bloch”.
As for Dukla, the small town is described by Alexander and Ross at JewishGen as being, “…located in the southern part of Poland, at latitude 49° 34´, longitude 21° 41´. Although the town began in Poland, it was part of Galicia (an Imperial Province of the Austrian Empire) from 1776 to 1919. Today the town of Dukla is found in Poland’s Supcarpathian Volvodeship [province], within the powiat [county or district] of Krosno and is part of the gmina [municipality or commune] of Dukla consisting of the Dukla town and villages surrounding it. At the end of the 2020 calendar year, the town of Dukla had a population 2,005 people.”
As noted above, my survey of Dr. Bloch’s Oesterreichische Wochenschrift for news items, articles, essays, and other items about Jewish military service in the Austro-Hungarian armed forces identified over such 3,500 items published from August of 1914 through November of 1918. Being that the translation of these items would be an effort gargantuan – far more in terms of time than effort – my records for these items are limited to their titles, and, bibliographical information about the issue in which they were published. So continuing with the theme of the opening of the Battle of the Somme in July of 1916, here are relevant news items for that month, listed under the date of publication. The front-page news item is in boldface.
July 7, 1916 (Issue 27)
Human Race’s Latest Rifts – By Privy Councilor Ed. King in Bonn – II War Decorations of Jewish Officers and Soldiers Award of a Jewish MP The False Russian Reports (Approved by the War Press Office.) Doubly Heroic Medical Officer Tobias Weinstock Silver Medal First Class for Bravery More Awards The Heir to the Field House of Worship Good and Blood Jewish Families in the Field Awards of Jewish Warriors with the Iron Cross Field Post Letters Pesach in Tschita and Pjetchanska (see below…) Internment of an Austrian Inventor in England Prof. Adolf Frank, Founder of the Potash Industry, Died Vienna Official Gazette of June 21
July 14, 1916 (Issue 28)
Celtic-Aryan “Cultural Work” – On the Second Air Bombardment of Karlsruhe on June 22, 1916 War Decorations of Jewish Officers and Soldiers The Father with Three Sons The Grossman Family Appointment of a Field Rabbi Jewish Families in the Field More Awards Jewish Baggage Ahead! – An Episode from the Battles before Luek Honor of a Fallen War Volunteer Awards of Jewish Warriors with the Iron Cross The Blood Sacrifices of the Russian Jews Heroic Death of a Jewish-Polish Legionary Honored after Death Fallen Before the Enemy
July 21, 1916 (Issue 29)
A Reminder for the Heern Prosecutor War Decorations of Jewish Officers and Soldiers Colonel v. Racy About the Jewish Soldiers More Awards Fallen in the Field of Honor Warfare Awards Red Cross Awards Promotion Commendatory Recognitions Heroic Death List of Officers and Men Buried in Vienna from May 15 to July Honored after Death Fallen Before the Enemy Remedy Against Profiteering Traders in Old Times Awards of Jewish Warriors with the Iron Cross A Letter from Dr. Gaster
July 28, 1916 (Issue 30)
The “Plutocracy” as the Cause of the World War (A Revelation of the “Reichspost”) – II War Decorations of Jewish Officers and Soldiers High Distinction of a Field Rabbi Jewish Families in the Field Lieutenant Emmerich Biro Awarded the Silver Medal for Bravery Recent Award More Awards Fallen in the Field of Honor Red Cross Award The Father of Seven Sons Imperial Gift Honored after Death Well Deserved Recognition Awards of Jewish Warriors with the Iron Cross Fallen Jewish Heroes in the Jewish Cemetery of Ungvar A Jew on the Merchant Submersible “Deutschland” Gobineau and Chamberlain Cultural Work in the East Secretary of State Helfferich in a Jewish Cheder School A Tour of the Chief Rabbi in Strassburg Women as Funeral Orators
Here are four random news items from Dr. Bloch’s Oesterreichische Wochenschrift, one for 1915 and 1916, and two for 1917. They’re presented such that the English-language translation appears first, followed by a verbatim transcript of the article in German (in blue), then an image of the article as it appeared in the newspaper, concluding with an image of the entire page in which the news item appeared. I’ve also included three sort-of-randomly-chosen images – two individual pictures and a group photo – of Jewish soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian military, to lend a visual “flavor” to the text.
