By the summer of 1915, with the Great War having raged through and beyond Europe for well-nigh a year, news about the military service of Jewish soldiers and naval personnel had become a regular feature in Jewish (and not only Jewish) periodicals published among some of the major combatant nations of both the Allies and Central Powers.
In The Jewish Chronicle, this generally took the form of brief vignettes about the experiences and observations of individual servicemen, along with – albeit much less frequently – analysis and commentary about Jewish military service in the armed forces of the British Commonwealth, as a whole. The Jewish Exponent (of Philadelphia) seems to have alluded to or actually published news items of a similar nature (derived from material in The Chronicle?), with of course – after all, this was 1915, two years before the United States’ direct involvement in military operations – relatively little about Jewish military service in America’s armed forces. Which news content would inevitably change, come 1917…
What the Chronicle and Exponent did have in common was reporting on the travails and suffering of the Jews of Eastern Europe – then, the location of the demographic core of the Jewish people – amidst the ebb and flow of the armies of the Central Powers (well – primarily, Germany) and Allies (primarily – well, Russia). Probably due to the military centrality and geographic setting of England vis-a-vis the war, new items of this nature seems to have been vastly more common in the Chronicle than the Exponent, albeit the latter did (as you can read in previous posts…) cover this topic, with great prominence.
In the summer of 1915, the themes of these two subjects – the military participation of Jews in the militaries of both the Allies and Central Powers, and the fate of Jewish civilians in Eastern Europe – were fused into a single, lengthy article by Alexander Brin (at the time a reporter for The Jewish Advocate, of which he became editor in August of 1918), in The Boston Traveler, under the title “Loyalty of Jews in War Lands Unshaken”. Republished by The Jewish Exponent on August 27, Brin’s article – fascinating; compelling; infuriating – devotes its first half to a broad survey of worldwide Jewish military service, and its latter half to a summary (illustrated by specific incidents) of the brutalities – brutalities chaotic; brutalities calculated; brutalities intentional – endured by the Jews of Poland, through the accidental intersection of German opportunism, Polish hostility, and the ideology of the civilian and military leadership of Imperial Russia.
Of particular note – especially in light of my prior post The World at War, The Jews in War: Jewish Military Service in World War One, which includes a statistical overview of the approximate number of Jewish servicemen, and Jewish military casualties (fatalities) in the Great War – is Brin’s presentation of the number of Jewish soldiers in the belligerent nations. Being that his article was published in 1915 and reflective of data available up to that point in time, a comparison with numbers in Dr. Martin Gilbert’s 1976 Atlas of Jewish History (previously published in the Committee for a Jewish Army’s 1943 book The Fighting Jew) is illuminating. The numbers are doubly ironic, for in 1915, as much as in 1918 (as observed by David Vital) the countries in which served the greatest number of Jewish soldiers were not England, France, or Germany, but instead Imperial Russia, and, Austria-Hungary.
Three decades later, the irony continued – as irony often does: In the Second World War, the country in which served the greatest number of Jewish soldiers was the Soviet Union.
So. Below… You can view an image of Brin’s article, as it appeared in the Exponent. (The resolution is 395 dpi, for those so curious.)
So, further below… You can read a full transcript of the article. I’ve inserted comments [such as: “…comment...”] where appropriate, to elaborate on and clarify points raised in the article.
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“Great battles – perhaps the greatest thus far – have been fought in what may be well called Jewish country. The great armies that have been swaying back and forth in Poland and in Galicia have fought every inch of ground in Jewish towns and villages. The great fortresses, captured or besieged, stand in the very heart of the Jewish centre of population. Fire and sword are being carried through territories thickly sown with Jewish populations.
“And yet while practically half the race is facing extermination four-fifths of it – represented by all the Jews in the warring nations – is loyally giving its all to the mother country.”
LOYALTY OF JEWS IN WAR LANDS UNSHAKEN
Honored for Bravery Under All Colors – Plan for Race Recognition
The Jewish Exponent
August 27, 1915
(Alexander Brin, in Boston Traveler)
From the beginning of their history up to the present time the Jews have been the world’s chief sufferers in every upheaval, notwithstanding they have been most loyal and patriotic citizens. To this precedent the present war is no exception.
