Customer Reviews

Hitler's Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military

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I spent my youth and adolescence during WWII in the Third Reich.
Although Aryan by birth I followed the fate of and befriended
several 'Mischlinge' (half- and quarter-jews) during and after
the War, and even knew some who served in the Wehrmacht. I found
Brian Mark Rigg's book excellent in scope and fair in its
contents. The research he conducted is extraordinary. The author
shed light on an angle that hitherto has been neglected by
historians of Nazi-Germany. He also describes splendidly the
irrational stupidity of the racial laws with their tragic
consequences. I wonder whether these 'Mischlinge' fought
valiently in the German Army as a refuge from the Gestapo or
under the peer pressure of the 'comradeship' of one's fighting
unit.They wanted to prove to the system that they were real' Germans.
I vividly remember also Aryan friends who were strong
Anti-Nazis but who courageously fought in the Wehrmacht,
particularly on the eastern front. Some of them were even
scheming plots to kill Hitler. Was it again the bonding among
soldiers or did they consider Naziism the smaller evil to
Bolshevism? I think these questions can only be only answered
individually.

The book is about the phenomenon of people of partial Jewish descent (mischlinge in German) that served in the German military (Wermacht) during the World WarII. The book is the result of a ten years' study including 430 interviews with mischlinge that had served in Wermacht. The book is very serious: for example, index and references comprise one third of the volume. The author claims that about 150,000 mischlinge (probably, about half of them - halachic Jews) served in Wermacht.

The first chapter discusses the question: who is a Jew? Several points of view are presented. The Halacha says that person born to a Jewish mother is also a Jew; and also one that converts to Judaism (makes "giyur"). However, many Jews believe that Jewishness means "ethnic allegiance". Reform Jews believe that "paternal descent" is also enough to be a Jew. The author mentions that this problem (who is a Jew) in modern Israel is "second only to Israel's preoccupation with problems of peace and security."
The second chapter explains who were mischlinge and how they felt in Nazi Germany. In most cases, mischlinge felt themselves as Germans. Part of them felt like second-class Germans, and many of them made their best to be considered as Aryans (i.e. pure Germans).
The third chapter is about the assimilation in Germany and Austria, and also about Jews serving in German Military prior to WWII. The assimilation rate in Germany and Austria was very high: for example, between 1901 and 1929 ther were over
36,000 mixed marriages in Germany alone. And from all the facts we see that many Jews served in the German army during WWI and afterwards. They felt united to fight for Germany.
The next three chapters give the historical background. When Hitler came to power, he started the racial policy. This policy was established by "Nuremberg laws" that were legislated in 1935. The aim of these laws was to stop connection between Jews and non-Jews. The term "Jew" was not defined by these laws, and as a wide-spread practice mischlinge were not treated as such. Later, around 1941, mischlinge in the Army felt that something bad towards them was happening. At that time in the SS offices "the mischlinge question" was discussed. In 1943 there was a "turning point" for mischlinge: the Party decided that half-Jews could not serve in in elite military units. Many mischlinge were removed from their positions. After that it was decided that half-Jews should be exterminated in the long-term perspective. Many were sent to forced labor camps.
The next two chapters are about exemptions from the racial policy. The author says that thousands applied for racial exemptions, i.e. for the right to continue military service. Many of them obtained such exemptions, and the first question
is why Hitler granted such exemptions (he treated each case personally with little or no advice from anybody else). B.M. Rigg points that several authors say that this is because of his own allegable Jewish past, i.e. Hitler feared that his grandfather had been Jewish. However, we have no facts to confirm or deny this allegation.
At first, if the person was a Party member, Hitler gave exemption in many cases. From 1940 more mischlinge had problems with obtaining an exemption, and after the July 1944 bomb attack on Hitler almost no more exemptions were granted.
The last chapter discusses the question: what did mischlinge know about the Holocaust? We can see from the author's study that they did not know about killing Jews. Mischlinge soldiers did not know that the Nazis killed their relatives. Similarly, most half-Jews did not realize what would happen to them after deportation.

This excellent book goes way beyond its subject, although if it did not it still would rate 5 stars, in the presentation of unbelievable facts mixed with ancedotal recitations of history. The personal disclosures by German military officers and enlisted men of their Jewish heritage, most of whom were half to quarter Jews, and their tribulations due to their ancestry coupled with acceptance at the highest levels was amazing.

Additionally, Hitler's hatred and obession with Jews was also tempered with his empathy for "Mischling's"(mixture of German and Jew)in certain situations such as the mother with a yellow Star of David on her clothes who had trouble getting food and Hitler helping her because of her son's military service to Germany. On the other hand, some "Mischlinge" were sent to concentration camps. The author states: "Ironically, Hitler was the one who allowed them both to serve and to apply for exemptions." As the war progressed he became less lenient. The final days found him in his bunker still worried about the Jewish question and how to rid society of Jews. Yes, his main objective was the eradication of Jews but at the same time one found him giving out many exemptions. His behaviors were obviously erratic and disturbed. There he was locked in battle with the Soviet Union at Stalingrad and his obesssion was with granting exemptions not with the battle per se.