This article, from 1915, follows a theme seen in The Jewish Chronicle during the same time-frame: The plan to create a historical record of Jewish military service. Perhaps less out of innate pride and the natural need to record the historical experience of the Jews per se, than the anticipated need to refute antisemitic calumny in the future. This assumes, of course, that antisemitism – Jewhatred – can be refuted by facts, logic, and reason.
Jewish War Archive
January 29, 1915
Issue Number 5, Page 85 (Issue page 9)
Our readers are urged, in the sense of the publication of the Jewish War Archive, published in the previous issue, to inform the Jewish War Archive without delay of all facts of Jewish legitimacy, which they have so far experienced and will continue to experience on the occasion of the present war.
Do not frustrate fulfilling this important duty. Remember everyone that the enemies of our people are preparing themselves to turn the clear facts that speak for us to our detriment, and thus to oppose our just claims to perfect national validity in the state and in the peoples! Shall we equip them without seriously attacking and executing our countermeasures, without establishing for everlasting times and as undeniable what needs to be established in the Jewish interest?
Once upon a time: the honor and the salvation of our community are important! And no one may fail, who knows something and has something to say. The notifications are to be sent to the Jewish War Archive, Vienna, II., Zirkusgasse 33.
Judisches Kriegsarchiv
Unsere Leser werden im Sinne des in voriger Nummer veröffentlichen Aufrufs des Jüdischen Kriegsarchivs dringendst gebeten, alle von jüdischen Gestchtspunkte wichtigen Tatsachen, die sie aus Anlass des gegenwärtigen Krieges bisher erfahren haben und weiter erfahren werden, unverzüglich dem Jüdischen Kriegsarchiv mitzuteilen.
Säume niemand, diese wichtige Pflicht zu erfüllen. Bedenke jeder, dass die Feinde unseres Volkes sich rüsten, um die klaren Tatsachen, die für uns sprechen, zu unseren Ungunsten zu verbrehen, und hiemit unseren gerechten Ansprüchen auf vollkommene volkliche Geltung im Staate und in der Völkerwelt entgegenzutreten! Sollen wir sie rüsten lassen, ohne unser Gegenrüsten ernstlich in Angriff zu nehmen und durchzuführen, d.h. ohne für immerwährende Zeiten und als unleugbar festzustellen, was im jüdischen Interesse festgestellt warden muss?
Noch einmal: Es gilt die Ehre und das Heil unserer Gemeinschaft! Und keiner darf fehten, der etwas weiss und zu sagen hat. Die Mitteilungen sind an das Jüdische Kriegsarchiv, Wien, II., Zirkusgasse 33, einzusenden.
This article is fascinating, moving, and inspiring. It’s a transcript of a letter sent to a family somewhere in Austria-Hungary by their son, then somewhere in the vicinity of “Tschita” (Chita), a city in south central Russia east of Lake Baikal. The writer describes having attended the second Pesach Seder of 1916, in the temple in Chita, a central clue identifying the city being mention of Ingodinskaya Street, on which the schul was (still is) located. There are absolutely no specifics in the letter about the author. But, comments in the text strongly suggest that he was a prisoner of war in Russian captivity, the most obvious being that his attendance at the Seder with three companions occurred while under guard of a bayonet-wielding Russian soldier, the latter who it seems remained at a penal house – with a number of other Russian guards? – while the writer and his companions attended the Seder, in the schul.
As you can see in the images below, the schul is very much still standing on Ingodinskaya Street, albeit it hasn’t been a schul for many decades.
Pesach in Tschita and Pjetchanska
July 7, 1916
Issue Number 27, Page 451 (Issue page 7)
Pjetchanska, Wednesday, June 19.
April (Pesach), 2nd day, evening.
Dear parents and sister!
Despite many difficulties to be overcome, I can confidently apply the words of the Haggadah to yesterday: Chassal Siddur Pesach Kehilchosan…
Yesterday, on the 1st day of Passover, I was in the big temple in Tschita at the valley prayer [?] and had lunch in the Talmud Torah building, later in the afternoon also had tea there and was here again in the evening.