After twelve months of war, with slaughter unparalleled in history, the full horror of the war zone is beginning to loom large in the world’s eye. The general public is beginning to realize that they have suffered not only the hardships of war, but in many instances also the redoubled persecution incident to the unleashing of man’s primitive passions.
In eastern Europe the Jews are living in an inferno. The battle smoke alone hides the ocean of tears and blood. When the veil of war is lifted, the stupendous tragedy will be revealed. If matters continue as they are the political future of the Jew of Russian Poland and Galicia will cease to be a problem. There will be hardly any of them left. There are fewer in the world today by some hundreds of thousands than a year ago.
From reliable reports that have just reached this country, we learn, of the appalling misery of the hundreds of thousands of Jews who are innocent victims of the conflict. They suffer because of the war, but they suffer also because they are Jews. Theirs is a double burden of woe.
The world has shuddered in sympathy for Belgium. Of late realization has come that the fate of Poland, invaded and conquered, but once, but a dozen times – has been ten times worse. Poland has no sympathetic natural neighbor to extend a helping hand. No tons of foodstuffs have been rushed to Poland’s starving. And yet Belgium, Poland and even war-and-typhus Serbia are buoyed up by the feeling of a purposeful martyrdom, by the hope of restored freedom, by the bonds of a patriotic consciousness.
Suffering Staggers Imagination
The suffering of the Jewish people in the eastern war zone staggers imagination. Today hundreds of thousands of them are starving, homeless, driven from place to place by the armies that are fighting for Russia and those fighting against her, without future, without country, without refuge.
The number of Jews in proportion to total population is larger in Poland than that in any other country. The struggle now raging there has rooted up whole stretches of country where they have been domiciled for centuries. The Jews in Galicia have been scattered all over Austria, the Jews of Russian Poland have been driven to the interior. Families have been parted never to come together again; fathers, brothers and sons have been swallowed up in the war, never to return; homes have been devastated, belongings seized or destroyed; wives, sisters and daughters sacrificed to the passions of the passing soldier.
Great battles – perhaps the greatest thus far – have been fought in what may be well called Jewish country. The great armies that have been swaying back and forth in Poland and in Galicia have fought every inch of ground in Jewish towns and villages. The great fortresses, captured or besieged, stand in the very heart of the Jewish centre of population. Fire an sword are being carried through territories thickly sown with Jewish populations.
And yet while practically half the race is facing extermination four-fifths of it – represented by all the Jews in the warring nations – is loyally giving its all to the mother country. The extent to which the war affects the Jewish race may be gathered from a consideration of their numbers in the nations now fighting.
Russian Empire – 3,983,800
Austria Hungary – 2,758,202
Great Britain – 250,000
Germany – 615,000
France – 100,000
Turkey – 175,000
Belgium – 12,100
Luxembourg – 1,970
Serbia – 17,000
Italy – 33,617
Total – 9,450,178
The number of Jewish soldiers in the countries now at war is as follows:
Russian Empire – 350,000
British Empire – 20,000
Germany – 50,000
Austria-Hungary – 175,000
Serbia – 2,500
Belgium – 1,800
France – 25,000
Turkey – 9,000
Italy – 1,000
This makes a total of 634,900. Even from Morocco and Tripoli come Jewish troops – they number 20 per cent of the Zouaves.
Have Won High Praise
They after playing no part for eighteen centuries in the various wars which have reddened the fields of Europe, the Israelite is today plunged into the very vortex of this world war. Himself a militant advocate of peace, he is today pouring his blood like water in defense of his native land. In Russia, his loyalty to the Czar, in spite of recent anti-Semitic persecution, is termed “one of the phenomena of the war”. Yet not the word has been uttered by the government that indicates a loosening of these cruel laws. The Jew is still persecuted in Russia, though his courage has won him medals and crosses. The famous “my beloved Jews” manifesto at the outbreak of hostilities has ended in the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Jews from their homes.
