Chronicles From World War One: Jewish Civilians in Eastern Europe: “How Russian Jews Suffered in War” – The Jewish Exponent, November 3, 1916

In its issue of November 3, 1916, an article describing the plight of Jewish civilians in Poland – during the advance, occupation by, and retreat of Russian military forces through that country – appeared The Jewish Exponent of Philadelphia.  As indicated in the article’s introductory paragraph, this news item was itself derived from a series of reports previously published in The New York Times, with information obtained from “confidential reports”.  

The Exponent presented the information in this article under seven major headings.  Namely:

1) The Attitude of the Russian General Staff towards Jewish soldiers (400,000 then serving in Russian army)

2) The Situation of the Jewish populace in Poland

3) The Experience of the Jews of Galicia

4) Taking of hostages and expulsion of Jews

5) Treatment of Jews during the retreat of the Russian army

6) Implications and impact of “Kush Incident” on the treatment of Jews by the Russian army, as reported on and instigated by the Russian military periodical Nash Vestnick

7) The Plight of Jewish refugees

The “take-aways” (in the jargon of 2019) from a reading of this article are simple, and, striking:

The seeming irrelevance – at least as perceived at the level of the Russian General Staff – of the dedication and loyalty Jewish soldiers in the Tsar’s army, and the General Staff’s corresponding near-automatic assumption of treachery on the part of all Jews – both soldiers and civilians;

…the generally hostile attitude of non-Jewish Poles towards Polish Jews (albeit not universally and consistently so), which was communicated to and influenced the attitude of Russian military leadership towards Polish Jewry;

…and, the difficulty (if not the practical impossibility) of self-defense – any projection of power, for that matter – by Polish Jews, whether individually or collectively. 

Read more, below…

______________________________

How Russian Jews Suffered In War
Confidential Reports tell of Their Persecution by Military and Civilians
(From the New York Bureau of The Jewish Exponent)

November 3, 1916

THE STORY of what the Jews suffered in Russia during the war, although barred by the censor from the columns of the Russian press, has come to The New York Times in a series of confidential reports, each one bearing open some aspect of the situation.

Soon after war was declared the Jewish people by word and deed offered every assurance of loyalty to Russia and her cause.  They responded to the mobilization summons as eagerly as any other element of the population.  Great numbers of students, barred from the Russian university because they were Jews, abandoned their courses in foreign institutions and returned to Russia to serve as volunteers.

An examination into the circumstantial sources from which the charges of Jewish treachery and espionage actually sprang about, showed according to a report of the Central Committee, that most of the accusations were made and prosecuted without reference to the ordinary rules of evidence and n utter disregard of the laws governing judicial procedure in such cases.  The written records from which it could be ascertained whether or not these charges were supported by legal evidence sworn to by witnesses are conspicuously absent.

On the other hand, the Central Committee found that the military authorities often pursued the most rigorous course on mere hearsay and rumors which they did not ignore even in the absence of sufficient proof for fear that some possible act of espionage or treason might escape unpunished.

The written records of eight typical cases of Jews charged with treason in the early days of the war show that six of these proceedings fell through for want of proof.  One defendant, a miller, was accused of guiding German artillery fire with the arms of his windmill.  On the day of a certain bombardment the wing kept turning the wheel in the direction of the Russian position under fire from which it was surmised that the miller was transmitting signals to the German gunners.  He was acquitted.

Another defendant was accused of possessing a secret telephone in his moving-picture establishment by which he could send information from the Russian lines to the German trenches.  The telephone case, which was heard in the town of Lomsch, not only terminated in the vindication of the defendant, but his accuser, a military inspector, was himself convicted of bribery and extortion.  It was proved that he deliberately manufactured false evidence in order to have the defendant arrested and obtain money and jewelry from his relatives by pretending to save him from the rope.

Most of the charges alleged nothing more treacherous than conversations in which the defendants either gave information to German soldiers or withheld information from the Russians.

Jewish Soldiers Suspected

Despite the triviality and collapse of these charges, the story of Jewish treachery continued to gain ground until it even took root in the ranks of the army, bringing the Jewish soldiers themselves, of whom there were about 400,000 in the Russian lines, under suspicion.

The General Staff issued a circular in April, 1915, demanding the careful collection of all available facts pointing to treachery and disloyalty on the part of Jewish soldiers.  The same kind of order was issued with reference to Jews who were doing service in the medical, sanitary, and commissary branches of the army. 

“This evidence,” a proclamation asserts, “is indispensable in view of the fact that after the war it will be necessary to pass serious judgment upon the question of Jewish service in the ranks of our army; therefore, it is extremely desirable to have at hand the testimony, systematically collected by members of the various military branches who had to tolerate the menacing presence of the Jew in their very midst.”

Aside from inflicting a stigma upon the Semitic soldiers, the General Staff took official cognizance of the alleged acts of Jewish infamy.  Numerous proclamations were issued against the crimes of the Jewish populations in the theatre of war.  They were accused among other things of refusing to feed the Russian soldiers and of putting poison in the food when they did feed them.  They were accused of betraying the movements of Russian troops, by overhead or underground wires, many of which were supposed to emanate direct from the synagogues and Jewish cemeteries.  They were accused of transporting secret supplies to the German troops.  They were accused of harboring soldiers in their cellars and yards and allowing the Russian to march into traps of destruction.  Thus in November the following proclamation was issued from the division headquarters in the region of the fortress of Novoe Georgievsk:

Articles appear in German newspapers to the effect that the German troops have found in the Jew a trustworthy ally who, having access to unknown supplies of food, is often diffident enough to serve the Germans in every way that might do damage to Russian interests.  In German victory the Jews saw their escape from the imperial yoke and from Polish oppression.

Information of a similar nature has also been received from the army at the front.

To protect the army against the perfidious activities of the Jewish population, the Commander in Chief hereby orders that in all occupied points hostages be taken from the Jewish inhabitants with a warning that any act of treachery by the Jews while the town was in our hands, or even after its evacuation, would mean the forfeit of the lives of those taken as hostages; that the disclosure in these places of any wireless apparatus or signaling stations or underground telegraph communications, etc., would expose those responsible to the full rigor of the law.

The Situation in Poland

During the occupation of Poland by Russian troops in the opening year of the war the Jews there inspired imperial distrust for several reasons.  In the first place, the anti-Semitic Poles, to whom Jewish competition in business was always distasteful, did everything in their power to fan the flames of suspicion and hatred.  Secondly, the condition of Jewish life in Poland, very different from that of the Gentiles, or even the Jews of the Russian provinces, also contributed to general uneasiness in the ranks of the army.  To quote the report of the Central Committee on this point:

“For the most part, the Jewish population of Poland has not yet emerged from its past, but clings securely to its pristine self-conscious kind of existence.  They retain the medieval costumes of the race, which give the men who wear beards and queer, dark clothes an especial alien and ominous aspect.  They speak a language that is neither Polish nor Russian, but a jargon, Yiddish, founded a hundred years ago and developed by admixture of Slavic and Hebrew words. 

“All these conditions naturally added to the feeling of estrangement between the Jewish inhabitants and Russian soldiers who invaded their territory and who for the first time looked upon people of such peculiar appearance.  Naturally, they became suspicious of a people who, though Russian subjects, spoke a language sounding like German, a language understood easily enough by the enemy, but not by the Russians.

“The excuse of suspicion on the one side evoked an attitude of fear and timidity on the other.

“The anti-Semitic element naturally encouraged the hostile attitude of the army, believing that it would result, if not in the extermination of the Jews, at least in their ruin or a radical abridgement of their rights after the restoration of the Imperial Government in Poland.”

The story concerning secret telephone communications with the Germans received the widest audience in military circles and more than once innocent Jews had to pay with their lives for this particular accusation.

Another story which did much damage was to the effect that the Jews were responsible for the scarcity of money throughout the empire, that the Jews were concealing great stores of coinage in their cemeteries, cellars and other secret places.  They were even alleged to have carried great sums of money across the border in coffins.

The Situation in Galicia

The experience of the Russian Army in its invasion of Galicia proved to be another source of anti-Semitic resentment.  The Galician Jew differed but slightly in appearance and customs from the Polish Jews.  He spoke the same incomprehensible language, only understood by the Germans.  There was really nothing to distinguish the two excepting that the Galician Jews were more ferociously hostile to the Russian Army than the Jews under Muscovite rule.  True enough, the Galician Jews offered the Russians no cordial reception.  For them the ravaging Cossack typified the whole Russian Army.

So it happened that whatever difficulties the Galician Jews created for the Russian Army in its Carpathian campaign reacted directly against the Jews of Poland and Russia.

The tendency to put all Jews, whether Russian or Austrian subjects, in the same unfriendly class first manifested itself officially in a proclamation issued by the General Staff on the southwest front.  Subsequently, the same order issued on January, 1915, was sent to all points of the front.  It read as follows:

The events of the present war have revealed a decidedly unfriendly attitude toward us on the part of the Jewish inhabitants of Poland, Galicia, and Bukowina.  Whenever our forces stopped, the friendly inhabitants open the subsequent occupation of those regions by the Germans have had to endure great hardships because of the lying reports made by the Jews to Austrian and German authorities.

Wherefore, to relieve the inhabitants of Jewish prosecutions and to protect our armies against the espionage in which the Jews are engaged on all our fronts, the Commander in Chief has forbidden the presence of the Jews in the vicinity of our armies and their migration to any point south of the city of Yaroslav; furthermore, in view of the slanders perpetrated by the Jews against the population, and in view of the espionage practiced by the Jews, the Commander in Chief has ordered that hostages be taken who shall be liable to the punishment of death by hanging.  For every peaceful inhabitant made a victim of by Jewish slander, and for every instance of Jewish espionage, the lives of two hostages shall be forfeited.

This step is taken top protect the peaceful and friendly inhabitants from suffering as the result of Jewish lies; it is taken on the basis of six months experience which has brought our military authorities to the firm conviction that the Jews have and will continue to display a disloyal and relentless attitude toward the local population.

Taking of Hostages

The taking of hostages was a circumstance which caused the deepest resentment throughout the whole Jewish population of Russia.  Hostages were taken beginning with the second month of the war in Prushkov province of Warsaw.  Thereafter, the military authorities adopted this policy as a guarantee against Jewish treachery throughout the provinces of Poland, Courland and Kovno.  As a rule, the hostages were rabbis and wealthy Jews – the most influential members of the community.  They were men not only valuable to their own people, but men who had also proved themselves exceptionally energetic in the humanitarian endeavor of providing and caring for wounded Russian soldiers and their families, irrespective of religious faith.

The report of the Central Committee records the execution of three men held as hostages in Sohachev in December, 1914.  The reason for their execution could not be ascertained.

The decree quoted above was only one of a series of similar proclamations which culminated in the anti-Semitic propaganda of 1914 and in the spring of 1915.  Shortly after the war began, orders were issued directing the Jews of certain towns on the Polish-German frontier to retire into the interior, taking with them as much of their belongings as they could carry.  Beginning with perfunctory proclamations that were to all appearances prompted by military necessity, the policy of the authorities within a few months assumed a relentless course of discrimination against the Jews.

By the end of December, 1914, under the lash of military proclamations, the exodus of Jews had developed into a great upheaval of the whole Semitic population of Poland.  On January 25, 1915, a general order was issued expelling the Jews from more than forty towns in the region of Warsaw.  More than 100,000 Jews had to abandon their homes under this decree.  They were driven from one town to another in rapid succession, and they had no time in most cases to collect the necessities of life, such as food, clothing and utensils.  Old men, women and children – all the able-bodied Jews being at the front fighting for Russia – made up this dreary and endless caravan of misery, which the military authorities got into motion. 

Once the order to leave was issued, the Jews were expected to comply without a moment’s delay.  All considerations of home, family and property had to de abandoned.  The rabbis, on behalf of their community, often appealed to the military commander for an extension of the allotted time.  Sometimes the appeal was granted; more often it was refused.  The police, moreover, being themselves held strictly responsible for the prompt execution of military orders, were right on the heels of the Jews with whips and threats.

The report of the expulsion of the Jews from Smorgon, province of Vilna, in September, 1913, [sic] cites an occurrence where a Cossack officer, on finding that two sons and an aged father had not vacated their homes with the rest of the Jews, demanded to know the reason why.  The sons declared that they did not know what to do because their old father was lying very ill in bed and could not possibly be moved without endangering his life.  The officer asked to see the old man.  On being brought to his bedside the officer drew a revolver, put a bullet through the sick man’s brain and remarked to his sons, “Now you are free to go.”

On many occasions Jewish inhabitants fleeing from their native towns saw the sky illuminated that night with the flames of their burning homes.  They had no redress unless the commanding officer happened to be especially humane.  Thus, in Ynova [sic]. the military commander, Gabrilowitsch [sic], in checking the instigation of a pogrom against the Jews, reminded the Cossacks and peasants that he knew “neither Jew nor Gentile, only Russian subjects”.  Very often, too, especially during a period of Russian advance, soldiers who engaged in pillage, even of the Jews, were punished with the full rigor of the law.

Crimes Following the Retreat

When the Russians were thrown back into Poland, the protection of the Jewish inhabitants along the line of retreat became so extremely lax that they were at the mercy of Cossacks and peasants.  The cry was, “All Jews are traitors.”  The following is reported to have taken place in the town of Lokachi, province of Volinski:

“On July 24 the Cossacks and Dragoons, in order to distinguish between the Gentiles and Jews of the village, ordered the former to display ikons in their windows.  This being done, they hastened to destroy and plunder Jewish property.  The pogrom began in the shop of a Jew when a Cossack demanded a pound of tobacco, costing not less than four roubles.  The Jew replied that he did not keep such high-priced tobacco in stock, whereupon the Cossack pierced him with his lance and killed him.  Following this occurrence the whole Jewish population fled and encamped in the open about two miles from the village.  For the three following days the destruction of property continued without cessation.  When their was nothing else to destroy the Cossacks rode out to the spot where the Jews had encamped under the open sky.  They lined up the Jews and robbed them of all their money and valuables.  One of the Jews, Gershon Pfeffer, resisted their violence.  They dragged him into the woods and he never returned.  On August 11 a gendarme found his coat there all covered with blood.”

A Cossack, in a letter to his brother concerning conditions in a town he had helped to sack, wrote as follows:

“The people here are very poor, not sure of getting anything, and you spend very quickly whatever you get.  With 70 cents a months you can’t go very far, when you have to put up for the horses’ feed, too.  Bread you get wherever you can.  Kill a Jew and he has not got anything, and we club them like dogs, only there is nothing to be had; they are starving of hunger themselves.”

The Kush Episode

The wholesale and systematic expulsion of the Jews did not begin until May, 1915, when it was practically coincidental with the publication of what is termed the most vicious canard of the war.  On May 5, the official military organ, Nash Vestnick, published a dispatch which read as follows:

“On the night of April 28, in the village of Kush, southwest of Shavie, the Germans made a successful attack upon a detachment of our infantry which was resting in that vicinity.  The occurrence revealed sedition and treachery of the part of certain elements of the population, especially the Jews.  Before the appearance of our troops in this village, the Jews had concealed German soldiers in many of their cellars.  At a given shot, the Germans poured in on us from every direction.  Rushing out of the cellars they attacked the house occupied by the commander of our infantry regiment.  This disastrous event demonstrates the military necessity of taking the most diligent precautions in places which the Germans had formerly occupied and of which the inhabitants are largely Jews.”

Distributed by the Petrograd Agency to all the important newspapers, this dispatch created a tremendous wave of anti-Semitic feeling even among the more intelligent people.  The Kush dispatch, furthermore, was placarded in and posted in nearly all the large cities and in all towns near the war zone.

An investigation of the German raid on Kush by two members of the Duma, Kerensky and Friedman, established beyond a doubt, according to a report of the Central Committee, that the Kush dispatch was a lie from beginning to end.  The facts as developed by this inquiry showed that out of forty houses there were only two occupied by Jews which had cellars.  These cellars, moreover, were merely very small basements, which could not have possibly accommodated any German soldiers.  On April 26, in the evening, a detachment of Russian infantry moved into the town.  Owing to the presence in the village on that very morning of a German scouting party, the Russians were warned by one of the inhabitants that the Germans were not more than four versts away, but they merely laughed at the suggestion and paid no attention to it.  On the same night a bombardment set the village on fire.  On the 27th the commanding officer advised all the inhabitants to leave the town, so that when the German attack took place on the 28th there was not a single Jew in the village.

Plight of the Refugees

This Kush dispatch had a very pointed effect upon the Gentile population of Russia when the exodus of the Jews reached its climax in the wholesale expulsion of about 200,000 Jews from the provinces of Kovno and Courland.  They met with hatred and contempt all along the route of their flight.

Furthermore, although the problem of transporting so large a mass of people across the country was a very serious one, neither the railroad nor military officials gave it much consideration.  The refugees were packed into freight and cattle trains and kept there for many days at a time with disease and filth and epidemic in their midst.  In the beginning, the railroad officials, taking advantage of their misfortune, tried to charge third-class rates for accommodations in box cars.  This abuse, however, was quickly checked by the Provincial Government.

Part of the refugees were transferred without delay to the districts of the provinces of Poltava Ekaterinoslav designated as a new pale of settlement by the authorities; others fled to other villages and towns of adjoining provinces, hiding in synagogues, barns, or under the open sky.  Some had passports and documents, which would entitle them to retain residential rights; others had nothing, and they were continually hounded from place to place.  Freight cars packed with Jews poured into the provinces of Poltava, Ekaterinoslav, and Tavrich and soon evoked from these districts a clamor of protest.

“In Homel,” reads the report of the Central Committee, “the members of the Jewish committee organized to give aid to the refugees as they passed through the town were ordered not to approach the cars with provisions under the threat of being shot.  They were strictly prohibited from giving any food to the refugees.  In connection with the circumstance, the Gentile population of the town was also very hostile to the refugees.  There were times when stones were thrown at the Jews and several were killed, and there were also times when the Gentiles, seeing that the ‘criminals’ were merely old, trembling men and women and children, immediately changed their entire attitude.

“It may be noted with satisfaction,” reads the committee’s report, “that in those provinces where the influence of the Black Hundred was not allowed to dominate the Gentile inhabitants showed no enmity toward the Jews, but, on the contrary, displayed on many occasions the warmest sympathy.”

The expulsion of the Jews took place on the eve for the call for recruits of the class of 1916.  Hence, thousands of young Jews who had been driven out as “spies” were ordered to return to their native provinces at once to fulfill their military obligations.

The expulsion of the Jews was followed by economic demoralization of business in all the provinces from which they were driven.  Although the nationalistic paper of Kovno, Litovskaya Russ, urged the Gentiles to take advantage of their economic opportunities after the Jews were gone, business remained at an absolute standstill.  The shops in all the main streets of Kovno remained shut.  There was hardly a grocer, butcher, or delicatessen store to be found.  Jewish industries and factories were shut down and thousands of men were thrown out of employment. 

Towards the end of May the Government and military authorities realized that the expulsion of Jews had been a great mistake.  But in order to retain the political effect of this movement and continue the distinction between the Jews and the rest of the population, the authorities agreed to have them return provided that they gave hostages as a guarantee that there would be no treachery.  Feeling it impossible to accept a condition which was based on a presumption that they were capable of treachery, most of the Jewish communities rejected the invitation and the situation remained unchanged. – New York Times

Readings and References

Lohr, Eric, The Russian Army and the Jews: Mass Deportations, Hostages, and Violence During World War I, Russian Review, V 60, N 3, July, 2001, pp. 404-419

Petrovsky-Shtern, Yohanan, The “Jewish Policy” of the Late Imperial War Ministry: The Impact of the Russian Right, Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History, V 3, N 2, Spring, 2002, pp. 217-254

Vital, David, A People Apart – A Political History of the Jews in Europe, 1789-1939, Oxford University Press, N.Y., 2001

Soldiers from New York: Jewish Soldiers in The New York Times, in World War Two: Captain Howard K. Goodman, USMC – January 7, 1944

Here’s a revision to this post, which originally appeared some time ago…

I recently discovered a photograph of Captain Howard Goodman in The Forward (Forverts) of July 5, 1943, and have now incorporated the picture – below – into this post.  I discovered this image – purely by chance – while reviewing the newspaper at the website of the Historical Jewish Press, at the National Library of Israel.