The city is 7 kilometers from here; despite the fact that it had snowed quite heavily just yesterday, during the night and throughout the day the snow and wind made themselves unpleasantly felt, I am extremely satisfied with yesterday.
The impressions I gathered yesterday will probably stay alive for a long time and I won’t soon forget the valley prayer [?] in the Tschita temple.
Three men and the Russian guard, who followed with rifle and fixed bayonet, counting our four, we walked about 1 1/4 hours at a rather brisk pace through the snowy forest, in which for the time being no footsteps were to be seen, to the town. We soon came to the wheeled path, where it was easier, and it wasn’t long before we saw the building of the big penal house, in front of which many guards were standing.
In the east lane, which leads from the road into the city, in Ingodinskaya, so named after the river Ingoda that flows past here, there is also the large, whitewashed temple with a broad dome that can be seen from afar. Some stairs lead from the foundation, which has a certain height, to the entrance. The temple itself is quite high and although it now only has a women’s gallery, it seemed to me higher than the temple in Bucharest, also a bit bigger. Very simple painting, everything in white (also inside), the light floods through large, wide windows. Nevertheless, in honor of the day, the temple was electrically lit and all the bulbs were lit. Quite a few prisoners with posts and a large native audience had appeared, but they did not fill the great temple; in passing I noticed tuxedos and tailcoats, many wide silk thongs, few top hats.
The valley prayer [?] was performed by a religious leader Schlesinger, who, according to today’s newspaper, received the Anne’s Order [Order of Saint Anna] in his capacity as a member of the supervisory board of the Russian State Bank of Tschita. I also exchanged two words with Rabbi Herr Lewin, maybe he will write to you again…
I came back a little tired, but with a lifted feeling that I had walked through the snow to the “valley”.
Here, too, Passover was celebrated according to the regulations under the supervision of a Hungarian-Jewish doctor, who performed the Musaf prayer in the local prayer room today.
On the first night of the Seder, I sang part of the Seder…
Via Auction.ru, this undated postcard shows the Chita Synagogue.
Taken by E. Kutysheva on March 6, 2018, this image (“Чита Синагога – Русский Здание синагоги в Чите – 2018 03“) gives a contemporary view of the Chita Synagogue. Though intact, the building no longer serves as a center of Jewish life. The “broad dome” noted by the unknown prisoner – the central cupola – no longer exists, and, the Mogen David(s) that surmounted each of the smaller cupolas have vanished.
This Yandex map shows the building’s location on Ingodinskaya Street…
…while at a smaller scale, this Oogle map shows the general geography of Chita. Note the Ingoda River (as mentioned in our unknown POW’s letter) that winds adjacent to and within the southern part of the city, and, Lake Kenon on the city’s western edge.
The city is directly east of the southern part of Lake Baikal…
…and directly north of Mongolia. (By over 125 miles.)
Pessach in Tschita und Pjetschanska
Pjetschanska, Mittwoch, 6./19. April (Pessach), 2. Tag abends.
Vielgeliebte Eltern und Schwester!
Trotzdem viele Schwierigkeiten zu überwinden waren, kann ich getrost die Worte der Hagadah auf den gestrigen Tag anwenden: e chassal siddur pessach Kehilchosan…
Gestern, am 1. Pessachtage, war ich im grossen Tempel in Tschita beim Talgebet und habe im Talmud-thoragebäude zu Mittag gegessen, später nachmittags dort auch Tee genommen und war gegen Abend wieder hier.
Die Stadt ist 7 Kilometer von hier entfernt; trotzdem es gerade gestern ziemlich stark geschneit hatte, in der nacht und den ganzen Tag über Schnee und Wind sich fortgesetzt unangenehm fühlbar machten, bin ich mit dem gestrigen Tage überaus zufrieden.
Die gestern gesammelten Eindrücke werden wohl lange Zeit lebendig bleiben und ich werde das Talgebet im Tschitatempel nicht so bald vergessen.
Drei Mann und den russischen Posten, der mit Gewehr und aufgepflantzem Bajonett folgte, miteingerechnet, unserer vier, gingen wir ungefähr 1 ¼ Stunden in ziemlich lebhaftem Tempo durch den verschneiten Wald, in dem vorerst keine Fussstapfen wahrzunehmen waren, nach der Stadt. Wir kamen bald auf den fahrbaren Weg, wo es leichter ging, und es dauerte nicht lange, da sahen wir schon das Gebäude des grossen Strafhauses, vor dem viele Wachen standen.