Four thousand five hundred Jewish soldiers were killed in one charge of the battle of Arras. These heroes, in whom dwelled the Maccabean spirit of old, were members of the French Foreign Legion. They were all volunteers and were born in Russia. Their heroism called forth the highest praise from the commanding officers.
Now and again there trickle through the news channels wonderful stories of Jewish heroism and bravery. From every battlefield, whether it be in France, or in Flanders, in East Prussia or in Poland, in Galicia or in Serbia, or at the Dardanelles, the same story comes.
Honored in Death
The Zion Mule Corps, recruited from Jerusalem refugees, attained signal distinction in the Dardanelles, one private winning the coveted Distinguished Conduct Medal. A news report tells of English soldiers driving back a German attack and the killing of the Bavarian commander, a Jew, who remained behind to hurl a deadly bomb at the foe. With all the honors of war, this brave soldier was buried by his enemies, and the Jewish service was read for him by Jews in British ranks. [This is correct. Alexander Brin is referring to a news item that appeared in The Jewish Chronicle on July 2, 1915, only two months before the publication of his essay. Entitled, “German Jewish Officer Bayonted,” the text follows:
In the course of a letter from Squadron Sergt.-Major V. Rathbone, King Edward’s Horse, to his brother, Mr. M. Rathbone, the former writes: – “I was up and down the trenches for twenty-four hours, with one hour’s rest. We captured a German officer, Lieut. Max Seller, of a Bavarian Cavalry Regiment. He and about fifty men were attacking us with hand bombs and the officer was bayoneted on the parapet. I helped to bury him with our own casualties. He was a Jew so I had the service altered by the Chaplain. Possibly his people might be glad to know, and if you asked the JEWISH CHRONICLE and the Jewish World to mention it they might learn of it. He was a plucky chap and our fellows could not help expressing admiration at his effort to bomb us.”
Who was Max Seller?
Born in Gunzenhausen, Bayreuth, Germany, on November 25, 1890, he was the son of Martha Seller. An Unteroffizier in the 7th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment, he was wounded on September 3, 1914. Promoted to the rank of Leutnant der Reserve (equivalent to Reserve Second Lieutenant?), he was eventually assigned to the 10th Company, 3rd Battalion, of the 5th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment, where he was a Zugfuhrer (Squad Leader). Twenty-four years old, he was killed – as described in Sergeant-Major Rathbone’s account – on June 24, 1915. Max Seller is buried in the British Military Cemetery “Hyde Park Corner” at Ploegsteert (Belgium), at Block 1, Row B, Grave 21.
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Max was one of six Jewish war dead from Bayreuth, as seen in this page from Die Jüdischen Gefallenen Des Deutschen Heeres, Deutschen Marine Und Der Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918 – Ein Gedenkbuch:
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This document, from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, is a record of Lt. Seller’s burial. Note the specific mention of a “Jewish Memorial”…
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…however, until this past decade, Max’s matzeva bore no religious symbol. As described by Stephen Daisley in The Jewish Chronicle in October of 2017, in “Retelling the Tale of a Plucky Chap“, this symbolic anonymity was rectified in 2016: This occurred through he efforts of German historian Robin Schäfer, who worked in concert with the German ambassador to Belgium, and, the CWGC. Thus, the matzeva now bears a Magen David.
Stephen Dailsey’s article recounts The Lieutenant’s story in detail, relating biographical information about his family and their subsequent fate, and includes a photograph of Sergeant-Major Rathbone.
You can view Lt. Seller’s matzeva as it appeared in April, 2013, in the photo essay “Vanishing Point: Stumbling through Ploegsteert“, at the blog of photographer Nick. J. Stone. Mr. Stone’s photo essay includes images of three records pertaining to Max Seller’s military service, as well as genealogical information (some the latter of which has been incorporated into “this” blog post). You can see in the image that Max Seller’s matzeva (visible at the front right) simply listed his name, military unit, and date of death.
Well, unlike so many millions killed in the Great War, he has a place of burial.
At least there was that.