Throughout the Second World War, and I suppose well before and years after, The Forward included within its pages many, many photographs of Jewish military personnel and sometimes, their families.  These images appeared within specific news items directly pertaining to servicemen themselves, as “stand-alone” photo items, and especially, within the latter page of every issue, which comprised a selection of compelling, dramatic, topical, or just-plain-interesting recent photographs from both the United States and overseas.  

Within these Forward photo pages, many – but certainly not all, at all – images illustrated Jewish personnel in the armed forces of the United States.  Thus, the image of Captain Goodman, pictured in the act of receiving the Silver Star.

I may be able to bring you more such images, in the future.

______________________________

In the summer of 1943, both The New York Times and Brooklyn Eagle accorded recognition to a Jewish member of the Marine Corps – Captain Howard Kenneth Goodman, of Long Beach – for his receipt of the Silver Star, which was awarded in recognition of his service in the Solomon Islands, where he was wounded on November 3, 1942.  Curiously, the Eagle’s article was more comprehensive, presenting both a photograph of Captain Goodman’s mother, and, the full award citation.

Wins Marines Medal
New York Times
July 3, 1943

WASHINGTON, July 2 (U.P.) – Secretary Knox has awarded the Silver Star Medal to Captain Howard K. Goodman, U.S.M.C., 25, son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Goodman of Long Beach, L.I.  Captain Goodman formerly lived at 1660 Crotona Park East, New York.

While still a First Lieutenant, Captain Goodman was cited for leading here successive bayonet and hand-grenade charges with minimum casualties to his men in the face of heavy-machine gun and mortar fire during the Solomons offensive.

Captain Goodman attended Long Beach High School before enrolling at City College, from which he was graduated with a Bachelor of Social Science degree.  In college he was a member of the editorial staff of The Campus, the college orchestra and the ROTC band.

He enlisted in the Marines on July 3, 1941, soon after he was admitted to the bar of New York State after three years at Columbia Law School. 

Captain Goodman’s pre-war residence, at 1660 Crotona Park East.

Leatherneck Captain Gets Star for Leading 3 Charges on Japs

Brooklyn Eagle
July 2, 1943

For “leading three successive bayonet and hand grenade charges against the Japanese,” Capt. Howard K. Goodman, U.S.M.C.., of 1012 W. Beach St., has been awarded the Silver Star medal by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox.

West Beach Street, in the Bronx of 2016.  The Saloon Restaurant (actually, at 1016 West Beach Street) now occupies the location where the home of Rose Goodman once stood.

While he was still a first lieutenant, Goodman was cited for leading three successive charges in the face of heavy machine gun and mortar fire with minimum casualties to his men.  He accomplished this feat during the Solomons offensive.

Yesterday his mother, Mrs. Samuel Goodman, received a letter from her hero son.  He wrote: “It’s Captain Goodman now.  Yes, I was promoted.”  He gave the date as May 31 and went on to say that he had passed the physical examination, signed the acceptance and put on the bars.  It would mean a raise and also a change of station, she added.

She’s ‘Very Proud Mother’

“I’m a very proud mother,” said Mrs. Goodman.  “He always has been an exceptional boy.  He didn’t hang around on the street corners like so many do.  He was very studious.”

Goodman’s letter didn’t mention the award.  He wrote he was going to have pictures taken as soon as he could get to town.  “He has been to the movies, too,” said Mrs. Goodman.  He saw “Keeper of the Flame.”

Columbia Law Graduate

Goodman, 25, is a 1938 graduate of City College of New York and studied law at Columbia University.  Shortly after he enlisted on July 3, 1941, he was sworn in as a member of the bar.  In May, 1942, he went overseas.

The citation, which accompanies the award, reads:

“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as a member of the First Marine Division during action against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands on Nov. 3, 1942.  While temporarily attached to a battalion launching an assault against the enemy, 1st Lt. Goodman, in the face of heavy machine gun and mortar fire, led his platoon in three successive bayonet and hand grenade charges against the Japanese.  By his outstanding leadership and courageous aggressiveness, he contributed to the annihilation of a hostile strong point of about one battalion, with minimum casualties to his own troops.”

______________________________

Here’s the photograph of Captain Goodman receiving the Silver Star, from The Forward of July 5, 1943.

______________________________

Sadly, Captain Goodman did not survive the war.  He was killed in action half a year later, on January 7, 1944.

Unlike the servicemen profiled in previous posts concerning The New York Times, that newspaper never published an obituary or retrospective concerning the Captain.  Instead, his name simply appeared in Casualty Lists published in the Times (and Long Island Star Journal) on March 2, 1944, and the Nassau Daily-Review Star on February 16.  Captain Goodman’s name also appeared in the “In Memoriam” section of the Times on February 6, 1947, and February 24, 1949.  His awards comprised the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart with one Oak Leaf Cluster.

A member of M Company, 3rd Battalion, the 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Captain Goodman (serial number 0-8730) was buried at New Montefiore Cemetery, in West Babylon, New York (Block 6, Grave 4, Section 3, Long Beach Brith Abraham Society) on February 6, 1949.

Some other Jewish military casualties on Friday, January 7, 1944, include…

Killed in Action

– .ת.נ.צ.ב.ה. –

Becker, Sidney, 2 Lt., 0-741226, Bombardier, Purple Heart
United States Army Air Force, 8th Air Force, 445th Bomb Group, 701st Bomb Squadron
Mrs. Elaine B. Becker (wife), 2910 Madison Ave., Newport News, Va.
Born 11/12/19
MACR 15103; Aircraft: B-24H 41-29119; Pilot: 2 Lt. Lester I. Eike; 10 crewmen – 4 survivors
Aircraft crashed at Wethingsett, Suffolk, England, on return from mission to Ludwigshaven
Jewish Cemetery of the Virginia Peninsula, Hampton, Va. (Photo of Matzeva by Dawn Stewart.)
American Jews in World War II – 577

______________________________

Briskman, Edward, Pvt., 32880900, Purple Heart
United States Army, 34th Infantry Division, 168th Infantry Regiment, G Company
Mrs. Fanny Briskman (mother), 2959 Nostrand Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y.
Born 5/10/24
Long Island National Cemetery, Farmingdale, N.Y. – Section H, Grave 11026
Casualty List 3/8/44
American Jews in World War II – 284

Friedman, Morris Samuel, 2 Lt., 0-682101, Bombardier, Purple Heart
United States Army Air Force, 8th Air Force, 96th Bomb Group, 337th Bomb Squadron
Mrs. Alice S. Friedman (wife), 1823 Maple St., Bethlehem, Pa.
Born 1921
MACR 2018; Luftgaukommando Report KU 660; Aircraft: B-17F 42-30130 (“The Klap Trap II”, “AW * J”) Pilot: 2 Lt. Roland E. Peterson; 10 crewmen – 2 survivors [Right Waist Gunner Sgt. William Brian Roberts, and Tail Gunner Sgt. Andrew Francis Weiss]
Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands – Plot O, Row 20, Grave 12
American Jews in World War II – 522

______________________________

Heilbronn, Eric Moses (Moshe ben Yitzhak), Pvt., 32816833, Purple Heart
United States Army, 34th Infantry Division, 168th Infantry Regiment, A Company
Rabbi Isak [6/4/80-6/9/43] and Mrs. Erna Esther [2/9/92-5/3/77] Heilbronn (parents), Cecil and Irmgard (Pinto) Heilbronn, 382 Wadsworth Ave., New York, N.Y.
Born Nurnberg, Germany, 1924
Burial location unknown
Casualty List 2/22/44
Aufbau 5/12/44
American Jews in World War II – 342

The May 12, 1944 edition of Aufbau, which carried news about Private Heilbronn, is shown below:

Here is the news item about Private Heilbronn, which is followed by a transcription of the German text, and an English-language translation:

Pvt. Eric M. Heilbronn

ist im Alter von nur 20 Jahren auf dem italienischen Kriegsschauplatz gefallen.  Er war seit dem 7 Januar dieses Jahres als vermisst gemeldet, aber erst vor wenigen Tagen hat seine Mutter die Nachricht von seinem Tod erhalten.

Pvt. Heilbronn ist der Sohn des ihm sieben Monate im Tod vorangegangenen Rabbiners Dr. Isaak Heilbronn und stammte aus Nurnberg.  Er widmete such insbesondere der Jugendbewegung innerhalb der Gemeinde seines Vaters, der Congregation Beth Hillel, und versuchte, die eingewanderte deutsch-jüdische Jugend mit der americanischen Weltanschauung vertraut zu Machen und sie fur die Ideale Amerikas zu begeistern.

Pvt. Heilbronn kam Antang 1939 nach Amerika, absolvierte die High School in New York und nahm später Abendkurse in Buchprüfung am City College.  Tagsüber war er bei der Federation of Jewish Charities beschaftigt.  Im März 1943 rückte er in die Armee ein.

Pvt. Eric M. Heilbronn

died at the age of only 20 in the Italian theater of war.  He was reported missing since January 7 of that year, but only a few days ago his mother received the news of his death.

Pvt. Heilbronn is the son of Rabbi Isaac Heilbronn from Nurnberg, who died seven months before his death.  He was particularly dedicated to the youth movement within his father’s congregation, Congregation Beth Hillel, and tried to familiarize immigrant German-Jewish youths with the American world view and to inspire them with the ideals of America.

Pvt. Heilbronn came to America in 1939, graduated from high school in New York and later took evening classes in auditing at City College.  By day he was employed by the Federation of Jewish Charities.  In March 1943 he joined the army.

______________________________

Malkin, losif Borisovich (Малкин, Иосиф Борисович), Senior Sergeant [Старший Сержант]
U.S.S.R., Red Army, 32nd Tank Brigade
Radio Operator
Born: 1925
Probable place of burial: Ukraine, Kirovograd oblast, city of Kirovograd
Memorial Book of Jewish Soldiers Who Died in Battles Against Nazism – 1941-1945 – Volume II – 464 [Книги Памяти евреев-воинов, павших в боях с нацизхмом в 1941-1945 гг – Том II – 464]

______________________________

Roodman, Harold, 2 Lt., 0-796603, Navigator, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart
United States Army Air Force, 8th Air Force, 389th Bomb Group, 566th Bomb Squadron
Mrs. Jackie R. Roodman (wife) [4/11/23-1/4/98], Ronnie Lee Roodman (son), 706 West 179th St., New York, N.Y.
Born 1917
11/17/43, 2/27/44, 4/20/44
MACR 1853; Luftgaukommando Report KU 666; Aircraft: B-24D 42-41013 (“Trouble”; “RR * K+”); Pilot: Capt. David L. Wilhite; 11 crewmen – 1 survivor (Sgt. Robert H. Sweatt, of Lovington, New Mexico).  Shot down at Bolbec, France
Loss of aircraft described in Escape & Evasion Report # 535, by Sgt. Robert H. Sweatt
Long Island National Cemetery, Farmingdale, N.Y. – Section J, Grave 14445; Buried 8/24/49
P.M. – 9/3/43
Jews Fight Too
, p. 202

American Jews in World War II – 415
Name listed in “List of Ploesti Mission Award Recipients” – Published 11/17/43 (“Awards Given for 1,548 in Ploesti Attack”).  Listed as recipient of Distinguished Flying Cross
Casualty Lists – 2/27/44 (Missing in Action), 4/20/44 (Killed in Action)

Lt. Roodman, a member of the 389th “Sky Scorpions” Bomb Group, participated in the Ploesti bombing mission of August 1, 1943 as a member of the crew of Richard B. Smith.  He’s presumably one of the crewmen in the photograph below (image UPL 15403, at the American Air Museum in Britain) though “who is who”, is unknown, as the caption only lists the name of Lt. Smith.  Lt. Roodman was also among the 1,548 men whose names were published as award recipients for the Ploesti mission, in a War Department Release of November 16, 1943. 

Continuing to fly missions, Lt. Roodman was one of the eleven crewmen aboard Trouble, a B-24D Liberator shot down over Bouville, France – according to information compiled by Jan Safarik – by an FW-190 of Stab / Jagdgeschwader 2 Richthofen. 

Information about the plane and crew can be found at Daniel Carville’s France Crashes website. 

A memorial honoring the plane’s fallen crew members, dedicated to sole survivor Sgt. Robert H. Sweatt, can be found at Bouville’s town church, which is located on the southwest corner of the Place de l’Eglise.  Mounted on the exterior wall adjacent to a monument commemorating the community’s fallen of World War One, the memorial includes a plaque listing the plane’s crew members, and, a painting of Trouble in flight.  (I’d typically include the images from that website “here” – at this post – but since they’re copyrighted (!) I refer you to AeroSteles, where these images are on display.)  Instead, the memorial can be seen in the photograph below, by Arnaud Théron:

Sergeant Sweatt, who evaded capture and returned to England on March 26, 1944, described his survival in Escape & Evasion Report 535, part of which is presented below.  The “strikethroughs” and text in red represent changes to Sgt. Sweatt’s report which appear in the actual document.  (You can read the full report here.)

We were flying on our course returning from our target at Wilhelmshaven on 7 January 1944.  Near Chartres fighters attacked us.  Our ship seemed to stop dead in mid-air.  I was hit.  Arm had been hit, and I had to out on my chute with one hand.  Suddenly I was thrown against the other waist gunner, and as I stumbled to my feet I heard a loud explosion.  I remember that my head and shoulders were pushed out of the waist window, but the next thing that I recall is falling through the air.

I pulled my ripcord and then saw pieces of our ship all about me and a fully inflated dinghy floating above me.  The field in which Ianded was frozen.  I landed in a field, and took off my harness, and found when I tried to bury my chute that the ground was frozen.  [but could not bury my chute in the frozen ground]  I then ran [300 yds] to a clump of trees and sat down next to a stock of grain in this grove [grain-sheaves].  Half a dozen Frenchmen suddenly sprang up all around me [surrounded me].  One of them asked whether I was English, and when I answered “American” he pulled off his clothes and gave them to me.  After I had put [them on and my flying clothes] on these clothes and my heated suit and flying boots had been hidden in the grain sheaves, three young French men and I walked across the fields.  We had not gone 300 yards when a German soldier came towards us and called for us to halt.  One of the Frenchmen motioned me to stay where I was, and he went forward and talked to the soldier for several minutes.  Finally the German made two of the young men pick up a large piece of metal from our ship and carry it to a car, which was standing on a hill about 400 yards away in the distance.  I motioned to the other Frenchman, and we snatched grabbed another piece of metal and walked off towards the car.  After we had gone about 400 yards I ducked into a [clump] growth of trees and covered myself with leaves and twigs.  I remained hidden here for six hours, and after dark the young Frenchman and his father returned in a cart, took me to their house, and put me to bed.  They kept me in bed for five days while they treated my wounds and then took me to another farmhouse from which where the rest of my journey was arranged.

Postwar, Robert Sweatt became a rancher in Texas. 

But, there’s more to the story.  (There’s always more to every story.)  To be specific, two photographs.  One image – an excellent image, at that – is an official Army Air Force photograph photo B-27323 AC / 3A16214, showing of Trouble, in flight.  Among six B-24s over Cognac, France, the aircraft appears in the lower foreground.  The plane’s nose art and aircraft letter (K+) are plainly visible, as are the waist gunners (seen through the open waist windows) and pilot.  The photograph was taken some time before February 8, 1944.

A close-up of Trouble’s nose art, from Database Memoire.

The other image is very different.  Found via Thomas M. Tryniski’s remarkable FultonHistory website, it lends a striking poignancy to an ostensibly straightforward chronicle of dates and events:  A photo of Jackie Roodman and Ronnie Lee Rodman, the young wife and four-month-old son of Lt. Roodman. 

Published in P.M. on September 3, 1943, under the title “V-Mail Photos for Dads in Service”, this feature seemed to have been a regular feature of P.M., at least going by its instructions: “If your baby is less than a year old and was born after your husband went into service overseas, we’ll take a picture of you and the child and reprint it on a V-Mail blank which you can mail to your husband.  Call Sterling 3-2501 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. and ask for the V-Mail Editor.  There is no charge for this service, which is restricted to New York City.”

Jackie Roodman passed away on January 4, 1998.  She is buried next to her husband at Long Island National Cemetery, in Farmingdale, New York.  Her Honor Record in his memory can be seen at the Registry of the National WW II Memorial. 

Wounded in Action

Rappaport, Samuel, Pvt. (on Bougainville)
United States Army
Mrs. Sadie Krasner (sister), Harry (brother), 1001 Lincoln Place, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Born Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1920
Brooklyn Eagle and New York Times 2/8/44
American Jews in World War II – 410

Tate, Daniel, Pvt., B/40356
Canada, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps, Canadian-American First Special Service Force
Mr. Samuel Tate (father), Harry (brother), 365 Huron St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Canadian Jews in World War II – Part II: Casualties – 117

Turiansky
, George Gordon, 1 Lt., Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart, 30 missions

United States Army Air Force, 8th Air Force, 92nd Bomb Group, 325th Bomb Squadron
Wounded over Ludwigshaven, Germany
Mr. Abraham Turiansky (father), 707 Beverly Road, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Miss Elaine Brown (fiancee)
Born 1923
Aircraft: B-17
Brooklyn Eagle 7/21/44
American Jews in World War II – 462

Prisoners of War

Hirsch, Robert H., 2 Lt., 0-805918, Co-Pilot
United States Army Air Force, 8th Air Force, 389th Bomb Group, 565th Bomb Squadron
SL 3 Sagan (33) (Compound unknown); S 7A Moosburg (13)
Mrs. Ruth B. Hirsch (wife), 715 Veronica Ave., East Saint Louis, Il.
Born Rochester, N.Y., 5/2/22
MACR 1852; Luftgaukommando Report KU 663; Aircraft: B-24H 42-7593 (“Blunder Bus!”); Pilot: 2 Lt. Royce E. Smith; 11 crewmen – 9 survivors
American Jews in World War II – Not listed

A nice image of Blunder Bus!’ nose art, from B-24 Best Web.  Unfortunately, the crewmen are unidentified.

______________________________

Spritz, Sigmund, 2 Lt., 0-682256, Navigator
United States Army Air Force, 8th Air Force, 93rd Bomb Group, 328th Bomb Squadron
Evaded capture through 2/29/44
SL 3 Sagan (33) (West Compound); S 7A Moosburg (13)
Mr. Benjamin H. Spritz (father), 3851 Boarman Ave., Baltimore, Md.
Born Baltimore, Md., 8/6/17; Died 1/5/94
Casualty List 6/21/45
MACR 2368; Luftgaukommando Report KU 658; Aircraft: B-24H 42-7614 (“Lady Shamrock”; “K”) Pilot: 2 Lt. James Carnahan; 10 crewmen – 8 survivors
American Jews in World War II – Not listed

Three of Lady Shamrock’s crewmen – Right waist gunner S/Sgt. Robert J. Fruth, co-pilot 2 Lt. Edward C. Miller, radio operator S/Sgt. Willis E. Spellman, evaded capture, with Spellman known to have returned Allied control by March 20.  Two other men – left waist gunner Sgt. Jay W. Stearns and tail gunner S/Sgt. William D. Wahrheit – did not survive the mission.