In der estern Gasse, die vom Wege in die Stadt führt, in der Ingodinskaya, nach dem hier vorbeifliessenden Fluss Ingoda so genannt, steht auch der grosse, ganz weiss getünchte Tempel mit einer breiten, weithin sichtbaren Kuppel. Einige Treppen führen vom Fundament, das eine gewisse Höhe hat, zum Eingang. Der Tempel selbst ist ziemlich hoch und trotzdem er jetzt nur eine Frauengalerie hat, schien er mir höher als der Tempel in Bukarest, auch etwas grösser. Sehr einsache Malerie, alles in Weiss gehalten (auch drinnen), das Licht fluter durch grosse, breite Fenster. Trotzdem war der Tempel zu Ehren des tages elektrisch beleuchtet und alle Birnen waren entzündet. Recht viele Gefangene mit Posten und zahlreiches einheimisches Publikum waren erschienen, doch füllten sie nicht den grossen Tempel; im Vorbeigehen bemerkte ich Smokings und Fracks, viele breite Seidentalessim, wenige Zylinder.
Das Talgebet verrichtete ein Kultusvorsteher Schlesinger, der laut heutiger Zeitung den Annernorden in seiner Eigenschaft als Aufsichtsrat der russischen Staatsbank von Tschita erhalten hat. Mit dem Rabbiner Herrn Lewin habe ich auch zwei Worte gewechselt, vielleicht schreibt er Dir noch…
Etwas müde zwar, aber mit gehobenem Gefühl, durch Schnee zum „Tal“ gegangen zu sein, kam ich züruck.
Auch hier wurde unter Oberaussicht eines ungat.-jüdischen Arztes, der heute das Mussaphgebet im hiesigen Betlokal verrichtet hat, vorschriftsmässig Pessach gefiert.
Am ersten Sederabend sang ich einen Teil des Seders vor…
The Great War has long been recognized as having a significant and enduring impact upon twentieth century poetry and literature, a legacy that persists to this day. A poet whose verse is stunning in its power, visual symbolism, moral clarity, and eventual political and religious urgency, Uri Greenberg arrived in the Yishuv in December of 1923, by which time he’d become a supporter of Zionism as the only path for the survival of the Jews of Europe. Perhaps his vision about the future of European Jewry is best embodied in his poem “In malkhes fun tseylem” (In the Kingdom of the Cross), “his last great Yiddish work before he emigrated to Palestine and channeled his burgeoning poetic energies into the writing of Hebrew poetry.”
The following excerpt from Glenda Abramson’s article in the Fall, 2010, issue of Shofar, “The Wound of Memory – Uri Zvi Greenberg’s ‘From the Book of the Wars of the Gentiles’”, describes Greenberg’s war experiences in terms of their being an impetus for (but by no means the sole influence upon) the development of his subsequent literary oeuvre:
In 1914 Greenberg was conscripted into the Imperial army, and after a brutal period of basic training in Hungary he was sent to the even more brutal frontline trenches on the Serbian border. Although a bookish and sensitive young man apparently unsuited for war service, Greenberg participated in all the battles fought in Serbia until the fall of Belgrade and distinguished himself in the field, although the experience scarred him for the remainder of his life. In his first book, published in 1915 with the title Ergits oif felder (Somewhere in the fields), he writes, “The world is a great graveyard and you—nothing but shadows, eternally afflicted on the isle of death.”
In the winter of 1914 on the Serbian front Greenberg fought in the Battle of Cer on the River Sava in which about 25,000 Austro-Hungarian officers and men were killed and wounded, and around 4,500 were captured. The weather was bad, rain and mud adding to the armies’ difficulties. In this campaign, between Austria, Germany, and Bulgaria on the one side and Serbia on the other, the Austrians crossed the river under fire from the Serbs, who strongly and effectively resisted, in order to reach Belgrade. The number of casualties was high during the river crossing, and when the forces reached the opposite bank they launched an attack on the enemy trenches, which were encircled with barbed wire. Greenberg was one of the few survivors of those who were ordered to mount the wire to reach the Serbian trenches. The Imperial army lost the battle. Greenberg saw his dead comrades hanging upside down on the wire, a sight that left a profound and lasting impression on him.