Stepping back, several news stories of this nature – about Jewish soldiers in opposing armies who became military casualties at the hands of one another – appeared in the Chronicle and Exponent early in the Great War (not so much if at all, later), the setting for such tales typically being the Eastern War Zone. As such, a solidly verified account of this nature from the Western War Zone was unusual. Such stories, regardless of their veracity, reflected the implications, complexities and possible tragedies – in terms of the conflict between universalism and peoplehood – inherent to, resulting from, and perhaps inevitable with Jewish political emancipation, and its attendant service in the military forces of opposing nations. Max Seller’s story still bears resonance, and in the context of the ongoing history of the Jewish people, will continue to do so. (But, I digress. Back Alexander Brin’s article….)
The first British soldier to fall in German Southwest Africa was Ben Robinson, a famous Jewish athlete. [Brin is probably referring to Private Benjamin Rabinson, Serial Number 189. From Buluwayo, a member of the 1st Battalion, Rhodesia Regiment, he was killed in action on February 7, 1915. His name appeared in The Jewish Chronicle on March 19 and April 23 of that year, with (as was typical) absolutely no information about his next of kin or place of residence, as well as on page 113 of British Jewry Book of Honour. He is buried at the Swakopmund Municipal Cemetery, in Namibia.] In Buluwayo, half a company of reserves is composed of Jews. Victoria Crosses, Iron Crosses, St. George’s Crosses, Crosses of the Legion of Honor decorate the breasts of the Jewish soldiers who are defending the countries of their birth and adoption.
Wherever we turn, we find the Jew prominently patriotic. In England the late Lord Rothschild presided over the Red Cross fund, and Lord Chief Justice Isaacs is understood to have saved the financial situation not only for England, but for all her allies. In Germany, Ballin, the creator of the Mercantile Marine, is now the organizer of the national food supply, stands as the Kaiser’s friend, interpreter and henchman, while Maximilian Harden voices the gospel of Prussianism, and as Zangwill says: “Ernst Lissauer – a Jew converted to the religion of Love, sings “The Song of Hate”. In France, Dreyfus has charge of the battery to the north of Paris, while General Heymann, grand officer of the Legion of Honor, commands an army corps. In Turkey, the racially Jewish Enver Bey [Enver Pasha; Ismail Enver Pasha], is the ruling spirit, having defeated the Jewish David Bey, who was for alliance with France, while Italy, on the contrary, has joined the allies, through the influence of Baron Sonnino, a Jew. The military hospitals of Turkey are all under the direction of the Austrian Jew, Hecker. In Hungary, it is the Jews who, with the Magyars, are the brains of the nation.
An error on Brin’s part!… The Wikipedia entry for Enver Bey notes the following: “Enver was born in Constantinople (Istanbul) on 22 November 1881. Enver’s father, Ahmed (c. 1860–1947), was a Gagauz Turk either a bridge-keeper in Monastir or a small town public prosecutor in the Balkans and his mother Ayşe, an Albanian. His uncle was Halil Pasha (later Kut). Enver had two younger brothers, Nuri and Mehmed Kamil, and two younger sisters, Hasene and Mediha. He was the brother in law of Lieutenant Colonel Ömer Nâzım. He studied for different degrees in military schools in the empire and ultimately graduated from the Harp Akademisi with distinction in 1903. He became a major general in 1906. He was sent to the Third Army, which was stationed in Salonica. During his service in the city, he became a member of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP).”
Poles are Hostile
And all the record of devotion and patriotism only emphasized the cruel suffering of the six millions of Jews in the eastern war zone. Fortunate is the Jew who, fighting for Russia, loses his life in the first charge on the battlefield. How infinitely greater his suffering, to be forced to march through his native village and witness the picture of his ravished women, of aged men with nails driven into their eyeballs, tongues cut off and mutilations on young and old alike.
Whenever the Russians enter a city the native Poles invariably accuse the Jews of being friendly to the Germans, of being German spies. The attempt of German newspapers to spread the belief that Germany was the real deliverer of the Jews in Poland only aggravated their plight. Whenever the Germans took a town similar accusations were made and accepted as true by the conquerors. And when in the intervals between the surging armies villages – already pillaged and looted – were left to their own devices, the native Poles often took advantage of the situation to rob, pillage and slaughter.