Lt. Spritz was captured and survived the war as a POW. 

Though there is only nominal mention of him in Lady Shamrock‘s Missing Air Crew Report, an altogether different document sheds highlight about his experience after parachuting from the Liberator…

Lt. Spritz was able to evade capture until February 29, 1944, when he was apprehended by the German SD (Sicherheitsdienst – Security Service) and brought to a prison in Fresnes.  This is confirmed in his story of (temporary) evasion, published in The Baltimore Sun on January 11, 1994, at his FindAGrave biographical profile.  The account is presented below:

Sigmund Spritz, who as a prisoner of the Germans during World War II credited his survival to the American Red Cross packages that occasionally reached camp, died Wednesday of an upper respiratory infection at Sinai Hospital.  The Northwest Baltimore resident, a retired optometrist, was 76.

He’d been a navigator aboard a B-24 bomber that was hit by flak during a raid over Ludwigshafen, Germany, forcing the crew to bail out over Melun, France.

Mr. Spritz parachuted into woods and stayed there for three days before being taken to the home of a farmer who hid him for several days.

“About 30 people came the next day bringing gifts to me.  They treated me like a god,’’ he said in a 1965 Evening Sun interview.

The local priest provided him with false identification papers and the identity of a deaf-mute from a town whose records had been destroyed by Allied bombing.  Contact was made with an English woman living in Paris who had French underground connections, and he was sent there – but not before spending several terrifying hours waiting for the train surrounded by German soldiers.

He avoided capture in Paris for nearly three months until an escape attempt went awry.  A British torpedo boat with which he had rendezvoused hit a reef and began to sink.  The boat drifted back to the French coast where its occupants were arrested.  He convinced a Gestapo interrogator he was a flier and not a spy and was sent to jail in Paris.

After spending time in several camps, he and several thousand other prisoners were marched through a blizzard, packed aboard stock cars and shipped to Nuremberg and eventually to the Moosburg prison camp, where his ordeal of 20 months came to an end when the camp was liberated in May 1945 by Gen. George S. Patton’s 3rd Army.

He said he’d liked the dark German bread that his captors fed him but never learned to like the soup they called “green death,’’ which was a camp staple.  He attributed his survival to the Red Cross packages that contained powdered milk, canned butter, cigarettes, matches and soap.  They were “the difference between starvation and life,’’ he said.

Born and reared in Baltimore, he was a 1933 graduate of City College and earned his bachelor’s degree from Towson State College in 1940.  He taught elementary school before enlisting in the Army Air Corps in 1941.  He was discharged with the rank of lieutenant in 1945 and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

But, there is even more confirmation of his story.  This is an “Admission Notice” – an “Einlieferungs-Anzeige” – filed by the Germans after Lt. Spritz’s capture.  Found with his dog-tags in the Luftgaukommando Report for Lady Shamrock (in the National Archives) the Admission Notice contains a fascinating clue: The “Day / time of admission” (to the prison) is recorded as 8:00 A.M. on February 29, 1944, nearly two months after Lady Shamrock was shot down. 

Lt. Spritz’s dog-tag and prison Admission Notice are show below, along with the latter’s translation.  (It’s also notable that the Germans listed his “creed” as Catholic, despite the “J” stamped upon his dog-tag…) 

You can find more information about Luftgaukommando Reports here and here, at my brother blog, ThePastPresented.

______________________________

S/Sgt. Irving J. Balsam and 2 Lt. Manuel M. Rogoff served in the same air crew.  Assigned to the 389th Bomb Group’s 567th Bomb Squadron (8th Air Force), their B-24D Liberator 42-40747 (“Heavy Date”), piloted by 1 Lt. Carl A. Mattson, was shot down during a mission to the oil refinery at Ludwigshaven, Germany.  The aircraft’s loss is covered in MACR 1851, and, Luftgaukommando Report KU 667.  Of the plane’s crew of ten, there were 5 survivors.  The other survivor from the forward part of the aircraft was the co-pilot, while from the rear, the ball turret gunner, right waist gunner, and tail gunner survived.  All survivors except the ball turret gunner evaded capture and returned to England by March, 1944.

Balsam, Irving J., S/Sgt., 12183535, Gunner (Left Waist), Air Medal, Purple Heart, ~ 6 missions
KIA
Mr. and Mrs. Hyman [11/2/47] and Gussie [10/28/51] Balsam (parents), 2928 West 21st St., Brooklyn, N.Y.
Mount Zion Cemetery, Maspeth, N.Y. – Path 1, Lot 30R, Kremenitzer Society; Buried 10/21/48
Casualty Lists 2/17/44, 3/28/44
American Jews in World War II – 269

Rogoff, Manuel M., 2 Lt., 0-678392, Bombardier, Air Medal, Purple Heart, 7 missions
WIA (severely burned); Evaded capture; Returned to Duty 3/17/44
Mr. and Mrs. Jacob and Edith Rogoff (parents), Bernard and Leonard (brothers), 1146 Maplewood Ave., Ambridge, Pa.
Born 2/11/17; Civilian occupation: Businessman
Escape & Evasion Report 465
American Jews in World War II – 546

An edited extract from Lieutenant Rogoff’s Escape & Evasion Report (the full document is longer and more detailed) is presented below.  As is obvious from the story, Lt. Rogoff was very badly burned upon exiting his bomber through the nose-wheel opening, but recovered from his injuries due to the care and diligence of his helpers and rescuers.  As in the above Report for Sergeant Sweatt, “strikethroughs” represent textual changes which appear in the actual document.  (You can read the full report here.)

First account of bailing out.

The time of the attack was approximately 1:30 P.M. about one half hour from the coast.  The three F.W. 190s attacked from two o’clock low out of a haze that persisted from the right side.

The aircraft were sighted when at point blank range then two in tight formation fired 20 mm & machine guns simultaneously riddling the ship from behind the nose to the length of the waist.

**********

I turned my attention to the fire which was of a bright red or scarlet color.  After a quick examination I found there was no fire extinguisher.  I grabbed the B3 bag of the navigator’s to try to smother the fire.  After an abortive attempt I gave this up because I could not squeeze through the narrow openings.  I turned back reconnected my oxygen line.  The fire spread and as if under pressure, had spread until the flames reached past the navigator’s desk.  I entered the fire and opened the nose wheel door after three attempts.  I hoped that the slip stream might extinguish the blaze. 

Perceiving that it had no effect and that the fire increased I handed the navigator his chest chute and told him to jump.  **********  I motioned for him to follow me and entered the flames and left the ship.

At the time of leaving the ship was in level flight and in seemingly perfect working order.  The interphone to my knowledge was inoperative or unused.  The nose was beginning to burn; a parachute belonging to the original crew had ignited; my summer flying suit had burned in spots.

I left the airplane head first, was twisted about severely by the slip stream, then found myself falling in slow turns.  With my hands at my side I spread my legs thus stopping that motion and heading straight down in a 135 [degree] angle.  I reached for my rip cord counted a rapid ten and pulled sharply.  The chute opened with a rough jerk but as the straps were very secure I suffered no ill effect.  I glanced up saw our ship in straight flight then saw it go into a left banked turn.  A guest of wing turned me and I lost sight.  In a minute a formation of Liberators passed overhead.  I noticed three other chutes in the air off at some distance from me that I believe belonged to members of the same crew.

Was up there from 10 or 12 minutes.  About 1000 feet noticed I was going to hit.  I pulled _____ up hit a plowed field and tumbled in the chute. 

Second account of bailing out, including highlights of assistance by French civilians.

We were attacked by FW-190s half an hour inland from the coast on our way to the target.

Our ship was burning when I bailed out at 21,000 feet.  I was temporarily blinded by the flames and pulled my rip-cord after counting ten.  My chute opened with a considerable jerk, but my harness was tight and I was not hurt by it. 

On my way down I noticed about 50 people running to meet me.  I landed in a plowed field and several of the men helped me to my feet and took my chute.  After some discussion one of the men motioned to me to follow him, and we went to an old stone barn a few hundred yards away.  There he spread butter on my face, which was very painfully burned.

I was taken to the house and all identification was removed except my dog-tags.  My friends fitted me out with a beret, a heavy leather overcoat, and a pair of white shoes.  They pooled their money and got together their 1250 Francs, which they gave me.  Then they treated my burns again with more butter and I followed two of the men out.

We skirted fields and my helpers stopped once in a while to pick up RAF leaflets, and one of them found an American flying jacket which he kept.  In about twenty minutes we came to a peasant’s house, where I was given brandy and put to bed.

For the next month or so I was blind and helpless.  I was moved about from house to house and was under the constant care of physicians, to whose skill I probably owe my sight.  In spite of the great difficulty and danger involved because of my conspicuous injuries, my helpers did not relax their vigilance and care and got me out care and successfully arranged my journey as soon as I was able to see.

______________________________

Another Incident: Crash-landed his fighter plane, but “walked away”…

Bloom, Herman Ben, Lt., 0-736958, Fighter Pilot, Air Medal, Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart
United States Army Air Force, 10th Air Force, 311th Fighter Group, 529th Fighter Squadron
Injured; Crash-landed due to engine failure 20 miles north of Sumprabum, Burma
Mrs. Ruth (Nasbarg) Bloom (wife), 1523 Federal, Denver, Co.
No MACR; Aircraft: P-51A 43-6193 (Record at Aviation Archeology)
Graduated from Advanced Flying School and Commissioned 1 Lt. on 2/16/43
American Jews in World War II – 58

Lieutenant Bloom’s portrait – found in the National Archives in Records Group 18-PU “Records of the Army Air Forces: Photographic Prints of Air Cadets and Officers, Air Crew, and Notables in the History of Aviation” – is shown below.  You can read more about this collection in my post “Five Pilots in December“, at ThePastPresented

References

Dublin, Louis I., and Kohs, Samuel C., American Jews in World War II – The Story of 550,000 Fighters for Freedom, The Dial Press, New York, N.Y., 1947.

Canadian Jews in World War II
– Part II: Casualties, Canadian Jewish Congress, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1948.

Davis, Mac; Curley, James M.; Simon, Howard, Jews Fight, Too!, Hebrew Publishing Company, New York, N.Y., 1945

Memorial Book of Jewish Soldiers Who Died in Battles Against Nazism – 1941-1945 – Volume II [Surnames beginning with К (K), Л (L), М (M), Н (N)], Maryanovskiy, M.F., Pivovarova, N.A., Sobol, I.S. (editors), Union of Jewish War Invalids and Veterans, Moscow, Russia, 1995

B-24D Liberator 41-29119 (at American Air Museum)

B-24D Liberator 42-40747 (at American Air Museum)

B-24D Liberator 42-41013 (at Aerosteles, American Air Museum, and Database Memoire)

B-24H Liberator 42-7593 (at Aerosteles, American Air Museum, and B-24 Best Web)

P-51A Mustang 43-6193 (at Aviation Archeology)

Chronicles From World War One: Jewish Civilians in Eastern Europe: “The Russo-Jewish War Victims” – The Jewish Chronicle, February 11, 1916

Through 1914 and 1915 (and beyond…) the Jewish Chronicle and Jewish Exponent closely focused news coverage upon the experiences, travails, and suffering of Eastern European Jewry, in the context of the social dislocation and suffering engendered by the military and political leadership of Russia, and to a lesser extent, the military forces of the Central Powers.  This took the form of relatively brief news items, and, lengthy analyses and editorials.  The commonality of this material being, that these were direct, relatively (well, in the context of a century ago!) “real-time” news reports, closely linked in time and space to the events at hand.

On Friday, February 11, 1916, the Chronicle published a lengthy news item that approached the tragedy of the Jews of Eastern Europe from another context: The newspaper reported on a meeting that took place in Whitechapel, London, a few days earlier (on Sunday, February 6, to be specific) at the Pavilion Theatre.  There, significant figures in British Jewry spoke before attendees – largely from the East End of London – in an effort to exhort them to make charitable donations in support of their suffering brethren, the majority of those in attendance doubtless having immediate family in the East, and thus having a direct and urgent connection to the issue at hand.

Those present at the gathering included (comments quoted from Wikipedia, thus there might be some oversimplification as well as ideological bias here…):

Elkan Nathan Adler – “English author, lawyer, historian, and collector of Jewish books and manuscripts.”  “Adler was extremely active in English-Jewish communal affairs, especially in education, and was an ardent Zionist; he was an early member of the Hovevei Zion in England. Per his will, his personal archives are now at the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America

Joseph Herman Hertz – “British Rabbi and biblical scholar.  He held the position of Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom from 1913 until his death in 1946, in a period encompassing both world wars and the Holocaust”

Louis Samuel Montagu, 2nd Baron Swaythling- “prominent member of the British Jewish community, a financier, and a political activist”

Claude Joseph Goldsmid Montefiore – “founding president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, a scholar of the Hebrew Bible, rabbinic literature and New Testament. He was a significant figure in the contexts of modern Jewish religious thought, Jewish-Christian relations, and Anglo-Jewish socio-politics, and educator. Montefiore was President of the Anglo-Jewish Association and an influential anti-Zionist leader, who co-founded the anti-Zionist League of British Jews in 1917″

Nahum Sokolow (Nahum ben Joseph Samuel) Sokolow – “Zionist leader, author, translator, and a pioneer of Hebrew journalism”

And – as you can read below – the meeting was opened with Baron Swaythling’s reading of a letter from Leopold de Rothschild (“British banker, thoroughbred race horse breeder, and a member of the prominent Rothschild family“.

Though I have little familiarity with significant figures in the history of British Jewry, I think it notable that the six men above span a spectrum of opinion regarding Jewish nationalism and Zionism, from Montefiore (by whom and especially about appeared many opinion pieces in the Chronicle throughout the Great War) on one end to Adler and Sokolow on the other.  As to the attitude of the other figures mentioned, I do not know if they were indifferent, noncommittal, or simply silent.

Notably, the article was one of the very few times that The Jewish Chronicle (as opposed to The Jewish World) published a photograph in association with an article.  The image – you can view it below – shows a young boy seated between an elderly man covered in blankets, to his left, and a woman – his grandmother? – his mother? – on his right.  Both the boy and woman (a basket before her – the family’s only remaining possessions?) have their attention focused directly on the photographer, while a woman and young girl (a mother and daughter?) are seated in the background.

Is he the same boy who appeared in the photograph that was published in The Jewish World on October 27, 1915?

There’s no way of knowing, and certainly one hundred and three years later in 2019, no way of ever knowing.

There are numerous statements in this post that bear deep consideration and contemplation, and if attention was accorded to all, “this” introduction would be lengthier than the article itself.  So…  Perhaps the most telling comment, appropriately reserved by the Chronicle’s anonymous reporter for the article’s conclusion, was that of Nahum Sokolow, who stated, “If there were two parties in Jewry to-day, it would be those who had given and those who had not, those who worshipped the Jewish God and those who bowed down to the golden calf; the party of Moses and the party of Korach.  They had to choose between God and Baal.  The party of God would accept the resolution.” 

________________________________________

“Seven million Jews – a population exceeding that of Belgium by one million, have borne the brunt of the war…  True all the peoples of this area suffered the ravage and pillage by the war, but in no degree comparable to the suffering of the Jews…  Hundreds of thousands were driven from their homes on a day’s notice, the more fortunate being packed and shipped as freight – the old, the sick and insane, men, women and children, shuttled from one province to another, side-tracked for days without food or help of any kind – and the less fortunate being driven into the woods and swamps to die of starvation.  Jewish towns were sacked and burned wantonly.  Hundreds of Jews were carried off as hostages into Germany, Austria, and Russia…  These Jews, unlike the Belgians, have no England to fly to.”

THE RUSSO-JEWISH WAR-VICTIMS
MEETING IN THE EAST END
THE DUTY OF ANGLO-JEWRY
The Jewish Chronicle

February 11, 1916

A large gathering crowded all parts of the Pavilion Theatre, Whitechapel, on Sunday afternoon. 

Pavilion Theatre, 191-193 Whitechapel Road, London, England)

The meeting was held in connection with the fund that is being raised for the benefit of the Jewish sufferers in the Russian and Polish war zone.

Lord SWAYTHLING, Treasurer of the fund, who presided, read the following letter from Mr. Leopold de Rothschild, the President: –

DEAR LORD SWAYTHLING,

I shall be very grateful if you will kindly express to the meeting on Sunday next my great regret that I do not feel able to attend, since after a week of work in the City, a rest seems necessary for me.  There are two things in connection with our fund for the relief of the Jewish sufferers by the war to which I should like to refer.  The one is the manner in which the people of the East End have supported it.  It is not the first time that I have had reason to admire their splendid sympathy and their generousity when their feelings had been touched by the misfortunes of their coreligionists in other lands.  I should like also to pay my tribute of gratitude to what our colonies have done.  All will agree that they have responded nobly.

With best wishes for a successful meeting in so good and urgent a cause.

I remain,
Yours very truly,
LEOPOLD DE ROTHSCHILD

Leopold De Rothschild

The CHAIRMAN said he would like to associate himself with that expression of gratitude, not only to the East End of London but to the Provinces and Colonies for the magnificent way in which they had responded to the appeal made by the Committee.  That meeting was intended not solely and only for the East End of London, but was intended also as an appeal to the West, North and South, the Provinces and the Empire.  One of the objects of the gathering was to call attention to the close union between the Fund for the Relief of the Jewish Victims of War in Russia and the Central London Committee for the Relief of the Polish Jews.  From that day onward all official receipts from the combined Committee would either bear the signature of himself or of Mt. Otto Schiff, and would contain a portrait of their President, Mr. Leopold de Rothschild.  Specimens of these receipts were to be obtained at that meeting, and they would be a guarantee that the money would be properly applied.  He had received during that week two letters from Baron Gunzburg, President of the Petrograd Committee which acted as the distributing agents in Russia.  In the first letter he wrote that the Russian Government in certain large districts where there were a large proportion of Jewish refugees were providing kosher meat for the benefit of all classes so that the Jews could partake of the food provided freely.  In the second letter the Baron reported that in certain large districts the Government had not been able to provide sufficient food, and the Petrograd Committee had had to relinquish some of their cherished schemes for the permanent benefit of the Jewish refugees in order to meet their immediate wants in the shape of food.  This was a pity, because the Committee in London were hoping that more permanent relief might be given.  But this fact could only spur them on to renew their efforts to first meet the immediate needs and provide them large funds for permanent assistance.  His late father used to tell him – he did not know whether he had Rabbinical authority for it – that one of the great objects of the Day of Atonement was that every Jew and Jewess during the day suffered the pangs of hunger and were therefore made more sympathetic towards those who were really hungry on more than one day of the year.  In this case, judging from all the letters received by those who had correspondents with Russia, they knew that their coreligionists there were hungering and were also suffering from another form of physical pang, that of cold.  The Jewish refugees were ill-fed, ill-clothed, and were compelled to find shelter where they could.  He appealed to them to continue and increase their efforts on behalf of their poor brethren.  (Cheers.)