Or, as described at YIVO:“Summarily drafted in 1915, Grinberg experienced the horrors of warfare in which many of his fellow soldiers died or were severely wounded. The fording of the Save River, in particular, etched itself in his memory, and was to reappear obsessively in poems he would write throughout his life. Exposed to enemy fire while crossing the river, Grinberg suddenly found himself alone and disoriented in a Serbian post on the other side of the river. All his fellow attackers were hanging lifeless, heads down and boots pointing up, on the electrified wire, while all the defenders were probably killed by a hand grenade. Then the moon shone from the clearing autumnal sky, casting its silvery light on the well-worn metal cleats of the upturned boots of the soldiers. The poet was mesmerized by the eerie effulgence, which he was never to forget. The image would later inspire the title of his first Hebrew book: Emah gedolah ve-yareaḥ (Great Terror and Moon; 1925). What he saw then – a heap of cadavers illuminated by moonlight – amounted to a horrendous negative epiphany: an indifferent God incorporated in dead and mutilated human flesh. This proved to be one of the sources of Grinberg’s modernistic vision. Still, when Bikeles-Shpitser published Grinberg’s first poetry collection, Ergets oyf felder (Somewhere in the Fields; 1915) he included in it, without violating the unified tonality of the slight booklet, both the war poems the poet had penned when still safe in his parents’ home and those he sent from the battlefield.”
You can gain more insight into the life and poetry of Uri Tzvi Greenberg at the blog of Israel Medad – long-time resident of Shiloh, Samaria, Israel – MyRightWord.
Published in the newspaper’s correspondence section, this letter, by Corporal Alfred Ellinger, and, Einjahr Freiwilliger (One-Year Volunteer) Konrad Heim on behalf of their comrades, focuses on the social, communal, intellectual, and spiritual challenges facing Jewish soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian military, the correspondents implying that in such matters, Jewish soldiers have essentially been left to themselves. This is juxtaposed against support received Gentile soldiers, and, Jewish soldiers in the German military, the latter whose needs are met by Jewish organizations in that country. The letter concludes by imploring the leaders of the Jewish community in Vienna, and, Jewish organizations in that city and beyond, to assist their sons at the Front.
Open letter to the leaders of the Austrian Jewry in Vienna.
November 9, 1917
Issue Number 43, Page 708 (Issue page 8)
From the front we address these lines publicly to the leaders of Judaism in Austria. The largest Jewish community in Austria is in Vienna; the heads and leaders of this community are therefore also the leaders of all Austrian Jewry and have repeatedly publicly acknowledged themselves as such. The venerable President of Vienna’s Israelite religious community is also President of the Israelite Alliance and the Austrian Association of Communities. We Jewish soldiers at the front must turn to him and his colleagues with our specifically Jewish needs.
The Jewish soldiers at the front have other interests that stem from Judaism in addition to those shared with all their comrades. Judaism means to us one of the few spiritual values through which one feels a constant connection to one’s homeland; it is a refuge for us in the hours of despair and mental depression. The war has deepened our interest in everything Jewish, and we want to know how things are with Judaism at home. The lively interest of the Jewish soldiers at the front for Jewish things found only insufficient satisfaction. Why don’t you take care of such matters? The Lord’s administration does not have the task and duty of satisfying all such needs. The Christian soldier is well supplied with religious and national literature through the efforts and achievements of non-governmental organizations. Why does Judaism not think of bestowing the same kindness and care on its sons in the field? A German prayer book for the field, for example, which, if written with understanding, satisfies the sensibilities of the educated, would be an urgent need and should be sent to every soldier from home free of charge.
Magazines are too rare an article at the front, and Jewish works and books are almost impossible to find. And yet (with all recognition of the difficulty of realizing it) every man should have at least one Jewish newspaper or magazine at his disposal. A concise field edition of the history of the Jewish people up to the present would be most welcome.