Scarcely ever is there any redress. The Russian officials were almost invariably in sympathy, or at least connived at, the outrages against the helpless population.
A few authentic reports received in this country from a Russian editor, Miasoiedow, will disclose to the readers the effectual methods Russia is using in protecting her “beloved Jews,” demonstrating at the same time the true greatness of the true Russian.
Hundreds are Jailed
No sooner did the Russians enter the city than mischief was set afoot. Hundreds of Jews were jailed because several Poles, notorious thieves and criminals, accused the Jews of according the Germans a friendly reception. A number have been shot, knouted, hanged, imprisoned as hostages. Immediately after that, Russian soldiery pillaged the town. The stores were first rendered barren, then fired. When certain representative Russian Jews petitioned the Russian commander on behalf of the population, he told them that “should any Jew dare set foot over the threshold of his room,” he would “execute him on the spot.”
The noble answer of the murderous Russian executive terrified the Jews to such an extent that for weeks they remained hidden in cellars, without food or cover.
Here is another incident of the greatness of the “true Russian spirit”. Editor Miasoiedow talks about.
The following outrages are contained in the report of Dr. Arthur Levy and may be considered authentic:
“In Staschew, eleven Jews were hanged in the synagogue.
“In Klodawa, two of the most respected Jewish citizens were hanged on the balcony of their own house one Friday evening as the Jews came out of the synagogue, and the wife of one of them had to provide the rope. The corpses were left in that position for twenty-four hours, and the neighbors were not allowed to close their shutters to the horrible sight.
Girls Seek Death
“In Schidlowee Jewish girls threw themselves into the lake because they had been outraged and would not carry that disgrace through life.
“In Ostrowice the Cossacks demanded that the rabbi, Zadik Kalischer, be turned over to them to be hanged because they believed he had assisted the Austrians. The fact is that he, together with the Polish priest, went to meet the Austrian and German troops at the time of the latter’s invasion, just as they had approached the Russian troops on a previous occasion, to ask that the inhabitants of the town be kindly treated. When the rabbi hid himself from the Cossacks, they waited until the feast of Yom Kippur was in progress in order to surround the synagogue on Kol Nidre evening and effect the capture in that way. When they had seized the rabbi and were about to execute him, the German invasion again reached Ostrowice, and the Cossacks were forced to retire, after they had burned the rabbi’s home.
“During the Friday evening services the Governor of Petrikov and troops invaded the synagogues of the town and pulled the scrolls from the ark in the search for a telephone which they claimed the Jews had hidden there in order to keep in communication with the German invaders.
“In Kleczew 150 Jews were seized as spies and sent to Warsaw. The whole Jewish population of Zyrardow, Prutshkow, Bialobrzeg, Iwangorod, Grodzisk, Skierneiwice and many other places were expelled. In Skierneiwice the expulsion order was carried out on the Sabbath eve, and the 10,000 Jews of the town left their homes with Sabbath lights still burning and the rabbi at their head.
“In Lowicz two young Jews from Zgierz, named Sandberg and Frenkel, were accused as spies and hanged, after one of them had been mutilated. The same misfortune befell Moses Lipschitz, a corn merchant and respected Talmudist, because he had done business with Germany before the war. In Bechawa, in the government of Lublin, 78 Jews were hanged as spies on one day in October. In Kramostaw, in the same government, many Jewish houses were burned and most of the 200 Jews there, with their wives and children, were destroyed.
Hang Children
“In Zdunsky-Wola all the Jewish women and girls were outraged, one of them, whose husband was on the line of battle, died in consequence.”
In line with Dr. Levy’s report, the article by Dr. George Brandes on the tragedies of the Jews in Poland gives similar examples. The reputation of Dr. Brandes is international and his aloofness from political questions lends to his statement that element of disinterestedness. Dr. Brandes says:
“In the towns of Janow and Krasnik the Jews were accused of having put out mines to destroy the Russians. The Jews, and among them many children, were hanged on the telegraph poles, and two towns destroyed.