The CHIEF RABBI said that that was the second time he had spoken to that hall and the fourth occasion that he had been called upon to address a large meeting called for the purpose of helping their suffering brethren in the war zone.  He felt, however, that the honour of British Jewry was at stake, and it was for him to convince them and the larger audience that would be reached through the newspapers that there was a sacred duty confronting them and that very much more must still be done if they were to discharge their obligations to their suffering brethren.  To realise what British Jewry should do he invited them to glance for a moment at the manner in which the Jewry in the United States had faced and grappled with this problem.  When fifteen months ago, a few weeks after the outbreak of the war, tales of distress in the Polish provinces reached America various private attempts at relief were made.  These were started all over the country, usually from the poorest classes and gradually a sum amounting to about £ 300,000 was collected in the United States for the benefit of the sufferers in the war zone.  Some months ago the leaders of American Jewry realised that a sum like £ 300,000 from a population of three million Jews was hopelessly inadequate.  They felt that the fund would never grow as it ought to grow, and that moneys commensurate with the evil would not be collected unless the wealthy classes could be interested in the movement.  A new committee was organised, and it was decided to hold a general mass meeting for this cause towards the middle of December.  Only a few days before his death Dr. Solomon Schechter was asked either to be present at the meeting or to send a message.  He (the Chief Rabbi) wished to quote one or two sentences from the message from this appeal from the grave sent to the meeting by that great scholar.  He spoke of the sacrifices that the poor had made, and went on to ask: –

Rabbi Joseph Herman Hertz in 1913

Unfortunately this cannot be said of our better situated classes whom the Lord has blessed with wealth and with all the good things of this world.  Many, it is true, have made smaller or larger contributions, but none, almost, has responded in the way hoped for, considering the fortunes this class commands, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the terrible dimensions of this disaster.  It is not for me to pass judgement upon my people, but I cannot refrain from remarking that it would seem to me that we have not realised the greatness of the disaster, which has overwhelmed our people, nor have we comprehended the full extent of our duty.

This was absolutely true.  Only the relatives of those suffering in the war zone had realised what was happening there, and when this new committee appealed to the large Jewish public and to the non-Jewish public and acquainted them with the facts the response was encouraging.  At the meeting to which he had referred, in the course of one evening no less than £ 160,000 was collected.  The meeting determined that during 1916 the sum of £ 1,000,000 should be New York’s contribution towards the amelioration of that vast ocean of suffering.  (Cheers.)  The effect of that meeting was educational.  Tens of thousands of Jews and non-Jews heard of what was going on.  Speeches were delivered by the Bishop of New York, United States Senators, Presidents of Universities – and these addresses opened the eyes of the Jewish and non-Jewish public.  The Chief Rabbi went on to say: This is not a political meeting.  Nothing is further from the objects of this gathering.  We know THERE ARE TWO RUSSIAS.

There is the Russia of the future, the Russia of democracy, the Russia of freedom, and everything that is good and noble in Russia belongs to that class.  That Russia is heart and soul with us and with the suffering Jews in this ordeal, in this martyrdom.  Thus recently at Petrograd a non-Jewish Committee was formed, with Count Tolstoi, ex-Mayor of Petrograd, as President, to help the suffering Jews in this war zone.  But it is criminal to hide the fact that there is, unfortunately, besides this Russia of Tolstoi, the Russia of Ivan the Terrible, and a great deal of the woes in the war zone are attributable to this dying Russia.  Proceeding, the Chief Rabbi cited a passage, quoted at the New York meeting by Senator W.J. Stone: –

Seven million Jews – a population exceeding that of Belgium by one million, have borne the brunt of the war…  True all the peoples of this area suffered the ravage and pillage by the war, but in no degree comparable to the suffering of the Jews…  Hundreds of thousands were driven from their homes on a day’s notice, the more fortunate being packed and shipped as freight – the old, the sick and insane, men, women and children, shuttled from one province to another, side-tracked for days without food or help of any kind – and the less fortunate being driven into the woods and swamps to die of starvation.  Jewish towns were sacked and burned wantonly.  Hundreds of Jews were carried off as hostages into Germany, Austria, and Russia…  These Jews, unlike the Belgians, have no England to fly to.

The only England to which they could appeal was their charitable hearts. (Cheers.)  The American newspapers published lists of promises of weekly and monthly contributions ranging from 10 cents to 1,000 dollars.  He had before insisted on the necessity of the relief being of a continuous character.  It was no use saving a man from starvation in October and allowing him to starve again in January or February.  The Chief Rabbi then referred to the institution of a Jewish Relief Day in the United States, and read President Wilson’s proclamation relating thereto.  The American papers, continued Dr. Hertz, had not yet come to hand showing what response had been made to the appeal to the President.  They had read only one cable, which revealed the fact that £ 400,000 was collected in one day, among the Jews and non-Jews of New York City alone.  (Cheers.)  After describing what had been done in England, and the response made especially by the provinces and the colonies, the Chief Rabbi repeated his view that nothing less than £ 500,000 should be the response of British Jewry to the appeal.  He pointed out that not hundreds of thousands but millions were dependent on the Petrograd Committee for every crust of beard they ate.  The Petrograd community, numbering only between 15,000 and 20,000 Jews, had collected £ 100,000 for local help and had contributed a similar sum for general relief.  If Petrograd could do this, how much more should be done by London and the other Jewish communities in Great and Greater Britain.  He urged them all nobly to discharge their duty.  (Cheers.)

MR. HERMAN LANDAU pointed out that the contributions of British Jewry did not amount to 10s a head, which was not a great sacrifice in view of so much misery and suffering.  He made the interesting confessions that since the war he had not bought s single new article of clothing but had devoted the money he would have spent to the refugees.  He appealed for general self-denial.  They hoped to be able to send Baron Guznburg 75,000 roubles weekly.  He stated that the Central Committee had paid £ 3,000 for the refugees from Palestine and a further £ 2,500 had gone for the same purpose.  Some support had also been extended to the Yeshiva at Mir, which had received the pupils of other Yeshiboth.  He urged that on the coming festival of Purim generous gifts should be made to the fund.

MR. CLAUDE G. MONTEFIORE moved the following resolution: –

Claude J.G. Montefiore (from PaintingStar.com)

That in view of the ever-increasing distress of the Jewish population in the Russian and Polish war zone, this meeting pledges itself to make every sacrifice to enable the existing organisations to carry on its relief work.

He said that it might seem wrong to spur the willing horse, but the need was imperative.  He referred to the united character of that meeting, at which every section of the community was represented.  The distress they were endeavouring to meet was of appalling magnitude, appalling in its quantity and degree.  The resources the refugees might have had at first were becoming exhausted, and more and more claims were being made on the relief fund.  The charity of the Russian Jews has its limits, and the spread of the war zone added to the distress.  He was glad to think that some help had been given by the Russian Government, but it was nevertheless a fact that the Government was not giving to the Jews in the same proportion as to other refugees, and therefore distress among the Jews was greater.  He stated emphatically, that every penny contributed would go straight to Russia.

MR. LEONARD L. COHEN seconded the resolution, and referred to the fact that three-quarters of the refugees were in need of clothing, and those who were familiar with a Russian winter would know what that meant.  Mr. Elkan Adler had gone to Petrograd to see the way in which the money was being administered, and he had no doubt he would bring back a satisfactory report.  He regarded the representative character of that meeting as a very happy augury for the future.

Elkan Nathan Adler (from geni.com)

M. NAHUM SOKOLOW, who was enthusiastically received, supported the resolution in an eloquent speech in Yiddish. 

Nahum Sokolow

He said that it was a bitter thing to have to appeal for his fellow-Russian Jews who did not want to be dependent on “the gifts of flesh and blood.”  But it really was not charity they were asked to give, but an insurance premium for the future of Judaism.  The Russian Jews were the depositories of the spiritual and intellectual treasures, of the traditions of the Jewish people, and that gave them a right to ask for help in the time of their need.  He compared the present crisis with the expulsion from Spain.  The horrors of 1492 were but child’s play when set besides the sufferings of the Russian Jews.  He gave a vivid description of the varied character of the relief work that was being conducted, not only for the purpose of satisfying the material needs of the refugees but also for maintaining their commercial life.  He pointed out that the artisans were easier to help than the students and those who followed intellectual pursuits.  The great danger they had to avoid was that of pauperization, and the relief in a good many cases was afforded in the shape of loans rather than of gifts.  The crisis had united all parties.  The East was working with the West.  If there were two parties in Jewry to-day, it would be those who had given and those who had not, those who worshipped the Jewish God and those who bowed down to the golden calf; the party of Moses and the party of Korach.  They had to choose between God and Baal.  The party of God would accept the resolution.  (Loud Cheers.)

The resolution was carried unanimously.

On the motion of Mr. H.G. LOUSADA, seconded by Dayan FELDMAN, a vote of thanks was passed to the colonies and provinces for their help, and a vote of thanks to the Chairman was passed on the motion of Dayan CHAIKIN, seconded by Dayan HILLMAN. 

References

– People –

Adler, Elkan N., at Wikipedia

de Rothschild, Leopold, at Wikipedia

Hertz, Joseph Herman, Chief Rabbi, at Wikipedia

Montagu, Louis S., 2nd Baron Swaything, at Wikipedia

Montefiore, Claude G., at Wikipedia

Montefiore, Claude G., at PaintingStar

Sokolow, Nahum ben Joseph Samuel, at Wikipedia

– Places –

Pavilion Theatre in Whitechapel, at Wikipedia

Chronicles From World War One: Jewish Civilians in Eastern Europe: “Loyalty of Jews in War Lands Unshaken” – Boston Traveler, 1915

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. 

________________________________________

“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.

______________________________

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:

______________________________

This document, from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, is a record of Lt. Seller’s burial.  Note the specific mention of a “Jewish Memorial”…

______________________________

…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. StoneMr. 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

Chronicles From World War One: Jewish Civilians in Russia: “A Roadside Scene in Russia” – A Photograph in The Jewish World, October 27, 1915

My prior posts – “The Tragedy of Israel in Poland” by Herman Bernstein, and “If It Be True … A Terrible Indictment Against Russia” by ‘Mentor’ of The Jewish Chronicle – presented a vivid and detailed literary “picture” of what befell Eastern European Jewry amidst military operations of the Central Powers and Imperial Russia, during the early part of the Great War in 1914 and 1915.

Words alone, however, as compelling as they be, are by nature limited in the force of their message.  To that end, in its issue of October 27, 1915, The Jewish World (the Chronicle’s brother publication), amidst portraits of Jewish soldiers of the British Commonwealth, published a photo spanning two pages, and depicting a subject entirely different: An image of Russian-Jewish refugees.

The picture is shown below:

Notably, the location and date of the image, let alone the identity of the photographer, are not given.

The only information about the photo is what is presented in the caption:  “One of the many pathetic scenes which are, unfortunately, only too common on the highways of Russia in these days, showing Russo-Jewish families who have fled their homes  to escape the ravages of war and are undecided which way to turn or what to do.”

A central aspect of the image is literally present in its very center: A boy in late childhood appears to be gazing directly at the photographer – pensively, motionlessly – even as the attention of other persons in the image is fixed elsewhere.  Yet, in the boy’s very anonymity there is a host of questions that are unanswered, which will forever remain unanswered.

Who was he?

Did he (and his family) survive the war?

By the close of the Great War, did they eventually return to their home?

If not, where did they settle – elsewhere in Russia; in Poland?

If not, did they emigrate elsewhere?

If so, where?

Western Europe?

The United States?

South America?

The Yishuv?

If his family remained in Eastern Europe, and they survived the years of chaos, savagery, and anti-Jewish persecution that followed the end of the Great War, what then? 

Assuming that he was roughly ten years of age in 1915, by 1941, he would have been in his mid-thirties when the Third Reich invaded Poland in September of 1939, and the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. 

What then…?

 

 

Chronicles From World War One: Jewish Civilians in Eastern Europe: “If It Be True … A Terrible Indictment Against Russia” – The Jewish Chronicle, July 30, 1915

By August of 1915, slightly over a year had transpired since the Great War’s beginning.  The war’s unprecedented effects, awareness of which had by now become apparent to all observers,  would continue through the subsequent three years.  (And, beyond.)

By this time – as evidenced through examples of news items and investigative reports in the Jewish and general news media – information about the dire situation and appalling treatment of Jewish civilians in the Eastern War Zone, particularly in Poland, amidst the advance and retreat of armies of the Central Powers and Allies (well, the latter specifically being Imperial Russia), had become readily available.  By August, 1915, evidence of this – vastly more than mere anecdote and rumor – had reached such a level of pervasiveness, depth, and consistency that on August 13 The Jewish Chronicle published the editorial, “If It Be True… A Terrible Indictment Against Russia”, which was simultaneously news analysis, an opinion piece, and a tempered voice of alarm and outrage.

The editorial was authored by “Mentor”, under whose name innumerable essays, musings, and thought pieces – often focused upon Jewish Nationalism – were published in the Chronicle during and after the Great War.  I’m not familiar enough with the history of The Jewish Chronicle to know if “Mentor” was a moniker for the newspaper’s publisher or chief editor, a pen-name under which the writings of multiple individuals appeared under ostensible authorship of one person.  Or even, if “Mentor” was a member of the Jewish community not actually on the staff of the Chronicle.  Given the consistency of both Mentor’s wonderful literary style, and the consistent themes and opinions of his essays and editorials, I think the most likely simplest explanation is the simplest: Mentor was one person.

In any event, Mentor’s essay concerning the treatment of Jewish civilians by the Russian Army is careful and tempered; analytical and measured; powerful and impassioned.  Notably, he doesn’t actually address the issue at hand until well (well!) into the body of his essay, devoting his first four paragraphs, in tones almost abstract and academic, to concerns about the very propriety of expressing thoughts that might be construed as being even remotely critical of any aspect of the war’s conduct.  This is expressed in light of the mood of the British public, the necessity of not impinging upon relations between Britain and Russia under the imperative of maintaining the Triple Alliance, and possible (though unarticulated) fears about the perception of the “loyalty” of British Jewry, as perceived via criticisms of an ally of Britain – Czarist Russia – expressed in the Chronicle

The predicament being, how does one criticize his country’s ally, when that ally, through policies emanating from the highest positions in its civilian and military leadership, is treating one’s people – to use the apt word – “abhorrently?”  Specifically, “What has to be said here about Russia, about an Ally of this country, must be confessed to be singularly abhorrent reading, the more abhorrent because Russia is the country’s Ally.  For my part, however, I cannot believe that a clear statement of the matter to which I feel it incumbent to draw public attention, such as will be attempted, is in the remotest sense traitorous, for it is written in loyalty to truth.  I cannot believe the British Government, allied though it be to the Government of Russia, will so deem it.  Loyalty to truth, the denunciation of infamies, even when committed by the friends and allies of this country, cannot be disloyalty to England – the fount of honor, the palladium of freedom.”

In the central part of his essay, Mentor presents the reader with accounts of the Russian military’s forced deportation of Jews from Galicia and Bukovina – who astonishingly included Jewish soldiers of the Russian army who’d been recuperating from their wounds, let alone children and the aged.  This is followed by accounts of the immediate reaction to these events and policies by members of the affected Jewish communities, and, subsequently, by “prominent” members of Russian Jewry (named not indicated), the latter of which eventuated in the orders for deportation being annulled, albeit conditionally.

In the essay’s concluding paragraphs, Mentor focuses upon the origin of the Russian government’s policies vis-a-vis Jews, and other subject nationalities, imputing that the former arises (and has arisen…) through the influence of “German anti-Semites and German anti-Semitism,” seemingly casting greater responsibility for these events indirectly on Germany, rather than directly on Russia. 

He then concludes his thoughts with the same focus – and the same concerns – with which the essay began:  Upon the concept of Loyalty.  (Capital “L” loyalty, that is.)  For if loyalty there be, it can neither be one-sided, nor unreciprocated.

________________________________________

________________________________________

“They were not soldiers on the battlefield in the conventional meaning of the term, but they were true soldiers on life’s battlefield, fighting an unequal contest against overwhelming odds.  And they refused their liberty, their freedom, their lives, their homes, because these could be gained only by a demeaning condition; they preferred exile to a dishonoring pact “inconsistent with the dignity of Judaism”.” 

“IF IT BE TRUE…”
A Terrible Indictment Against Russia
The Jewish Exponent
August 13, 1915

“Mentor,” in The Jewish Chronicle
(Reprinted from The Jewish Chronicle of July 30, 1915)

IT IS a commonplace of the world-struggle which in a few days will have been raging for a whole year that the sufferings caused by the war have fallen more heavily upon Jews than upon any other section of the population involved.  Perhaps, however, the very hardest measure that has been dealt out to the Jews has not been the direct effects of battle.  The hardest measure has been the persistent suspicion that has been leveled at them on all hands.  The hardest measure has been that Jews who, as a people, have the fault, if such could really be deemed a fault, of being abnormally loyal, even loyal to excess, have been pilloried as treason-mongers.  That there are black sheep in every flock, and that there are Jews who will stoop to treasonable practices must necessarily be in a body so distinguished for loyalty as are our people.

It is the way of nature to produce abnormalities.  But the loyalty of Jews to the land of which they are citizens has been proved in a thousand fires.  That loyalty cannot be purchased nor suppressed.  It is the way of the Jew, a part of his being, the very essence of his psychology.  The loyalty of the Jew is not confined to material considerations.  His history is in itself a demonstration of his loyalty to great principles and to the greatest of all – to Truth.  For his métier has been, and is, to be a passive if not an active witness of Truth before all the world.  For that he has suffered, for that he suffers, and for that he will suffer till the end of the variegated chapter which he is contributing to the history of mankind.

What I am about to say may possibly be deemed by some, mostly of the shallow and the unthinking, to be in some way disloyal when measured by their notions of patriotism.  Patriotism, especially in the stress and storm of wartime, however, takes unto itself remarkable contortions.  Men and women – of both sexes – lose even their average balance of intellect as soon as the war drum begins to throb.  Their anxiety to prove their patriotism – who prove what ought never to be in question? – impels them to the most extraordinary devices for satisfying this aspiration, so that they come to mistake for patriotism what is mere hysteria.  We are at war with the German nation, and, according to some of these unbalanced souls, the mere fact that we are at war with that people is proof that every individual of them is devoid of every scarp and vestige of qualities that are virtues and has become endowed with every quality which is vicious and evil.  Equally because in the political whirligig England has become allied to certain Powers, the people of those countries possess, according to these hysterical patriots, all the virtues.  It never crosses the mind of these people that these very allies could have ever been at enmity with England – as Russia was very recently, as France was for generations – at enmity and subjected to the same unreasoning prejudice of this worthless sort of self-styled patriot.  This “cockeyed” patriotism helps not even a little bit, it hinders greatly.  This patriotism runs mad and will never win a war.  The “Hymn of Hate” has been a deterrent to German in the prosecution of her campaign as lack of munitions is said to have been to the Allied Powers.

Wars are matters of great moment, requiring the true patriot to cultivate a broad outlook and wide purview.  The belligerent nation, the citizens of which indulge in petty scrapping worthy of garrulous washerwomen, is handicapped in carrying on vast operations of great pith and moment.  Patriotism – true patriotism – neither gags nor blinds.  Patriotism – true patriotism – is no enemy of the truth.  If we see clearly the virtues which exist in our enemies and the vices in our friends, we are all the better equipped for carrying on such a struggle as that in which we are now engaged.  I may be denounced as unpatriotic because of what I am about to say of Russia and the Russian Government.  Some, more hysteric and unbalanced than others, will perhaps seek to pillory me as traitorous.  But loyalty to truth is the first call upon the true patriot.  To suppress all record of infamies because they are charged against the country’s friends is as disloyal to truth as would be the disseminating of false accusations against them.  What has to be said here about Russia, about an Ally of this country, must be confessed to be singularly abhorrent reading, the more abhorrent because Russia is the country’s Ally.  For my part, however, I cannot believe that a clear statement of the matter to which I feel it incumbent to draw public attention, such as will be attempted, is in the remotest sense traitorous, for it is written in loyalty to truth.  I cannot believe the British Government, allied though it be to the Government of Russia, will so deem it.  Loyalty to truth, the denunciation of infamies, even when committed by the friends and allies of this country, cannot be disloyalty to England – the fount of honor, the palladium of freedom.