Our comrades of Jewish faith in the German army are much better cared for and cared for by Jewish organizations in Germany. They receive a lot of reading material with Jewish content and their own commemorative publications of an instructive nature for every Jewish holiday.
We are at the front and initially fighting for Kaiser and fatherland. But we also fight for the honor of Judaism at the same time. The Jewish leaders in Vienna should seriously consider this. As we faithfully do our duty in need and death at the front, we also fight for the honor of the Jewish name. Does Austrian Jewry feel no obligations towards their sons at the front? We hereby want the leaders of Viennese Jewry to accept these serious duties, the presidents and heads of both the community and the Alliance, as well as other organizations, of these serious duties. Should it then be said that Jews only fulfill those duties which are enforced by force, but neglect moral duties?
No! We hope that our public appeal will not go unheeded.
Alfred Ellinger, Corporal
Konrad Heim, One-Year Volunteer
on behalf of 40 Non-Commissioned Officers and
One-Year Volunteers
Offenes Schreiben an die Führer der österreichischen Judenschaft in Wien.
Von der Front aus Wenden wir uns mit diesen Zeilen öffentlich an die Führer des Judentums in Oesterreich. Die grösste jüdische Gemeinde Oeterreichs ist in Wien; die Vorsteher und Leiter dieser Gemeinde sind darum auch die Führer des österreichischen Gesamtjudemtums und haben sich wiederholt öffentlich als solche bekannt. Der ehrwürdige Präsident der Wiener israelitischen Kultusgemeinde ist auch Präsident der Israelitischen Allianz und des Oesterreichischen Gemeindebundes. Un ihn und an seine Kollegen müssen wir jüdischen Soldaten an der Front uns mit den spezifisch jüdischen Bedürfnissen, wenden.
Die jüdischen Soldaten an der Front haben neben den mit allen Kameraden geteilten noch andere, aus dem Judentum entspringende Interessen. Das Judentum bedeutet uns eines der wenigen geistigen Werte, durch die man sich fortwährend mit der Heimat verbunden fühlt; es ist uns eine Zuflucht in Studen der Verweiflung und seelischer Depression. Der Krieg hat unser Interesse für alles Jüdische vertieft, und wir wollen wissen, wie es mit dem Judentum in der Heimat bestellt ist. Das lebhafte Interesse der jüdischen Frontsoldaten für jüdische Dinge findet aber nur ungenügende Befriedigung. Warum sorgt man nicth für solche Belange? Die Herresverwaltung hat nicht die Aufgabe und die Pflicht, alle solche Bedürfnisse zu befriedigen. Der christliche Soldat wird mit religiöser und nationaler Literatur reichlich versehen, und zwar durch Bemühungen und Leistungen nichtstaaatlicher Organisationen. Warum denkt das Judentum nicth daran, seinen Söhnen im Felde die gleiche Wohltat und Sorgfalt zuzuwenden? Ein deutches Gebetbuch fürs Feld zum Beispiel, das, verständnisvoll abgefasst, das Empfinden des Gebildeten befriedigt, wäre ein dringendes Bedürfnis und sollte jedem Soldaten von der Heimet aus unentgeltlich geliefert werden.
Zeitschriften sind ein zu seltener Artikel an der Front, jüdische Werke und Bücher so gut wie gar nicht zu finden. Und doch müsste (bel aller Anerkennung der Schwierigkeit der Verwirklichung) jedem Mann mindestens eine jüdsiche Zeitung oder Zeitschrift zur Verfügung stehen. Eine kurzgesasste Feldausgabe der Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes bis zur Gegenwart wäre hochwillkommen.
Unsere Kameraden jüdischen Glabens in der deutschen Armee werden von jüdischen Organisationen in Deutschland ungleich besser bedacht und versorgt. Diese erhalten viel Lektüre jüdischen Inhaltes und eigene Festschriftchen lehrreicher Natur zu jedem jüdischen Feiertage.