“The town of Samosch was conquered by the Austrian Sokol troops, those beautiful slender people you do not forget when once you have seen them train in the capital of Galicia. When they were driven away from the Russian army the Poles accused the Jews of the town of having been the accomplices of the Austrians. Twelve Jews were arrested. When they denied the charge, they were sentenced to death. Five of them had already been hanged, when in the middle of the execution, a Russian priest, carrying an image of the Virgin in his hand, appeared and with his hand on this image took the oath that the Jews were innocent and that the accusation was all an outcome of Polish hatred of the Jews. He proved that the Poles of the town themselves had supported the Austrians and that even a telephone connection with Lemberg could be found. The seven Jews were then set free; five had already been hanged.
“In the town of Jusefow, the Jews were accused of having poisoned the wells through which hundreds of Cossacks had lost their lives. Seventy-eight Jew s were killed, many women were ravished and houses and shops plundered.”
Burned Alive in Hay
Another story is told of a Jew, H. Lipewsky, who was driving a wagonload of hay toward Wirhallen. He was stopped by a plaotton of Cossacks and ordered to throw down the hay. Having done as instructed, Lipewsky proved to the Cossacks that the wagon contained no German soldiers. Yet Lipewsky was thrown in the wagon, covered with hay and set afire. Several Jewish soldiers witnessed the incident, but for obvious reasons could not intervene; they reported it, however, in the city, and when friends of Lipewsky came out to the place of the tragedy, they found a heap of charred bones.
A number of women and girls were ravished. The Cossacks would carry them off to the barracks and assault them. Many nights in succession the deadly silence of Suwalki was startled by agonizing screams of these unfortunate women.
Lomza witnessed the most bloody deeds of Cossack bestiality. A student of the Kieff Uiversity tells the following:
“The Russians entered Lomza on a Sunday evening. A Jewish merchant, Markus Cohen, was arrested. The Cossacks, while plundering his house, found several invoices from German business men. This was enough.
“Tuesday afternoon he was hanged on a tree in the heart of the city. A placard reading: “This is the body of a Jewish traitor and spy, Markus Cohen,” was fastened to the body.
“Immediately after that the Cossacks galloped through the streets shouting: ‘Kill the Jews, they betrayed our country.’
“In the house of the leather dealer, Neuman, they found the entire family hidden in the basement. A barrel of gasoline was brought and the house fired. All the members of the family perished.
“In another Jewish house was found a beautiful young girl. The bound and gagged her and before her eyes killed her father. The mother succeeded in escaping. The girl was then so shamefully treated by scores of men that she died in the hands of the torturers.”
Await War’s End
The present war in Europe, in which every one of the big nations is concerned, cannot come to an end without a conference in which not only every nation directly concerned is represented, but it must also receive the support and participation of neutral powers, of which the United States may be one.
This conference, it is expected, will deal with every question involved in the struggle, and with others in which all the participants are interested.
The status of the Jews in all the countries is a subject that may come before that important body.
With the object of having it brought before the peace conference, or by whatever name the assemblage may be called, committees have been formed in several countries, United States included, which are expected to use every means at their command to have the matter made a subject for consideration. The move has received the support of some of the leading men of the country, non-Jews as well as Jews. Jews feel that now is the time to prepare, so that when the proper time comes they may be united for action.
References
Websites
Enver Bey – Biography at Wikipedia
Alexander Brin Dead at 87 – News article at archive of Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Leutnant der Reserve Max Seller – Grave Record at Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Retelling the Tale of a Plucky Chap, by Stephen Daisley – The Jewish Chronicle, October 17, 2017
Benjamin Rabinson (“B. Rabinson”) – Grave Record at Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Jewish Advocate (History of publication) – at Wikipedia
Nick J. Stone’s photographs – at Flickr
Invisible Works – Nick J. Stone’s photography blog
Books
Adler, Michael, British Jewry Book of Honour, Caxton Publishing Company, London, England, 1922
Die Jüdischen Gefallenen Des Deutschen Heeres, Deutschen Marine Und Der Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918 – Ein Gedenkbuch, Reichsbund Jüdischer Frontsoldaten, Forward by Dr. Leo Löwenstein, Berlin, Germany, 1932