Almost from the beginning of the war, stories have come to hand of Russian cruelties toward our people.  The Pope, in the course of a newspaper interview, recently rather more than hinted at them.  Reference to some that had been told to us here, were mentioned in this column a few weeks ago.  The source from which most of them that have reached this country were derived has, however, necessarily demanded extreme caution, if it has not imposed some suspicion.  It has been difficult, as was explained, to disentangle the false from the true, to measure aright what was fact and what was exaggeration.  It was difficult, too, to determine how much was more than – and in heaven’s name it was enough! – the necessities of military operations – the dire demands of the war, and how much was cruelty practiced upon our people under the guise of military necessity.  For the most part, the inclination has naturally been to give to the Russian Government as an ally of this country the benefit of the doubt, and in view of the general situation not to say a word upon such material as came to hand that would be embarrassing to an ally fighting side by side with England.  But there are limits.  And the limit is reached when silence involves traitorousness to truth.  Facts which have been detailed to the present writer by friends in whose impartiality and veracity he could have nothing but perfect confidence, are backed up and confirmed to a large extent by an official document, an Order of the Day, issued by the Russian Government.  This Order seems to have been promulgated in March last.  It decreed nothing less than the expulsion of all Jews from the military zones in Galicia, Bukovina and Poland.  The excuse for this terrible determination was an easy one to find ready to hand.  It was the alleged disloyalty of the Jewish population.  That allegation, needless to say, could have been based at most upon the treason of a few individuals.  But the Russian Government, bettering Burke, indicted a whole nation.  The decree, too, was directed not at any locality, or at any general section of the population.  It was a decree against Jews as Jews.

And now we have the result.  Some two hundred thousand Jews who had been living in the confines of Kovno, Kurland and Suwalki were exiled by the Russian authorities, so that, in the technical language employed, those districts might be “evacuated of Jews.”  Our unfortunate brethren upon whom this decree fell were compelled to obey it by a short notice, varying from eight hours to thirty at the most.  In that time two hundred thousand people had to leave their homes, their possessions, their all, and face – they knew now what!  What followed requires the pen of Dante adequately to narrate.  Not one Jewish soul of all this vast population was allowed to remain, so that towns which had contained a large proportion of Jewish inhabitants were deserted.  Aged men, little children, women – even those hourly expecting to become mothers – some clutching to their breasts their newborn babes; people insane, cripples, the blind; those who were sick unto death – there was no exemption for any.  The decree, it must be admitted, had at least the merit of impartiality.  For not only were the families of soldiers fighting at the front doomed by it, but soldiers who had received permission for furlough in their native towns, and soldiers, whose bleeding wounds were still unhealed, the Jewish nurses who attended them in the local hospitals, and even the Jewish military doctors – all had to go into exile.  Even the rage and fury of battle respects the Red Cross.  Sheltered beneath that symbol are the wounded in war, and those who are attendant upon the soldiers who have fallen.  But this decree tore away Jews whose condition entitled them to safety as if shielded by the sacred sign from the terrors of belligerency, and it sent them with their brothers and sisters into exile.  No wonder we read that the poor people were maddened unto despair; that they turned and destroyed their goods and chattels, their household goods or generations, preferring to leave behind them the ruin of their property rather than it should fall into the hands of the despoilers.

It were futile to attempt to describe with anything like competences what this horrible decree meant to the two hundred thousand poor Jews upon whom it fell.  But the Order for their expulsion was not the end by any means of the horrors which awaited them.  For the conveyance of these people from their homes to some far distant Eastern province, there were provided some twenty-six “extra trains,” as they were called.  Each of these “trains” consisted of from forty to seventy wagons into which were huddled pell-mell this population of misery.  The poor people had been able to take with them only a few of the most necessary of their possessions, and there in these “trains” they were crowded together – men, women and children of all kinds “well-to-do people and professional beggars,” as my correspondent puts it, “sound persons and infectious patients, all of them thrown together in this living load.”  None of them knew whither they were going.  With exquisite regard for the sufferings of their exiled passengers, the slow moving “trains” were not allowed to stop at stations where food could be supplied to the poor wretches.  The “trains” could stop only at a distance of at least one kilometer from any station.  But the poor stricken people who were carted away in these “trains” were perhaps not much worse off than the thousands upon thousands for whom the “trains” had no accommodation, but who had to leave none the less.  In every sort of conveyance for which, of course, extortionate prices were demanded, these people rumbled away along the roads; or footsore and weary they tramped along outside the forbidden war zone.  Like an avalanche of human misery, they came into towns already filled with populations in which poverty ruled.  Cellars, barns, outhouses – every nook and cranny was filled with this exiled population.  Even the synagogues were turned into doss-houses.  These destitutes had to beg for sheer life; they could, however, appeal only to the charity of the pauperism into which they were driven.  But above all they were forced to galling personal grief.  For in the suddenness of the exile to which they were compelled, families became separated.  Wives and their husbands, brothers and sisters, and little children were parted from their mothers.  Some were sent here, others were sent there, with regard to nothing save the capacity of the “extra trains,” or the availability of other means for conveyance all was subservient to the one idea that the war-zone districts must be evacuated of Jews.  To such an extent did this misery of missed relatives occur, that special inquiry offices had to be established at several points outside the war zones by Jews for the purpose of recovering lost persons.  What life was like upon the “extra trains” can as little be imagined as described.  In at least one case the “extra train” was not allowed by the local authorities to go into the station for which it was destined.  The consequence was that the poor people, still huddled in these wagons, were compelled to return hundreds upon hundreds of miles.  They were not allowed to remain; they went sent back to their destination!  Thus they were hunted backwards and forwards for five weeks.  Twenty-eight of the poor passengers became insane through their sufferings; typhus broke out in the “extra train”’ and death – cruel, lingering death – was the only mercy that is seemed to the harassed victims would be shown them by a fate against which they were powerless.  Let me break off for a moment here to remind the reader that this is a mere bald recitation of human suffering in Europe – it is not an imagined picture of the doomed in hell.  Nor was it suffering inflicted by an invading army upon enemies.  The victims were not belligerents.  They were civilian citizens of Russia herself – save those who were Russia’s soldiers, some bearing the wounds and the hurts of Russia’s combat.

Now, let us see what sort of disloyalty reigned in the breasts of these hunted and harassed Jews.  The boldest and bravest of men could well have been cowed into submission, into yielding up well-nigh every principle that honor, loyalty and courage demanded, after having suffered as these people had suffered.  But, notwithstanding everything, we find them possessed of a spirit which in the circumstances it would be difficult to discover among average men and women.  Listen to this!  After the “evacuation” had taken place, several Jewish organizations made urgent representations to the Russian Ministers in behalf of the expelled Jews.  Deputations of prominent Jews waited upon the ministers, and at last, after some days had elapsed and the exile had been effected, a promise was given that the whole measure was to be annulled.  To be annulled!  As if the mischief could be undone!  However, if it meant anything, it meant that the poor people could go back to their homes, back to the ruins of them that they would find, and there on their native soil begin again their hard, bitter lives.  It thus meant release from exile for them.  But the Military General Governor into whose hands the decree of annulment seems to have been placed, declared that the return of Jews to their homes could be sanctioned only on condition that they gave to the military authorities hostages from the ranks of their rabbis and the influential and better off among them.  He added that the population was to understand that, in case there was the smallest treason discovered on the part of any Jews, the hostages would be hanged.  The deputation to whom this information was conveyed in turn communicated it to the Jewish exiles.  These met together to discuss what they should do.  The conferred for three days, and then these “traitorous Jews,” these despised exiles, these men and women who had suffered every horror, who had faced every indignity, who had borne every insult and all the pains and penalties of this wicked murderous evacuation – these men and women came to this decision: that “we reject the government’s proposal because of the condition under which alone they will grant it, for it is not consistent with the dignity of Judaism!”

These then were the sort of “traitors” that the Russian Government hunted and hounded in its “evacuation”.  This was the sort of spirit that filled these people.  They were not soldiers on the battlefield in the conventional meaning of the term, but they were true soldiers on life’s battlefield, fighting an unequal contest against overwhelming odds.  And they refused their liberty, their freedom, their lives, their homes, because these could be gained only by a demeaning condition; they preferred exile to a dishonoring pact “inconsistent with the dignity of Judaism”.  One almost feels something of gratitude to the Russian Government for having been the means of showing the sort of stuff of which the people to whom they dare thus to persecute are made.  To the terrors of war we have become so inured that many will read the story of this “evacuation” of Jews from the war zone, it is difficult to believe, without a shudder, but it may be with but a passing shudder.  They will relegate it to the grim and awful catalogue of the terrors of war time.  But the information which comes from Russia shows that this wholesale baiting of Jews is likely to go on.  Already there are fears that the Jews in the other districts are likely to be deported, and meetings have been held both in Petrograd and the provinces in view of the threatened danger.  There again the fine spirit of our people has become manifested.  They have refused to purchase their liberty under any such degrading conditions as giving hostages for their good behavior.  It is said, too, that side by side with this threatened fresh exile – and this exile, recollect, means deportation for perhaps hundreds of miles – there are rumors which seems at least to have some solid basis, that from high quarters there has been issued an order for the collection of anti-Semitic material against Jewish soldiers.  We know what that means, and we know, too, that every untoward incident in which any individual Jews may become involved will be employed to the full to the hurt of Jews in general.

The sole responsibility of Russia and the Russian Government for their conduct towards Jews and other subject nationalities has been more than once contested in this column.  The influence of German anti-Semites and German anti-Semitism has been an element which could not be overlooked.  There is nothing that has occurred to shake the opinion that the root of the trouble of the Jews in Russia is to be found in Germany.  This awful narrative may be taken, therefore, as the full fruit of that country’s influence in Russia.  It will not tend to tire any who read it, of the task which this country has undertaken because it is told of one of this country’s allies.  It will, it is hoped, make men see all the clearer the necessity for ridding Russia from German influence, in the hope that thereby the conditions for our people, and others in Russia, who are subjects of the Czar, may be bettered.  Germany’s responsibility, great or small, however, does not excuse nor palliate the wickedness, the infernal, devilish wickedness of such doing as were involved in the “evacuation” of Jews in the war zones and which have here been set down.  Is the story untrue?  Then, the Russian Government has the means of denying its truth and of giving proof of its incorrectness.  If it be true, then loyalty to truth which nothing ought to depose as the highest duty, demands that the facts shall be known even though Russia is an Ally of this country.  It is as necessary as if forgive the bare suggestion – these horrors were the work of the Government of England itself.  For if the alliance between Russia and England imposes upon English citizens an obligation towards Russia, surely that same alliance imposes upon Russia a like obligation to England.  Deeds such as those narrated must be painful and disgusting to the liberty-loving Englishman.  They must prejudice the cause of the allies by influencing the opinion of neutral lands.  They must be painful and disgusting beyond words to England, which stands before the world as the protector of humanity, the shielder of the weak, the avenger of the outraged.

The obligation is, of course, upon us here in England, upon all the subjects of the King, to do nothing to shake in the least firmness of the alliance between this country and Russia.  We English Jews, not only out of loyalty to the country we love, but because we believe that the highest Jewish interests, too, lie in that direction, are anxious above all things to uphold, support and strengthen that alliance, so that England may triumph in the war she is waging.  In deference to that feeling, we have been willing, if not to forget, at least to forgive Russia’s past towards our people, to utter not a word in respect to their civil and political wrongs pending the war; to be content with the hope and the belief that the end of the war will begin the end of disabilities which they have borne.  But this loyalty to the alliance between England and Russia, this loyalty to the allies cannot be one-sided, and must not be abused by Russia.  To persecute Jews as Jews have been persecuted by the decree of “evacuation” from the war zones, to expect that this foul deed can be effected and that Jews – in England – can be dumb and utter not a word because of Anglo-Russian relations, is an abuse of the principles underlying the alliance.  It cannot be an element in any alliance into which a freedom-loving country such as England would enter.

Thus perhaps after all, the gravest charges against her involved in this “evacuation” crime is that Russia by her acts against our people has herself been disloyal to the Triple Alliance.  Writing as I do in England as an English born citizen of this beloved country, the aspect of the matter naturally appeals to me as it affects England only.  Yet let us not forget that the third element in the Triple Alliance is the fair country of France wedded to the high ideal of “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”.  Her sons, like England’s, are bleeding upon the battlefield in defense of these high ideals which England and France hold in common.  While they are dying for the undying cause of those ideals Russia, by her treatment of her Jewish subjects, is trampling those ideals in the very dust.

References and Suggested Readings

Lohr, Eric, The Russian Army and the Jews: Mass Deportation, Hostages, and Violence during World War I, Russian Review, V 60 N 3, July, 2001, pp. 404-419 (JSTOR)

1914-1918 Online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War, Lists the following references, in Dr. Semion Goldin’s* essay, “Antisemitism and Pogroms in the Military (Russian Empire)“:

Anonymous: Iz chernoi knigi russkogo evreistva. Materialy dlia istorii voiny 1914 – 1915 godov (From the black book of the Russian Jewry.  Materials for the history of war 1914-1915), in: Evreiskaia starina 10, 1918, pp. 195-296

Gessen, I.V. (ed.): Dokumenty o presledovaniach evreev (Documents on persecutions of the Jews), in: Arkhiv russkoi revoliutsii XIX, 1928, pp. 245-284

Holquist, Peter: The role of personality in the first (1914-1915) Russian occupation of Galicia and Bukovina, in: Dekel-Chen, Jonathan L. (ed.): Anti-Jewish Violence. Rethinking the Pogrom in East European History, Bloomington 2010: Indiana University Press, pp. 52-73

Lowe, Heinz-Dietrich: The Tsars and the Jews. Reform, Reaction, and Anti-Semitism in Imperial Russia, 1772-1917, Chur 1992: Harwood Academic Publishers

Sanborn, Joshua A.: The Genesis of Russian Warlordism. Violence and Governance during the First World War and the Civil War, in: Contemporary European History 19/3, 2010, pp. 195-213.

* The Leonid Nevzlin Research Center for Russian and East-European Jewry, The Chais Center for Jewish Studies in Russian, The Hebrew University

Chronicles From World War One: Jewish Civilians in Russia: “The War and The Jews of Russia” – The Outlook, 1915

Through early 1915 at least four articles had appeared in two English-language Jewish periodicals (The Jewish Chronicle, and, The Jewish Exponent) concerning the ordeal of Jewish civilians situated in the eastern war zone, with the “last” of these four news items – entitled “Russian Accusations Against The Jews” – having been published in the Chronicle on April 16, 1915.  Curiously, on the same day, The Jewish Exponent of Philadelphia reprinted a lengthy news item, originally published in The Outlook, which focused on Russian Jewry from an altogether different perspective:  That of military service of the Jews of Russia, in the Army of Russia – in terms of Russian Jewry’s self-perception, and, the perception of Russian Jewry among varying levels of the country’s political and military leadership.

The article was penned by a certain George Kennan, but not that (!) George Kennan: Not “George F. Kennan”, American diplomat and historian, perhaps more well known as an “advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War” (quote from Wikipedia), who under the pseudonym “X” (though his real identity was known at the time!) penned the article “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” in the July, 1947 issue of Foreign Affairs

Rather, the article was written by “George Kennan” (no middle initial), who was George F. Kennan’s cousin, twice-removed.

Born on February 16, 1845 (oddly sharing the same birthday as his cousin, albeit the latter having been born in 1904), the elder Kennan was a journalist and war correspondent, who was first (at the age of 12) employed at the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad Company, then by the Russian-American Telegraph Company, and finally in 1878, by the Associated Press.  A world traveler and war correspondent of eclectic interests, he accorded much of his intellectual and literary effort to the people, politics, and history of Russia, with a particular focus on the native peoples of Siberia, and, political conditions in Russia as a whole.  Though not an advocate of Russian autocracy (he was banned from the country in 1901), he nonetheless opposed Bolshevism and was a critic of the October Revolution.

________________________________________

George Kennan in 1885 (image from his biography at Wikipedia)

________________________________________

Kennan’s article opens with a quote from a speech by Deputy Naftali Markovich Fridman of the Duma of August 8, 1914, ardently proclaiming the support of Russian Jewry for the Russian war effort, and then presents various accounts of the bravery and heroism of Russian Jewish soldiers.  These are contrasted with the responses and perceptions – some changed; some not – of Russian Jews, by Russian political and military leaders, within the context of this early phase of the Great War.  A specific example is that of Cornet* Novikoff, concerning the death in battle of Hussar Meyer Lovinski (from Belaya Tserkov?), versus that of General Dumbadze, whose actions vis-a-vis Jews might be deemed, well … more than mercurial. 

In this manner, Kennan seems to suggest that, at the country’s highest levels of leadership, military and political leaders were simply taking cues or “pointers” from the Czar, and acting accordingly.  

While some of Kennan’s accounts convey a tone of measured, tentative optimism, his observations convey a deep sense of skepticism, if not pessimism, about the eventuality of full legal, political, and social acceptance of Russian Jewry by the country’s leaders.  This is exemplified in the final paragraphs of his article, which focus upon the story of Jewish military pilot Evgeniy Rostislavovich Shpitsberg…

________________________________________

THE WAR AND THE JEWS OF RUSSIA
BY GEORGE KENNAN

Reprinted from The Outlook

April 16, 1915

In the historic “war session” of the Russian Duma, August 8, 1914, when the representatives of the various nationalities and political parties of Russia were given an opportunity to express their feelings with regard to the government and the war, Deputy Friedman, from the Province of Kovno, spoke in behalf of the Russian Jews as follows:

“Members of the Imperial Duma: Upon me has been conferred the high honor of giving expression at this historic moment to the feelings that inspire the Jewish people.  In the great spiritual uplift which has come to the nation the Jews fully participate, and they will go to the field of battle shoulder to shoulder with the other nationalities of the Empire.  Although we Jews have long suffered, and are still suffering from grievous civil disabilities, we feel, nevertheless, that we are Russian citizens and faithful sons of our Fatherland.  Nothing will ever alienate us from our country, nor separate us from the land to which for so many centuries we have been attached.  In defending Russia against foreign invasion we are actuated not only by a sense of duty, but by a feeling of profound devotion.  In this hour of trial and in obedience to the summons from the throne, we Russian Jews will take our stand under the Russian banner and repulse the enemy with all our strength.  The Jewish people will do their duty to the end.”  (Storms of applause and cries of “Bravo!” from the Right, the Centre, and the Left.)

________________________________________

Naftali Markovich Fridman (image from Wikimedia Commons)

________________________________________

Five months have passed since deputy Friedman expressed the devotion of the Russian Jews to their country and government that they would “go to the field of battle shoulder to shoulder with the other nationalities of the Empire.”  Has that devotion been shown in deeds, and has that promise been faithfully kept?

The Jews’ Magnanimity

If anything stands out clearly on the pages of recent Russian history it is the magnanimity and patriotism of the Jews.  Denied many of the rights of citizenship, forced to live in a great national ghetto, restricted in the learned professions, limited to a small quota of students in the universities and schools, crowded into cities within the Pale and expelled from cities without the Pale, insulted constantly by the reactionary press, accused of “ritual murder” in the courts, and beaten to death by pogrom rioters in the streets, the unfortunate Jews would seem to have little reason for loyalty or patriotic feeling; and yet, since the war began, they have subordinated personal resentment to a higher sense of duty, and, for the sake of “the Fatherland,” have done all that the most ardent patriots could to do support the monarch who has oppressed them and to defend the State that has discriminated against them.

Soon after the war began the Jews in Petrograd, Moscow, Odessa, and many other Russian cities began to hold meetings in their synagogues to pray for the health and safety of the Czar, and for the success of the Russian armies in the field.  At the same time hundreds of young Jews in the universities and higher technical schools who were not liable to conscription volunteered for active service and were sent to the front.  Even Jews who were awaiting trial on political charges, or who were already suffering imprisonment for political offenses, offered to enlist as volunteers, and promised that, if they should still be alive at the end of the war, they would give themselves up for trial or go back to prison and serve out the unexpired term of their sentences.  “We cannot bear,” they said in their petition, “to sit idle in prison cells while our comrades are fighting for their country and ours.”  (Russkoe Bogatstvo, September 14, 1914, p. 316).