Wir stehen an der Front und kämpfen zunächst allerdings für Kaiser und Vaterland. Allein wir kämpfen auch gleichzeitig für die Ehre des Judentums. Das sollten die jüdischen Führer in Wien doch ernstlich bedenken. Indem wir treu in Not und Tod an der Front unsere Pflicht ersüllen, kämpfen wir auch für die Ehre des jüdischen Namens. Empfindet das österreichische Judentum gegenüber seinen Söhnen an der Front gas keins Pflichten? An diese ernsten Pflichten wollen wir hiemit öffentlich die Führer des Wiener Judentums, die Herren Präsidenten und Vorsteher, sowohl der Gemeinde als auch der Allianz, sowie anderer Organisationen ernstlich gemahnt haben. Sollte es denn heissen, dass Juden nur soche Pflichten erfüllen, die durch Gewalt erzwungen werden, die moralischen Pflichten aber vernachlässigen?
Neine! Wir hoffen, dass dieser unser öffentlicher Appell nicht ungehört verhallen wird.
Alfred Ellinger, Korporal Konrad Heim, Einj.-Freiw. im Namen von 40 Unteroffizieren und Einjährig-Freiwilligen
Just a photograph: “Postcard featuring Jewish soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian army, ca. 1914-1918”. From the Blavatnik Archive, the postcard is described as being 9 by 14 inches, but (!) I think that’s an error, the correct unit probably being centimeters. The reverse side of the postcard is absent of any information.
Of those men who survived the war, what became of them by 1927?
Paralleling The Jewish Chronicle, and, l’Univers Israélite, throughout the war, Dr. Bloch’s Oesterreichische Wochenschrift regularly published lists of the names of Jewish servicemen who had received military awards, such compilations including the soldier’s rank, civilian occupation, town or city of residence, and, the name or title of the award he’d received. As a sad and inevitable parallel to these award lists, the newspaper published lists of casualties, albeit absent of the specific date and location when he was killed, missing or wounded. In either case, I don’t know the source of the information utilized by the Wochenschrift in this endeavor: Perhaps the names were collected by a central organization of the Austrian Jewish community.
An example follow below: A list of fifty Jewish officers and soldiers in the 307th Honved Infantry Regiment who received military awards.
Fifty Jewish Heroes of the No. 307 Honved Infantry Regiment.
January 26, 1917
Issue Number 4, Pages 53-55 (Issue pages 5-7)
In the Honved Infantry Regiment No. _____, which had been in existence since June 1915 and was first under the command of Colonel Julius Parsche, then under that of Lieutenant Colonel Paul Bozo, and which, according to the official Höser reports, was particularly distinguished in the Toporoutz battles, such as “Egyenlöseg” reports that the named officers and members of the squad received the highest awards, partly for brave and self-sacrificing behavior in front of the enemy, partly for excellent and particularly dutiful service:
Fünfzig jüdische helden des Honvedinfanterie-regiments Nr. 307.
Bei dem seit Juni 1915 bestehenden und zuerst unter dem Kommando des Obersten Julius Parsche, dann unter demjenigen des Oberstleutnants Paul Bozo kämpfenden und in den Toporoutzer Kämpfen auch laut den amtlichen Höser-Berichten sich besonders ausgezeichneten Honved-Infanterieregiment Nr. _____ haben, wie „Egyenlöseg“ berichtet, die nachkenannten Offiziere und dem Mannschaftspande angehörnden Personen teils für tapferes und aufopferundsvolles Verhalten vor dem Feinde, teils für vorzügliche und besonders pflichttreue Dienste Allerhöchste Auszeichnungen erhalten:
… Jewish Encyclopedia (Eisenberg, Das Geistige Wien, s.v.; derived from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.)
Abramson, Glenda, “The Wound of Memory – Uri Zvi Greenberg’s ‘From the Book of the Wars of the Gentiles’”, Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, V 29, N 1, Fall, 2010, pp. 1-21
(From Zeev Galili’s blog: “Reporter at “Yediot Ahronoth” – chief reporter at the news desk, chief of reporters, editorial center and acting editor-in-chief. A columnist in the “Mekor Rishon” newspaper. Teaches in academia (communication, philosophy), effective writing instructor in dozens of businesses, government offices and public institutions, author of children’s books, shadow writer – all former.”)
Weingrad, Michael, “An Unknown Yiddish Masterpiece That Anticipated the Holocaust – Written in 1923, ‘In the Crucifix Kingdom’ depicts Europe as a Jewish wasteland. Why has no one read it?”, at Mosaic.com, April 15, 2015