Acknowledgement of Jewish Patriotism

As the war proceeded, and the Czar began to go back and forth through Russia on his way to and from the front, Jewish delegations in all the larger towns where he stopped came to him with plates of bread and salt (the Russian emblem of hospitality and goodwill) and presented him with addresses breathing the most ardent spirit of Jewish loyalty and patriotism.  In one such address they said:

“It gives us no great happiness to know that our brothers and sons are shedding their blood for the sake of their monarch, for the honor of the country that is so dear to them, and for the cause of right and justice with which your Imperial Majesty’s name will forever be gloriously associated.  We beg you, O Gossudar, to receive this assurance of loyalty from your faithful subjects who are followers of the Mosaic Law.”

In places which the Czar did not visit or in which he did not stop, the Jews went with patriotic addresses to the highest local representatives of the Church or the State and this they did even in towns where at the hands of Church or State they had suffered most injustice.  If there be in all Russia a city where the Jews, might, naturally record the Russians with enmity and the Government with resentment, it is the city of Kishineff – the scene of the bloodiest anti-Jewish pogrom that has ever blackened the history of the Empire.  But even in Kishineff the Jews hastened to show that their consciousness of civic duty was stronger than their sense of injustice.  They could not get access to the Czar, so they went with bread, salt and assurances of loyalty to the Archbishop Platon, the local representative of the Holy Orthodox Church.  The high ecclesiastical dignitary received them with as much courtesy as could have been expected, and said, in reply to their patriotic address:

“The Jews are completely united with us and they have proved their loyalty.  I am personally aware of the fact that they have contributed large sums to the Red Cross and other organizations for the relief of our wounded.  Their devotion to the country is beyond question.”

Addresses of Loyalty

In almost every city and large town in Russia delegations of Jews have called on the civil or ecclesiastical authorities and presented addresses confirming or repeating the assurances of loyalty given on their behalf by Deputy Friedman in the Duma.

“But,” it may be said, “it is easy enough to pray in the synagogues and makes professions of loyalty in patriotic addresses.  Have the Russian Jews done anything else?”

If the Russian newspapers are to be believed, they certainly have.  A recent number of the Petrograd Retch contained an article on this subject in which the writer said:

“This fact (that the Jews have actively participated in the war) does not admit of the slightest doubt.  Not only have they made enormous pecuniary contributions, but as soldiers they have shown miraculous courage on the field of battle, and many of them have received military decorations.  Such behavior on their part, however, is not to be regarded as especially meritorious.  It is only the performance of a sacred duty to their country, and Russian Jews could not act otherwise.”

The same paper publishes also an article commenting upon the fact that in the lists of killed and wounded telegraphed from the front there are Russian names, Polish names, Tartar names, and Armenian names, but not a single name that can be recognized as Jewish.  The paper explains, however, that the absence of Jewish names is due to racial discrimination.  “Only casualties to officers are reported by telegraph, and no Jew is permitted to become an officer.  If deaths and injuries of private soldiers were telegraphed, the lists would be thickly sprinkled with Jewish names.  The Jews share in the work of the nation on the battlefield as well as at home.  Wherever national help is needed there they participate with contributions and work.”

Valor in Battle

But even racial discrimination fails to exclude Jewish names wholly from the newspapers.  They may not become officers, but the Russian generals who command them insist that they shall have crosses of honor for gallantry in action, and then their names are telegraphed and published.  The highest military decoration that is given in Russia is the Cross of St. George, which corresponds with the Iron Cross of Germany and the Victoria Cross of Great Britain.  Every few weeks a common Jewish soldier distinguishes himself so greatly that he is awarded this coveted honor, and not long ago a Jew won two of these decorations in a single week.  The latest case that has come to my attention is that of Mendel Gluckman, who received the Cross of St. George about a month ago for a whole series of daring exploits under the walls of Przemysl.  (Petrograd Retch, November 22, 1914.)

Moscow and Petrograd newspapers publish many letters from Russian officers describing the bravery of Jewish soldiers in action.

In a letter Cornet Novikof, of a Hussar regiment, writes:

“Meyer Lowinski, born in the village of White Church, died a hero’s death on the 26th of August, near the forest of Laschchova.  Disregarding a heavy fire, he rode constantly in advance, reconnoitering coolly the enemy’s dispositions.  But a bullet hurled the gallant soul from his saddle, and he died heroically for his country, his Czar, and his people.  One the following day we recovered his body and turned it over to the Jews in Lashchova, who buried it with all honors in the Jewish graveyard.  May the kingdom of heaven receive my dear Lovinski – unforgettable comrade and fellow soldier!”

Gallantry of a Jew in Action

In this last letter two things are particularly noticeable: first, the tribute of a Russian to the coolness and gallantry of a Jew in action; and, second, the affection of a Russian for a Jew in an environment of danger and death.  Cornet Novikof seems wholly to forget that the dead man was an alien and unbeliever, and evidently hopes to meet his, “dear, unforgettable comrade and fellow soldier in the kingdom of heaven.”

But it is not only Russian lieutenants and cornets who speak well of the Jew.  The Russkyia Yedomosti, of Moscow, published recently a letter from the well-known philanthropist, N.A. Shakhof, pleading for justice to the Jew, and closing with the words: “One wants to believe that better days will come for Russia’s stepson, and that he will be in future not the stepson but the real son of the Fatherland for which he is shedding his blood.”  A Russian general at the front read these lines a week or two later, and was so moved by them that he wrote an open letter to Mr. Shakhof over the signature “A General in Active Service,” in which he said:

“It is impossible to read your admirable letter – and especially the part of it that refers to the Jews – without a feeling of approval and sympathy.  The great and warm heart of the Russian people, like gold in the furnace, is only now showing its worth.  Less and less frequently are heard expressions of intolerance and hatred, and more and more apparent becomes the virtues that lie in the depths of the Russian soul.  I profoundly believe that a multitude of our people, whose consciences and Christian feelings have not been smothered by hatred, and whose common sense has not been eclipsed by prejudice, will join heartily in your hope that the Jews may soon become the real son, and not the stepson of the Fatherland for which he is shedding his blood.”

If the Russian Jew is thus regarded by generals in active service, if archbishops declare that his “devotion to the country is beyond question,” if Russian commanders in the field of recommend him for the Cross of St. George, and if his Russian leaders in battle refer to him when he is dead as their “dear son and unforgettable comrade and fellow soldier,” and hope to meet him in the “kingdom of heaven,” who are his haters and persecutors?

Recognition Expected

When Germany declared war against Russia and the so-called “alien” nationalities of the Empire united with the “true Russians” in support of the Czar and his Government, it was confidently believed by everybody that the Jews in particular would receive some reward for their loyalty, or at least some recognition of their patriotic devotion to the State.  It did not seem reasonable to suppose that when they contributed liberally to war funds, volunteered for military service, prayed for the Czar in their synagogues, and fought for him in the field, that they would not be relieved from some of their disabilities, even if they were not granted all the rights of Russian citizenship.

This general belief that something would be done for the Jews was strengthened by the change in the Czar’s attitude toward the Poles.  They, too, had been persecuted and oppressed, but to them was given the promise of a brighter future.  To the Poles the Grand Duke Nicholas said:

“The hour has come for the realization of your fathers’ and your grandfathers’ dreams.  Russia meets you with an open heart and with the outstretched hand of a brother.  Under the sceptre of the Russian Czar, Poland, with freedom of religion, language, and local administration, shall be reborn.”

General Dumbadze, in whose province the Czar’s Crimean winter palace is situated, has always been a fanatical Jew hater, and had banished from the territory under his jurisdiction even the Jewish soldiers of a Russian regiment stationed there.  When, however, it seemed likely that the Czar would show the Jews favor, General Dumbadze immediately changed front, and not only attended services in the synagogue of Alshta, where he happened at the time to be, but assured the Jews that “he desired their happiness; that he hoped they would come to him with all their needs, and that he would try hard to meet them halfway.”

A Change of Front

Advocate Shmakof, who was one of the most bitter and unrelenting prosecutors of the Jew Beilis in the Kieff “ritual murder” trial, soon followed General Dumbadze’s example, and declared that racial hatred and the persecution of aliens in Russia were “things of the past.”

General Rennenkampf, before he went to the front, attended services in a Jewish synagogue, and even such representatives of the “Black Hundreds” as Purishkevitch, Orlof and Markof deprecated the further continuance of racial discord, and declared that all parties and nationalities should “get together and shake hands.”

It soon became apparent, however, that these advocates of peace and goodwill had turned their coats too hastily.  Thinking that the Czar must necessarily show some favor to the nationality that had given him such rounds of loyalty and patriotism, they quickly adjusted themselves to the expected change in his Jewish policy.  When Jews began to come to him with symbols of goodwill and assurances of loyalty, as they did in Petrograd, Grodno, Lublin, and other Russian towns, he might very naturally have said to them:

“The storm of war is causing more suffering to you than to Russians generally because most of your people live near the German frontier.  Poland and the Western provinces of the Pale are now the scene of conflict, and tens of thousands of Jews are being driven, in desperate condition, from their homes.  In view of this fact and of the patriotic loyalty that you have shown, I shall devote particular attention to your needs, and shall change or modify as far as possible the laws and administrative regulations that bear most heavily upon your race.”

The significance of the coldness and reticence with which the Czar received the Jewish delegations was first noticed by such monarchical and nationalistic journals as the Russian Zemstchina.  Taking his attitude as a guide – or, as we should colloquially say, a “pointer”, these papers soon resumed the anti-Jewish agitation which they had temporarily suspended.  Then all the bureaucratic officials, from the Minister of Public Instruction and the provincial Governors to the chiefs of police and the censors, took their cue from the monarchical press and “the spheres,” and proceeded to enforce the laws relating to the Jews with even more than ante-bellum strictness and severity.  Take for example, the field of education.

Vacancies in the Universities

Inasmuch as many young Russian students volunteered for military service, leaving vacancies in the universities, it might reasonably be supposed that the government would allow these vacancies to be filled, at least in exceptional years, by Jewish applicants for admission, even though the Jewish quota (three per cent) might already be full.  The Minister of Public Instruction, however, would not listen to such a suggestion.  In the early part of October, 1914, the Governing Council of the Petrograd University asked the minister to sanction the admission to that institution of twenty-five young Jews, who had been graduated with gold medals from the gymnasia of Petrograd and Wilna, but who had failed to get into the University for the reason that they had not drawn lucky numbers in the admissions lottery.  The petition was not denied on the ground that the Czar, in 1908, ordered strict observance of the rules relating to the admission of Jews.  The Council then asked the Minister to sanction the admission of eighteen fully qualified Russian Jews who had been forced out of German and Austrian universities by the war.  This petition was also denied and for the same reason.

In November the City Council of Marianpol begged the Minister of Public Instruction to allow the children of Jewish soldiers who had gone to the war to enter the Marianpol public schools.  The petition was denied, as were many more from other Russian towns.

Back to the Pale!

In almost every other field of Russian social life the treatment of the Jews since the war began has been equally harsh, cruel and barbarous.  Late in November, 1914, the Minister of Justice, M. Shcheglovitch, refused to confirm the election of twenty-four Jewish lawyers as members of the Petrograd Bar Association.  They were duly qualified and the association wanted them; but the Minister vetoed their election on racial and religious grounds.

If Jews are worthy of acceptance as soldiers, their sisters would seem to be worthy of acceptance as hospital nurses; but Governors of provinces and officials of the Red Cross do not allow them to serve, even when they have been chosen by the Union of Russian Zemtsvos for its own war hospitals.  But admittance to some of these hospitals is denied even to wounded Jewish solders brought back from the front.  Drs. Kucherof and Pustnykof refused to take them into the hospital at Taganrog, and a protest against such actions was made to the Medical Society of the Don.

The regulations of the Government with regard to residence outside of the Pale of Settlement are enforced against the Jews now almost as strictly as they were a year ago.  From Petrograd, Kursk and many other Russian towns Jews are being expelled just as they were in 1913.  The civil authorities of late years have been giving to certain privileged Jews permits to reside anywhere in the Empire, but have not included in such permits personal descriptions of the bearers.  The lack of such descriptions – for which the authorities themselves are responsible – is now made the ground for sending such Jews back to the Pale of Settlement.  The fact that the Pale has been ravaged and desolated by war makes no difference.  If a Jew belongs in the Pale, to the Pale he must go, no matter whether he can live and support himself there or not.

“Is This Just?”

In July, 1914, a young Russian Jew was studying electrical engineering in Switzerland.  When the war broke out it was not easy for him to get back to Russia, so he went to Paris, enlisted in the French army, and was assigned to the electrical corps in the field.  A month or six weeks later, he was so severely wounded as to be incapacitated for further duty.  When he was discharged from the hospital the French authorities, in recognition of his meritorious service, gave him four hundred francs for his traveling expenses, and he returned by way of Sweden and Finland, to Russia.  As soon as he reached Petrograd he was ordered out of the city because, as a Jew, he had no right of residence there.  He showed his wounds, explained that he had been fighting with the French, and was finally allowed to remain two weeks.  At the end of that term he went to the authorities and asked for the traveling expense allowance which was made at that time to destitute Russian refugees driven out of Germany and Austria by the war.  The authorities informed him that his application was too late; it should have been made as soon as he arrived.  He had been living in Petrograd two weeks, and, as he had thus become a resident, he must get back to the Pale of Settlement, where he belonged, as best he could.  Whether he ever did get back or not I don’t know.  This is all of his story that was given in the Novoe Vremya.  Even that anti-Semitic journal was shocked by it, and published it under the headline “Is This Just?”

I have space only for one more illustration of the Czar’s attitude towards loyal Jews who have prayed for him, fought for him and died for him.

On the 19th of last October, the Petrograd Retch published the following obituary notice showing censor’s excisions:

“News has reached Petrograd that the young (censor’s excision) Eugene R. Shpitzberg has perished in the field of military operations.  The deceased was twenty-four years of age.  He was born in one of the towns of the Baltic provinces, and after his graduation from one of the privileged schools in Petrograd he went to France.”

(Censor’s excision.)

“Toward the end of April, this year, E.R. Shpitzberg returned to Petrograd.”

(Censor’s excision.)

“Afterwards the deceased visited Riga and other towns in the Baltic provinces.”

(Censor’s excision.)

“About the middle of July, E.R. Shpitzberg made preparations to go to the United States of America.”

(Censor’s excision.)

“Perished in the Field of Operations”

I regret my inability to fill all of the blanks in this extraordinary obituary notice; but I can partly fill some of them.  Eugene Shpitzberg, as his name shows, was a Jew.  Finding it impossible to get higher education at home, on account of the university regulations and Mr. Kasso’s lottery admission device, he went to Paris.  There he became interested in aviation and learned to fly.  In April last he returned to Russia, and visited his birthplace, in one of the Baltic provinces.  His conduct in Petrograd and at home was evidently regarded with disapproval by the censor, but why I do not know.  Perhaps he saved somebody’s life in the Baltic provinces, and was given a reception by the Petrograd Aviation Society.  Such incidents would be creditable to a Jew, and of course the censor would cut them out.  In July he decided to go to the United States of America – for the reason, perhaps, that we have no Czar here to regulate Jews.  Before he could carry this intention into effect, however, the war broke out and he volunteered for military service.  The censor would not allow the Retch to explain just how he “perished in the field of military operations”, but I happen to know, from another source, that he was killed in an aeroplane while making a military reconnaissance near Sandomir, on the frontier of Austria (“Annals of the War” Petrograd, No. 10, November 7, 1914).  The censor of the Retch would not permit this fact to be stated.

________________________________________

Pilot Evgeniy Rostislavovich Shpitsberg (Летчик Евгений Ростиславович Шпицберг) (image from RU.Wikipedia)

________________________________________

What kind of a heart can it be that excludes wounded Jewish soldiers from hospitals; rejects the services of Jewish nurses and sister of mercy; drives into the Pale disabled Jews who have been fighting for Russia in France; excludes from the public schools the children of army surgeons who wear two crosses of honor for gallantry on the field of battle; and finally denies to a dead Jewish aviator even the poor boon of a friendly death notice in the newspaper of the country for which he has given his life?

The oligarchy that governs Russia would like to have the world believe that the ill treatment of the Jews in that country is due to invincible popular prejudice and hatred.  But it is not the people who are to blame.

So far as the Czar is concerned, he has received from the Russian Jews, since the war began, as loyal and faithful service as any ruler could desire.

References and Suggested Readings

Hofmeister, Alexis, “A war of letters – What do we read in soldiers’ Letters of Russian Jews from the Great War?” (“Une guerre de lettres. Que disent les lettres de soldats juifs de Russie écrites pendant la Grande Guerre?”), Revue des études slaves, LXXXVII-2, 2016

George Kennan, biography at Wikipedia

Evgeniy Rostislavovich Shpitsberg, biography at Ru.Wikipedia

*Cornet: A Rank in cavalry equal to that of a Second Lieutenant. 

Chronicles From World War One: Jewish Civilians in Poland: “The Tragedy of Israel in Poland” – The New York Sun, February 14, 1915

While the prior post – about the war’s effects on Jewish civilians in Eastern during the first year of the Great War – is comprised of three relatively brief news items, the article forming this post, “The Tragedy of Israel in Poland,” published during the same time period and covering the same topic, is quite different.

Penned by journalist, writer, and diplomat Herman Bernstein (who served as United States’ Ambassador to Albania, and founded the Yiddish daily Der Tog (“The Day”), the article covers and illustrates the experiences of Polish Jewry early in the war in depth and detail, through writing compelled by a deep sense of moral urgency.  First published in The New York Sun, it was reprinted four days later (on February 19, 1915) in The Jewish Exponent of Philadelphia.

________________________________________

Herman Bernstein in 1918 (photo from his biographical profile at Wikipedia)

________________________________________

The article, as it appeared in the Exponent, is illustrated below. 

A verbatim transcript follows.

With its opening paragraphs providing a general overview of Jewish life in pre-war Poland, the article briefly touches upon Jewish military service in the Russian Army, and then focuses on the social and political impact upon Polish Jewry of the manifesto of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich (commander in chief of Russian Army units on the main war front until August 21, 1915, at which time Czar Nicholas II took command of Russian military forces).  The Grand Duke’s manifesto offered political autonomy to Poland under the condition of that country’s loyalty to Russia, and, “respect[ing] the right of those nationalities with which history has bound you.” 

As recounted by Bernstein through the lengthy remainder of his article, the implications and ultimate effects of this latter passage upon Polish Jewry – after an initial burst of optimism and gratitude – were tragic. 

By way of illustration, he presents accounts of the experiences of Polish Jews from the towns of Tarnobrzeg (in southeastern Poland) and Skierniewice (“Skiernievice”; in central Poland, midway between Lodz and Warsaw).  Given the power and detail of Bernstein’s prose, there is no need to recapitulate this part of his essay, suffice to note the use of the word “Beiilis” – an allusion to Menahem Mendel Beilis – as a term of contempt hurled by Russian soldiers at Jewish civilians exiled from Skierniewice.  

Anyway…  This post refers to military service of Jewish soldiers only tangentially, at best.  However, in the context of history (and not solely the history of the First World War), if Bernstein’s article is an ironic counterpart to that topic, it is also a necessary one.

________________________________________

The worst part of our experience was, however, that all along the way we were continually joined by ever new hosts of Jews who were even more desperate than we.  The livelong day we dragged ourselves along the hard, rutty roads.  Beside us moved long lines of Russian soldiers.  They were coming to “redeem” the land from the hands of the enemy and it was these redeemers who inflicted upon us the most excruciating woes.  Wherever the Russian troops went they were accompanied by a crowd of Poles, men and women and children, who would point at us and shout:

“There they go, the Beilises!  There go the traitors!”

“Beilises!” the incited Russian soldiers would cry as we passed before them.  Those of us who happened to come near enough even felt their blows.  Perhaps the Russians were not to blame.  They believed what the Poles told them.

“To Sakhalien!  To Sakhalien!  Go to Palestine, you accursed Jews!” the Poles and the soldiers would taunt us.  What could we answer?

Often we noticed among the soldiers familiar faces.  There were Jewish soldiers from Poland and Russia.  We would stretch out our hands to them and cry:

“See, brethren, what the Russians are doing to us!  You are on your way to defend the fatherland and here they are torturing us!  Save us!”

The Jewish soldiers would bow their heads.  Many an eye would fill with tears.

________________________________________

The Tragedy of Israel in Poland
By Herman Bernstein
The Jewish Exponent

February 19, 1915
[Reprinted From The New York Sun of February 14, 1915]

Picture the sorrow, the martyrdom and the sufferings of the Russian Jew in the Pale of Jewish Settlement, with pogroms, with expulsions, with poverty – his ambition throttled, his craving for education stifled, his opportunities for work and trade blocked.  Then picture the sorrows of the Belgian, attacked, ruined, homeless, starving, with widows and orphans on all sides.  Take away from the Belgian his fatherland, his hope for regeneration and for justice, the sympathy of the world, and the relief sent by generous humanity – and you will have a faint idea of the sorrow and sufferings of the Polish Jew today.

Upward of three million of Polish Jews are staving, homeless, driven from place to place by the armies that are fighting Russia and by armies that are fighting for Russia; boycotted, humiliated, slandered by the Poles, accused of the vilest crimes, of disloyalty, of espionage and treachery – all for the purpose of discrediting them so as to rob them even of the hope of freedom and justice in the future.

For several years before the outbreak of the European war, the Jews of Poland suffered as no oppressed people have ever suffered anywhere else on the face of the earth.  In addition to the general disabilities and the restrictive laws which placed them beyond the pale of human rights, they were mercilessly hounded and tortured by the Poles.  The Polish people, who were themselves struggling for liberty, ever hopeful to re-establish Poland as a nation, reorganized, rejuvenated and regenerated, conducted a cunningly devised and cruelly executed campaign of economic boycott against the Jews within the Polish provinces.

The anti-Jewish boycott in its acute form grew out of political disappointment, and the vengeance the Poles wreaked upon the Jews was diabolical.  The liberal Polish leaders of yesterday became the most rabid, heartless Jew baiters.  Orders were issued through the press to boycott the Jews throughout Poland.  Poles were warned against buying anything from Jews.  Polish physicians refused to render medical aid to Jews.  Polish druggists refused to sell medicine to the Jewish sick.  Polish hospitals refused to admit Jewish patients, however critical their condition, and there are records of Jewish families slain, burned to death, as in the time of the Inquisition; of Jewish homes destroyed, of Jewish shops plundered.

The pogrom policy, abandoned by the Russian government, was taken up in another form by the Poles.  Through various machinations and provocations they tortured the Jewish people within their provinces, ruined them, often putting them to death upon one pretext or another.

When the war broke out the Jews of Russia were carried away by a passionate loyalty to Russia that, to the outsider, seemed more than strange.  They enlisted as volunteers in large numbers, they established hospitals, they gave large sums of money for the wounded soldiers, they fought and died for Russia, where it had been so hard for them to live.

Among the first heroes of the Russian troops the Jews furnished a conspicuously large number.  The Jewish heroes distinguished themselves buy their courage and devotion, and even the eyes of the Russian reactionaries seemed to have been opened.  The Jew baiters suddenly realized their blundering narrowness and sickly prejudice.

Those who but a short time before had sought to brand the Jews as ritual murderers suddenly repented.  Purishkevitch, the Black Hundred leader in the Duma, kissed the scroll of the Torah, and Shmakoff, another anti-Semite, embraced and kissed Jews in public to demonstrate that there were no longer any differences among the nationalities constituting the population of the Russian empire.

For a time it seemed as though the Polish Jewish animosities would also be swept aside by the awful catastrophe that had suddenly turned almost all of Europe into a madhouse.  Then came the famous manifesto, issued by the Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolayevitch, in command of the Russian armies, promising autonomy to Poland on condition that the people would be loyal to Russia in the war.  The Jews, who had been tyrannized, humiliated and almost crushed through the Polish boycott, nevertheless hailed Poland’s freedom in a spirit of genuine joy.  The Jews, who, have always loved liberty, know how to prize liberty, and they rejoiced even when their oppressors were promised liberty.  They hoped that this promise to the Poles, the approaching realization of their dreams of a reunited Poland, would soften the hearts of the Poles and end their militant and tyrannical policy of Jew hatred.

The Jewish press in the Polish provinces welcomed the Polish manifesto with almost hysterical enthusiasm.  One of the most widely circulated Jewish dailies in Warsaw aid editorially:

“The Jewish population of Poland welcomes the manifesto with no less enthusiasm than the Poles themselves.  During the past centuries the fate of the Jews has been bound up with the fate of the Poles.  The Jews have participated in the sorrows as well as the joys of the Polish people.  In the great moments of Polish history the Polish leaders did not forget the devotion of the Jewish people to Poland.  We believe that when the sun of freedom will rise in the sky of Poland all misunderstandings and differences will be forgotten forever.”

Another Jewish daily declared:

“The joy of the Polish people is great.  We Jews are rejoicing in their joy and we are also deeply grateful to the Russian commander in chief because in his manifesto to the Poles he did not forget to mention the other nationalities whose fate is bound up with that of the Poles.”

Still another Jewish daily said:

“The news about the regeneration of the Polish people calls out a feeling of real gratification knowing the Jews, who themselves realize all the tragedy of being scattered among the nations.  It is, of course, to be expected that, in accordance with the manifesto, the Poles will respect the rights of the other nationalities within their provinces.”

The Polish press, however, overlooked the following passage contained in the manifesto issued by the Russian commander in chief:

“There is but one thing that Russia expects of you – that you respect the right of those nationalities with which history has bound you.”

Russia struck the keynote of unity in this manifesto, but the Poles, instead of abandoning their anti-Jewish campaign, intensified their cunningly devised plots against the Jewish people within their provinces.

It seemed as though the manifesto which stipulated that the Poles respect the other nationalities in Poland added oil to the flames of hatred.  They who had systematically hounded the Jews during the past few years tried to justify their anti-Semitic activities on the eve of their own liberation.

One of the leading Polish newspapers commenced the new campaign by publishing an article declaring that the Poles could not be expected to respect the rights of the Jews because in all Russian official documents the Jews are spoken of as “aliens” and not as a nationality.

When the Germans invaded a portion of Russian Poland a new plot was formed against the Jews by the Poles.  The leaders sent out word throughout the Polish provinces to lay the blame upon the Jews for anything that might compromise the Poles in the eyes of the Russians or the Germans.

“Blame the Jew.”  This order, spread by the Polish leaders, was intended to serve two purposes.  The Jews were to be compromised and discredited so that the Poles would not have to respect their rights when Poland became autonomous.  In the second place their own disloyalty would be rendered less conspicuous.

The Poles circulated rumors throughout the Polish provinces that the Jews were spies, that the Jews were poisoning the wells to kill the Russian troops, were giving signals to the German troops, were throwing bombs from German Zeppelins and other equally absurd stories.  The Polish newspapers helped to circulate these legends among the Polish peasantry.  These rumors also reached the Russian army and spread like wildfire to Russian towns and villages.

The Polish newspapers published, and foreign papers reproduced a story to the effect that Polish Jews had carted to the Germans a million and a half rubles in gold in a coffin, and however ridiculous the story may sound, the people believed it and the Poles intensified their attacks upon the Jews.  Naturally all this had its effect upon the Russian army and was the cause of numerous catastrophes, of numerous pogroms.  Hundreds of Jews were hanged on account of such false accusations.  The ground was prepared, the Poles knew how to reach the authorities with their accusations, and the word of one informer was sufficient for the officials to hang a Jew. 

Many circumstances helped the Poles in their campaign against the Jews.  The similarity between the Yiddish and the German languages, the peculiar clothes worn by the Polish Jews, their isolation in ghettos, their unfamiliarity with the Russian language, which made it impossible for them to defend themselves by clearing up many misunderstandings; the fact that they were not permitted to serve on any committees that represented the local population to the authorities – all these created an unfavorable state of affairs for the Jews at the time of the German invasion of Russian Poland.

As soon as the Germans entered a Russian town the Poles changed their tactics.  Having previously barred the Jews from various committees, they now urged them to form such committees in order to place responsibility upon the Jews.  Thus the Jews were expected to secure provisions and supplies for the invading troops.  The Jews were compelled to do this, and when the Russian troops returned they made charges against the Jews to the Russian officials.

The returning Russian troops were usually met by the Polish rabble, who related to them all kinds of stories about Jewish espionage and treachery.  Very often the soldiers and Cossacks started at once for the Jewish quarter and broke into Jewish houses, looking for Germans supposed to have hidden there.  Since their search proved unsuccessful the infuriated Russian soldiers robbed Jewish homes and shops at the instigation of the Poles.  The Poles spurred on the hungry Russian soldiers by telling them that while the Jews gladly gave bread to the German troops, they refused to help the Russians.

Upon just such information given to the Russian troops by Polish informers the sons-in-law of the well known rabbi of Radom were hanged.  A large number of Jews were hanged because they had been accused by the Poles of having refused to exchange money for Russian soldiers.

When the Russian troops entered the city of Warsaw and the population came out to welcome them and give them bread and tea, the Poles shouted to the soldiers not to accept anything from the Jews.

“Beware!” they cried.  “They want to poison you.  Their bread and tea are poisoned.”

It was a critical moment and it looked as though a terrible pogrom would break out.  Fortunately a tragedy was averted on that occasion.

In Grayevo, the Poles led the German troops to the Jewish quarter and pointed out to them the houses to be robbed, and later they told the Russians that the Jews were on most friendly terms with the German troops, assisting them in every way possible.

Among the accounts of the tragedies enacted in the Polish provinces and of the sorrows of the Jewish people there, I have received numerous documents in the form of letters from eye witnesses of the pogroms and expulsions, also descriptions by writers who have visited the scenes of a tragedy even more painful that the tragedy of Belgium.  The following extracts from a letter received recently in New York from Austrian Poland contains the simple, heartrending account of the horrors of a massacre near Tarnobrzeg:

“And now, my dear son, I will tell you what happened to your father and your mother.  On Thursday about one hundred Jews, women and children among them, were placed on the sidewalk.  The Russian soldiers aimed their guns at us.  Our cries went up to Heaven.  We were saying our last prayers.  Then God had pity on us, and only Isaac Treger’s son, the youngest, was shot.

“After that the soldiers picked out six young men, stripped them and flogged them mercilessly until blood commenced to gush from their bodies.  Then they took the ten oldest men of our town and imprisoned them in a cellar in Vimishlin, where they were kept for forty-eight hours.

“You may bless the Lord for having permitted me to survive.  I am glad that my life was spared because I was enabled to bury the dead in accordance with the Jewish law.  If I were not here, your grandfather, Hershel, and the others from Mokshoiv would have remained in Byela Gura in the woods.  They were hanged there and they remained hanging in the woods for four days.  Then they were all buried in one grave, one on top of the other.  I learned of this a day after the hanging.

“Yochevedel returned.  She had hidden herself somewhere.  I went to the Count and begged him to allow me to bury the dead in the Jewish cemetery.  But the Russians would not allow me to do that.  Three weeks later our troops returned to this town.  I went to the authorities and begged them to permit me to bury the dead.  I was fortunate enough to have gone there in time, otherwise they would have remained in the woods forever.

“I had asked grandfather to come along with us, but he said it was a pity to leave our house upon which we had worked so hard.  When we heard the sound of cannonading we ran to Maidan. ***

“In Maidan we waited for father, but he did not come.  We could not get anything to eat there, for all the people of Maidan had already fled.

“We got some bread from the soldiers.  On the third day we ran into Kolbushov.  On the way we met Moses Bartsen and his family.  When we reached Kolbushov on the following day we did not find any one there.  Most of the Jews had all run away on Friday.  I did not know what to do.  Mother was unable to go any further.  So we remained in Kolbushov for ten days.  The Russians arrived there on Saturday at three o’clock.

“On Sunday night, that was the Jewish New Year, they slaughtered three Jews – father and son and the son’s father-in-law.  You can imagine our feelings.  What could we do?  We were not permitted to leave town.  We hid the girls under the beds, and every ten minutes another Cossack would come into the house demanding food, money and our watches.  But we had nothing to eat ourselves.  Yet they did not believe that we were telling them the truth.  Thank God that we were left among the living.”

Among the letters I have received from responsible and reliable people who have visited the scenes of the Jewish Belgium, Poland, the following vivid description of the Jewish exile from Skiernievice stands out prominently. 

“I met one of the Jewish militiamen from ill fated Skiernievice at one of the many Warsaw shelters for homeless Jews, a pale, worn young man, half laborer and half “intellectual”.  His terrible experiences had left an indelible impression upon him.  He seemed to have lost all sense of fear, so anxious was he to rush into the street and proclaim to every passerby the tragedy he had just witnessed.

“The shelter was overflowing with human beings; women, children and the aged and feeble.  The grown men were scouring the city all day to secure some means to rebuild their shattered homes.  The air was so close one could scarcely breathe.  But who in this vale of Jewish tears thought of such needs as fresh air?

“So the Jewish militiaman and I found a seat on a hard, black bench near the window.  He began to tell me the story of the exile of the Jews from Skiernievice, and as I listened I recalled the horrible tales of Chmeinitzky’s hordes, tales which had hitherto sounded incredible.

“He spoke in a low tone that betrayed his suppressed excitement.

“ ‘We organized a volunteer militia,” he told me.  “When the Russian troops and officials abandoned Skiernievice, we felt that we were left among savage beasts who might crush us at any moment in a pogrom.  We went to the Citizens’ Committee, which was made up exclusively of Poles, and petitioned that the Jews be allowed to enter the militia, but the Poles refused to let us join them.  We therefore organized a militia of our own, which aside from its other duties had to protect the Jews from the Polish militia.

“ ‘Meanwhile the Germans entered the town.  We had heard plenty of stories of the Poles carrying false accusations to the Russian officials against the Jews, so we were afraid to go out to meet the Germans.  The Poles went alone and told the Germans that we, the Jews, were the only friends of the Russia in the village.  Yet the Germans did not molest us.  They paid for everything they took either in cash or orders.

“ ‘A member of the German landstrum gathered a crowd and said: “We are waging war only against the Russian soldiers and not against the peaceful inhabitants.  We shall not trouble you if you do not interfere with us.  On the contrary we bring you liberty.

“ ‘When we asked him to explain the conduct of the Germans at Kaliscz he replied that the Germans must have been given some provocation.  But at that moment we were not interested so much in gaining liberty as in keeping body and soul together.

“ ‘One day the Germans were looking for a stable for their horses.  Our Polish friends pointed out the Jewish synagogue as suitable for the purpose.  Without further search the Germans installed their horses in the sanctuary.

“ ‘The Jews were shocked, for up to that time the Germans had behaved creditably.  The rabbi and a few Jewish laymen sought the German commander and begged him to spare the synagogue.  He received them cordially but rebuked them for not being as friendly as the Poles.  When they asked him to have the horses removed from the synagogue he showed considerable surprise.  He had not known that the building was a synagogue.  He gave the order at once to his soldiers.  They removed the horses, and furthermore, scoured the place so thoroughly, that they left it cleaner that it had ever been before.  You know the condition of our synagogues in the small towns?’

“ ‘And how did it all end?  I interrupted at this point.

“ ‘We paid dearly,” resumed the militiaman, ‘for this German good-will.  A few days before the Hebrew New Year the Russians compelled the Germans to evacuate.  We awaited with dread the return of the Russian troops, for we had heard too often of the bitter experiences of the Jews in other towns under such circumstances.  The Poles threatened to wreak vengeance upon us when the Russians would arrive.

“ ‘And so they did.  The reality was even worse than our greatest fears.

“ ‘On the eve of New Year the Russians returned.  The Poles met them far out on the road and maliciously accused the Jews of having aided the Germans.  As a result, the Russians entered the town hostile towards us.

“ ‘The Russian commander had a talk with several prominent Poles and immediately decided to Punish the Jews severely.  At noon an officer with a huge drum appeared in the market place and proclaimed that the Jews must prepare to leave the town the next morning at 11 o’clock.

“ ‘We were thunderstruck.  Where could we go?  What could we do?

“ ‘The Russian officer added that no Jew could remain in Skiernievice because we were all under suspicion, and that any Jew who lingered would be shot as a spy.

“ ‘We hastened to the Russian commander and begged him to spare us.  We produced evidence showing that we had been libeled.  But in vain.  He persisted that he could not investigate our claims because the commander of the Russian army in that vicinity, General Sheideman, had given him his orders.

“ ‘It was rumored about town that when General Sheideman had been in Skiernievice some time before he called the representatives of the citizens’ committee and demanded of them a guarantee that the inhabitants would be loyal to the Russians.  As the representatives were all Poles, they gave the general a list of persons under suspicion, which included all the Jews in the village.

“ ‘When we saw that our efforts were useless we decided to leave our possessions and merely try to save our lives.  The incidents of that night beggar description.  We were not even permitted to leave behind us the sick and the women in childbirth.  Only the Jewish bakers, blacksmiths and a few contractors were allowed to remain.  But they did not care to stay and prepared to leave with the rest of us.

“ ‘The order of the commander stated that the Jews must depart along the right bank of the Vistula.

“ ‘At 11 o’clock on New Year’s Day, some 7,000 Jews gathered in the market place, carrying their children and the sick.  In half an hour our number was increased by another thousand Jews who had been driven from the neighboring villages.

“ ‘The Poles did not even wait for the Jews to leave town before they started plundering our homes and shops.  They met with no resistance.  We, the Jewish militiamen, surrounded our community in order to defend our lives and the honor of our women.  I cannot describe our feelings.  We were so enraged that if we had had access to bombs then, we would have annihilated ourselves and all Skiernievice.

“ ‘It was the Sabbath, but the rabbi declared it was lawful to let the children, the feeble old men and the women in childbirth on wagons, which we hired at unheard of prices.

“ ‘We took the scrolls of the law in our hands and, amid the savage cries of the Poles and the soldiers, we left the town in silence and despair.  Our hearts were heavy.  Even the children cried with us.

“ ‘Just then a fine looking Jew with gray hair and a jet black beard, took a seat on our bench.  My companion hesitated.

“ ‘Does he embarrass you?’ I asked the militiaman.  ‘If so we might move to another corner.’

“ ‘No,’ the young man answered sadly.  ‘He cannot disturb us.’

“ ‘I gazed intently at the newcomer and I shuddered.  He was looking straight into our eyes, but I felt his glance pass through me to some invisible goal.

“ ‘He is out of his senses,’ the militiaman explained to me in a low voice.

“The gray headed Jew began to rock himself back and forth, repeating in a low murmer:

“ ‘Beilis!  Beilis!’

“ ‘He is one of the victims, the militiaman said sadly.  ‘That’s the way he’s been acting since we arrived here.  He ought to be put in an institution, but where can we find such a place now?  So he is here with us, with the sane.  He does not trouble any one.  He is very quiet.

“The militiaman continued his story.

“ ‘We directed our steps toward Warsaw, some eighty versts distant.  We had to carry the invalids and the children during the entire journey.  But we had become hardened to suffering of late and night have borne all with a certain amount of resignation.

“ ‘The worst part of our experience was, however, that all along the way we were continually joined by ever new hosts of Jews who were even more desperate than we.  The livelong day we dragged ourselves along the hard, rutty roads.  Beside us moved long lines of Russian soldiers.  They were coming to “redeem” the land from the hands of the enemy and it was these redeemers who inflicted upon us the most excruciating woes.  Wherever the Russian troops went they were accompanied by a crowd of Poles, men and women and children, who would point at us and shout:

“There they go, the Beilises!  There go the traitors!”

“ ‘ “Beilises!” the incited Russian soldiers would cry as we passed before them.  Those of us who happened to come near enough even felt their blows.  Perhaps the Russians were not to blame.  They believed what the Poles told them.

“ ‘ “To Sakhalien!  To Sakhalien!  Go to Palestine, you accursed Jews!” the Poles and the soldiers would taunt us.  What could we answer?

Often we noticed among the soldiers familiar faces.  There were Jewish soldiers from Poland and Russia.  We would stretch out our hands to them and cry:

“ ‘ “See, brethren, what the Russians are doing to us!  You are on your way to defend the fatherland and here they are torturing us!  Save us!”

“ ‘The Jewish soldiers would bow their heads.  Many an eye would fill with tears.

“ ‘We expected to be banished to Siberia or to Sakhalien, so we trudged along to Warsaw without a spark of hope in our hearts.  Toward evening we reached a small Jewish town.  The local Jews had heard of our misfortune and they came out to meet us.  But before long an official mandate arrived ordering that we should not be allowed to spend the night in the town or even to pass through the streets.  The Russians began at once to drive out those of us who had set foot in the town.  Behind us the others were pressing forward, not knowing what had happened at the van.  Sobs and moans filled the air.  Men and women grew hysterical.  In the tumult a child was choked to death.  We were herded together like a flock of sheep and forced to spend the night in the open fields.

“ ‘We begged piteously that a few of us should be allowed to enter the town and buy bread and wood, but our prayers were vain.  The officers threatened to shoot any Jews who would enter the town.  Some of us drew near to talk with the local Jews, only to be driven back with brutal blows.

“ ‘In the morning we set out again on our way.  We did not try to halt at the towns we passed.  Such an attempt would have been useless and would only have embarrassed the Jews who lived there and whose own position was none too secure.

“ ‘We trudged on, hungry and exhausted.  Ever and anon the Poles would come out from the neighboring villages and heap insults upon us.  The Poles beat those of us who straggled behind from weakness.  So did the soldiers.

“ ‘I cannot find words to describe the journey.  At was a journey of shame and misery.  A few women in childbirth died on the way with their babies.  We carried the corpses along on the wagons together with the living invalids and children.  We could not bury the dead, since we were not allowed to stop anywhere.

“ ‘In this plight we reached Warsaw.  Here too the report of our misfortune had preceded us and we were met with bread, clothes and wagons.  Representatives of the Jewish community petitioned the authorities to allow us to enter the city.

“ ‘Here in Warsaw no one could understand the reason for our expulsion and every one was afraid to do anything for us.  The civil authorities could not disregard the command of the military officials that we be banished to the right side of the Vistula, the Prague side.  That locality is known as a den of thugs and the Jews of Warsaw were afraid that we would be attacked and murdered.  After urgent petition to the civil authorities, the Governor of Warsaw at last consented to overlook our entrance into the city.  We therefore remained in Warsaw where charitable Jews had established shelters for the homeless.  The rest of the story is known to you.’

“This is the tale of the ruin of Skiernievice as told by the young Jewish militiaman.  He did not tell me all and much of his story I have omitted here.  There is a great deal which it is not yet possible to describe frankly.

“The Jewish community of Warsaw helped the unfortunate exiles as far as human power could aid them.  A few weeks later when they were settled in shelters, the Government was prevailed upon to permit a Jewish deputation to visit Skiernievice and see how things were there.  A good many Jews of the village had meanwhile obtained permission to return to their pillaged homes.  They went back with the deputation.

“What they found at Skiernievice struck them with consternation.  The Poles had taken possession of the Jewish houses and did not allow their Jewish owners to enter.  They were doing business in the Jewish shops and acted as if they were the proprietors.  They scouted the idea of leaving.

“The Poles translated into reality the plan which the well known Jew baiting Polish newspaper Dwa Groshi outlined at the outbreak of the war.  This newspaper wrote: ‘Now is the time for the Poles to take control of the Polish trade and crowd out the Jews.’  So they crowded out the Jews with a vengeance.

“The Jewish representatives repeatedly appealed to the civil and military authorities against the outrage, but their efforts were in vain.

“ ‘You are right,’ the authorities would reply, ‘but why make so much noise about it?  Obtain redress by the process of law.  Bring suit in court and produce witnesses to prove that the houses and stores belong to you.’

“This reply was merely an inhuman jest at the expense of the Jews.  Where could they obtain redress?  How could they produce witnesses, since the Jews had been driven out and the Polish witnesses were themselves the robbers!

“The Jewish deputation and the Jewish natives of Skiernievice who had returned exerted every effort, but realizing that they could accomplish nothing left the ruined Jewish quarter with tears in their eyes and brought the sad news to Warsaw.

“The Jews of Skiernievice will remain homeless for a long, long time.  The wealthiest men are now compelled to be for bread.  They could save nothing of their possessions in the short twenty-four hours which were granted them to prepare to leave their native town.”

This is but a scene of the tragedy of Israel in Poland.

References

Grand Duke Nicolas Nikolaevich of Russia (1856-1929) – Biographical Profile at Wikipedia

Herman Bernstein – Biographical Profile at Wikipedia

Menahem Mendel Beilis – Biographical Profile at Wikipedia

Skiernievice – Description at Wikipedia

Tarnobrzeg – Description at Wikipedia

 

Chronicles From World War One: Jewish Civilians in Eastern Europe

Here are three articles from The Jewish Chronicle of early 1915 covering the treatment of Jewish civilians in Poland, by troops of German and Austria, and, Russia. 

Particularly notable is the aforementioned coverage of the expulsion of residents in Grodziak (part of Prussia commencing in 1793, and known as Grätz between 1887 and 1918), which is located in Western Poland.   

In time, and as a policy of the Russian Army, events of this nature would be repeated and vastly exceeded in scope and scale – in effect and intent, as mass deportations – as war progressed through 1915 and 1916, with dire impact upon the Jews of Eastern Europe.  

The relative brevity of these three articles (presumably there are others that I missed in my survey of the Chronicle, such as that of December of 1914 reporting upon the exile of families from Grodziak) would be in marked contrast to far (far) lengthier reportage that would appear in the Chronicle, Jewish Exponent, and other publications, as the war progressed.        

________________________________________

________________________________________

THE ATROCITIES IN POLAND
[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT]
PETROGRAD

January 1, 1915

At Mishinetz (Lomza), the German invaders sacked all Jewish shops, and forced our coreligionists to destroy the Russian trenches.  On the return of the Russians the Poles denounced the Jews, all of whom, numbering 300 families, were exiled in the course of a few hours to Lomza and Ostrolenka.  Carrying Scrolls of the Law, they marched out and spent the night in the rain chanting Psalms.  The Governor, having been convinced of the innocence of the Jews, subsequently obtained a permit from the Military Commander authorising their return, but in the meantime the townlet was burnt.  Similarly owing to the Polish denunciations, the Jewish communities of Skernewitz, Kozennitzi, Novoalexandria, Iren, Mstchlov, Khortzeli, and Gniashov, were also expelled.  The number of exiles at Skernewitz alone amounted to 6,000.  The Polish mob looted the Jewish houses there despite the appeals of the Priests.  The marches of the exiled Jews were not free from molestation.  In many localities they were attacked and beaten.  Perhaps the most tragic case is the fact that the 1,500 families exiled from Grodziak (as I reported last week) included 300, whose heads were all at the Front fighting for their country.  “Go to Palestine, you Beilis,” was the cry of the Poles to the Jews.

At Raigorod, the Russians ordered the Jews to proclaim a “Cherem” against anyone who attempted to cut the telegraph.  The Germans then invaded the town and pillaged all Jewish shops.  During a subsequent battle, the synagogue and many houses were burnt, and the community had to escape to Bielostok.

The Polish Jewish townlet Politchno was burnt by the Germans.  The Austrians in their retreat also burnt the Jewish townlets Viskoa and Turobin (in Galicia).

At Lutomirsk, a bomb exploded during the battle, and destroyed a Jewish house, killing three Jews and wounding thirteen.

Owing to the battle at Lodz and the wholesale slaughter of many citizens by bullets, 10,000 people, including all the heads of the Jewish community, marched to Warsaw.  The mob again attempted to pillage Jewish houses during the bombardment, but the riot was suppressed.  During the fighting the Jews shared all their food with the Russian soldiers.

At Kalish, the Germans shot a Jewish baker and his three sons for failing to show lights in his windows.

At Izbitz (Lublib), Austrian soldiers killed a Jewish family named Ziberman (consisting of five persons), because it would not allow them to dishonor one of the daughters.

________________________________________

RUSSIAN TROOPS TAKE JEWISH PRISONERS

March 12, 1915

The Commander of the fortress of Novogeorgievsk has issued a secret order to the troops to take Jewish hostages on all placed occupied by them in view of the statements in the German Press, describing the Jewish attitude towards the invaders as friendly on account of the Russian oppression.  At the same time the troops were ordered to notify the Jewish population that any discovery of assistance given by it to the Germans would result in the execution of the hostages.

________________________________________

RUSSIAN ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS
ALLEGED SPIES

[FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT]
PETROGRAD

April 16, 1915

The military organ, the Russky Invalide, has printed a grave charge against the Jews.  The paper stated that before the war, the German Government intentionally impoverished the Jews of Posen and East Prussia, and subsequently subsidised them to settle in large numbers in Russian Poland in order to act as spies.  The paper charged the Jews with treachery and expressed the opinion that after the war among the military reforms will figure the necessity of clearing the hostile elements from the frontier.  Other anti-Semitic organs, including the Novoye Vremya, have naturally seized the opportunity of reproducing the charges and commenting upon them.

The Poles have charged the Jews of Seini (Suwalk) with obtaining the first information of the arrival of the Germans and with buying the property stolen by the invaders from the citizens.  In reality, the local synagogue was seized by the Germans and converted into a hospital, many Jews of military age there transported to Prussia, and much of the property of our brethren was confiscated.  The Jewish townlets, Grozda, Busk and Stabin, were partially destroyed during the invasion.

The tendency to see in every Jew a spy has led to the detention in a Polish townlet of Jews reciting their prayers.  The soldiers thought that they were communicating with the enemy through a wireless telephone.  The General in command, however, ordered their release.

Reference

Grodzisk Wielkopolski (Grätz), at Wikipedia

Chronicles From the East: Eastern European Jews – Soldiers and Civilians – in the First World War – An Overview

My prior two posts, “The World at War, The Jews in War: Jewish Military Service in World War One, in David Vital’s “A People Apart”“, and, “Images From the East: Russian Jewish Soldiers of the First World War, in “The Jewish World”“, focused upon the experiences of Jewish soldiers in the First World War. 

The former post centers upon a passage from D. David Vital’s book A People Apart, which presents a sociological and historical overview of the participation of Jews in the armed forces of the Allies and Central Powers from 1914 to 1918. 

The latter post is a little different: It displays a few of images published in the periodical The Jewish World (brother publication of The Jewish Chronicle) from 1914 through 1916, showing Jewish soldiers who served in the Army of Imperial Russia. 

Given the tremendous number of Jewish soldiers who served in the Army of Imperial Russia during the First World War, as well as the demographic and historical centrality of Eastern European Jewry in the history of the Jewish people, these pictures directly resonate with observations about Jewish WW I military service expressed in Dr. Vital’s book.  As a lengthy follow-up to this topic, I plan to bring you more information about this subject in future posts. 

This will be in the form of transcripts of a news items, letters-to-the-editor, essays, and investigative reports published in WW I-era issues of The Jewish Chronicle and The Jewish World, l’Univers israélite from France, and The Jewish Exponent of Philadelphia, which – like The Jewish Chronicle – is still very much in publication over a century after the end of The Great War.

How did I find these items? 

Well, the second-best answer is … very, very (very!)* slowly.

The best (and lengthier) answer is by reviewing all issues of the above periodicals published between late 1914 and early 1919.  While the four publications are available as 35mm microfilm at the New York Public Library, I believe that only l’Univers israélite, published between 1849 and 1939, is available in digital format: via the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

The above-mentioned review was an effort to find news items directly covering, pertaining to, or even tangentially addressing military service by Jews in World War One.  Of which, from late 1914 through early 1919, there were, alas, inevitably many such items.

The near goal?  To identify and transcribe such items, simply for their own sake. 

The far goal?  As part of an effort to corroborate records about Jews who were military casualties and award recipients in the Allied armed forces, whose names appear in commemorative volumes about Jewish WW I military service (typically published in the 1920s; no such study was ever created concerning the military service of American Jews…), and of greater importance, to simply identify soldiers whose names never appeared in such books, in the first place.

Among the many, many (many!) such news items I discovered in this endeavor are a select few about:

1) Russian Jews – Soldiers and Civilians – and the Russian War Effort

2) Jewish Civilians in Eastern Europe – The experiences of Jewish civilians in Eastern Europe, as the tides of war carried the opposing armies of the Central Powers and Allies (specifically Imperial Russia) hither and yon; from west to east; from east to west; unpredictably; chaotically; often with appalling and tragic effect, through and across the world’s then demographic center of Jewish population;

3) Russian-Born Jews in England, and Military Service in the Allied Armed Forces –The controversy within English Jewry the about the military service of Jewish immigrants from Russia resident in England in the Allied armies, and thus indirectly in support of Russia, the country from which they sought refuge;

4) Thoughts and Observations – “Why are the Jews Fighting Germany?”, and, a subtle segue into Zionism.

5) Stories from the War – Non-Fiction (?), and Fiction – Two tales: One, a story about Jewish soldiers in a Russian military unit, in terms of the Jewish soldiers’ relationships with each other, and equally, their Russian officers and fellow soldiers.   Another, a brief tale about an encounter between Cossack troops and an impoverished Jewish woman in Poland.

Importantly, these news items weren’t categorized as such in the original publications.  Rather, it was only after reviewing these items and pondering their content, that I realized they could be set within the five above general areas, which are based on my own judgement.

So.  Here are these items, arranged as per the above categories, listed by periodical name, date of publication, and item title.  Unless otherwise specified, all these items are from The Jewish Chronicle.  I hope to bring them to you as full-text in the reasonably near future.

Jewish Civilians in Eastern Europe

January 1, 1915 – The Atrocities in Poland
March 12, 1915 – Russian Troops Take Jewish Prisoners
April 16, 1915 – Russian Accusations Against The Jews

The Jewish Exponent
– February 19, 1915 – The Tragedy of Israel in Poland (by Herman Bernstein)

The Jewish Exponent – April 16, 1915 – The War and The Jews of Russia (by George Kennan)
The Jewish Exponent – August 13, 1915 – If It Be True…  A Terrible Indictment Against Russia
The Jewish Exponent – August 27, 1915 – Loyalty of Jews in War Lands Unshaken (by Alexander Brin)
The Jewish World – October 27, 1915 – A Roadside Scene in Russia (Photograph)
February 11, 1916 – The Russo-Jewish War Victims – (Photograph: “Driven Out”)
The Jewish Exponent – November 3, 1916 – How Russian Jews Suffered in War

The Jewish Exponent – March 4, 1921 – Tragic Plight of the Ukrainian Jews

Russian-Born Jews in England and Military Service in the Allied Armed Forces

July 7, 1916 – Russian Jews in Leeds
July 21, 1916 – The Plea of the Russian Jew (Letter from S. Paul)
November 17, 1916 – Russian Jews Appeal
November 17, 1916 – Russian-Born Jews and Military Service – Attestation in England

February 2, 1917 – Russians in the British Army – Attestation in Egypt

Thoughts and Observations

June 4, 1915 – Why the Jews are Fighting Germany

September 22, 1916 – From a Russian-Born Jew – Neo-Nationalism and Jewish Rights (3)

Russian Jews – Soldiers and Civilians – and the Russian War Effort

September 11, 1914 – Freedom for the Russian Jew
October 9, 1914 – Russian Jews and The War – Christian Soldiers Commend Jews
October 16, 1914 – Russian Jews and The War (Pardiztal)
October 16, 1914 – Russian Jews Daring Exploits (Miller)
October 23, 1914 – Russo-Jewish Bravery
November 27, 1914 – Tribute to Jewish Loyalty in Russia
December 25, 1914 – Russo-Jewish Loyalty – More Distinctions (Yoffin, Korman, Umansky, Zeitlin, Chutz, others)

January 1, 1915 – More Jewish Bravery in Russia (Kane, Marslialek, Tziz, Shuler, Dushansky)
January 1, 1915 – Russian Archbishop Kisses Jewish Hero
January 1, 1915 – Jewish Collections for Russian Soldiers
l’Univers israélite – January 1, 1915 – Les soldats juifs dans I’armee russe
January 8, 1915 – Young Jewish Heroes in Russia (Reichelson, Sharfinowitch, Gelfenstein, others)
January 22, 1915 – More Russo-Jewish Distinctions at the Front (Goldberg, Goldner, Kaplan, Yapolski, others)
January 29, 1915 – The Russian Army and The Jews (Holtzman, Itke, Schuster)
February 5, 1915 – Further Jewish Distinctions in Russia (Glickman, Grusenberg, Gunzburg, Rivkin, Treistman)
February 12, 1915 – Growing List of Russo-Jewish Heroes
February 19, 1915 – Russian Jews and the War
February 26, 1915 – Russian Jews and the War – Declaration in The Duma
February 26, 1915 – Another Striking List of Russian Jewish Heroes
March 12, 1915 – Large Russo-Jewish Honours List
March 19, 1915 – More Russo-Jewish Distinctions (Alexander, Kaplan, Olshwanger)
March 26, 1915 – Russo-Jewish Distinctions (Koffman, Markovitch, Shlionsky)
April 9, 1915 – Russo-Jewish War Honours (Annie X, Abramovitch)
April 16, 1915 – Russian Jews and The War
April 30, 1915 – Russo-Jewish Distinctions In The War (Markovitch, Lev Israel, Leipuner)
May 14, 1915 – Heavy List of Russo-Jewish War Honours
The Jewish Exponent – May 21, 1915 – Three Hundred Russian Jews Decorated
The Jewish Exponent – June 11, 1915 – A Jewish Girl in the Ranks
September 3, 1915 – Russo-Jewish Prisoners of War in Germany
September 3, 1915 – Five Hundred Russo-Jewish Heroes
December 24, 1915 – More Distinctions for Russo-Jewish Soldiers (Dubovitzky, Frenkel, Maltinsky, Rubinstein)

February 4, 1916 – General Kuropatkin and Jewish Soldiers
l’Univers israélite – February 4, 1916 – Les Juifs russes et la guerre
February 11, 1916 – A Russian Jewish Heroine (Madame Bernstein)
March 31, 1916 – Russian Rabbis Exempted From Service
April 21, 1916 – A Russian Commander of Jewish Soldiers
July 21, 1916 – Jews and Field Work in Russia

The Jewish Exponent – May 18, 1917 – Jewish Soldiers in the Russian Army
July 27, 1917 – A Jewish Legion Formed in Russia
l’Univers israélite – November 23, 1917 – Les Volontaires juifs russes

Stories from the War, Non-Fiction (?), and Fiction

The Jewish World – October 11, 1916 – The Cossack in a New Light
The Jewish World –June 23, 1915 – Reinforcements (Samuel Roth)

*Very?  Yes, very!