The book was absorbing and scholary at the same time. As a former professor I appreciated the referencing of all the surprising data. As a psychologist I know life is not always black and white but I find I and most people need to be constantly reminded of this simple fact.

One of the most informative and interesting boooks I've read in the last few years.

Best thing I have read in awhile.

Author Bryan Mark Riggs was in his late twenties when he wrote this a couple of years ago. He is a (Reform?) Jew. At that point he had already earned a PhD at Cambridge, served as a volunteer in the Israeli Army and US Marines, and was teaching at SMU. This book grew out of his (undergraduate!) thesis at Yale. He found and interviewed a huge number of "Mischlinge" -- half or quarter-Jews who served in the Nazi military during WWII, sometimes with as high a rank as general.

Rigg improbably estimates there may have been as many as 150,000 such soldiers under Hitler.

Many of these men served to escape death. Some were just strong German nationalists.

The interesting part is that both Jewish halakah and Nazi law regarded many of these men as Jews, while most themselves did not! By Nazi law anyone who was 25% Jewish was a Jew whether or not he was baptized, a Nazi Party member, practiced another religion, etc. But those who had already shown loyalty to the German military often were given special exemptions if they continued to serve. Remarkably, most of those part-Jews were proud Germans, with roots in the nation hundreds of years back, who did not practice Judaism. Some were even somewhat anti-Semitic, looking down on the culturally, economically and educationally less advanced (and religiously more Orthodox) East European Jewish immigrants (Ostjuden) as inferior.

Sadly most fought bravely for the very government that was murdering their relatives, and would surely murder most of them when the war was over and they were no longer needed. (Some lost their exemptions even during the war).

The madness and the vicious absurdity of the Nazis is portrayed very skillfully by Rigg.

Rigg goes on longer than he needs to. But the topic is so engrossing, the mini-biographies so complex and full of contradictions, and the writing style so clear and enthusiastic that I am wanting more. I will read everything he writes in the future.

The next book Rigg wrote last year, BTW, I just started -- its about how the Lubivitcher Rebbe was rescued from Warsaw during Nazi occupation and smuggled out of the country by cooperation between American spies and a part-Jewish Nazi intelligence agent! That book is the most unbelievable story I have ever read. (A Past in Hiiding by Mark Roseman being a close second).

Any WWII buff MUST read both of these.

"Not every one who had Jewish ancestry was a victim of the death camps" (Rigg, p. 268). According to both the Halaka and Israel's "Law of Return", a Jew is defined as a person having a Jewish mother while remaining unconverted to another religion, or one who converted to Judaism. Based on this definition, a large fraction of the Mischlinge (German-Jewish "mongrels") consisted of true Jews. In fact, based on a sample which he has analyzed, Rigg (p. 18, 283) estimates that 60% of half-Jews and 30% of quarter-Jews in Nazi Germany were Halakically Jewish.

The number of Mischlinge spared from persecution by Hitler undoubtedly numbers in the thousands (p. 3). Perhaps 16,000 Mischlinge officers were in the Wehrmacht in 1940, and more than 150,000 Mischlinge fought for the Nazis in WWII. Although Hitler had the final say, many of the top Nazi officials were actively involved in the relabeling and protection of German Jews, including Ribbentrop, Sauckel, Bormann, Canaris, Donitz, Heydrich, Himmler, von Schirach, Kaltenbrunner, and Goring (p. 182). The latter reputedly remarked: "I'll decide who is a Jew." (p. 21).

Moreover, the exemptions from persecution were NOT limited to those of partial Jewish ancestry. Luftwaffe Field Marshall Erhart Milch, was either a half or full Jew (pp. 29-30). According to Rigg (p. 203), some 200 full-blooded Jews (the Schutzjuden, or protected Jews) were spared persecution in Berlin alone. One way or another, at least 6,000 full-blooded Jews served in the Wehrmacht (p. 65).

Although there were many reasons for service to the Nazis, the most obvious one is the fact that German Jews had become well integrated into German society, and had long been prominent in the German military. Rigg devotes some pages to the centuries-old German-Jewish symbiosis, pointing out that many German Jews had become "more German than the Germans". Significantly, Rigg discusses a number of Mischlinge directly involved in the German conquest of Poland in 1939.

Rigg briefly discusses the involvement of German Jews in the Holocaust itself. Mention is made of part and full Jews such as Killy, Eppinger, Goldschlag, Abrahamsohn, and Scherwitz (p. 258). Much less attention is paid to the Jewish origins of many top Nazi leaders. There is some elaboration of Hitler's obsessive fear of his Jewishness, as well as the probable Jewishness of Reinhard Heydrich (p. 176), one of the chief architects of the Holocaust itself. Most relevant documents that trace the ancestry of top Nazi officials have been destroyed.

Rigg inadvertently undermines any equation of Christian antisemitism with Nazi antisemitism. Those Germans whose Jewish ancestors had converted to Christianity as far back as great-grandparents were considered tainted by Jewish blood (p. 21). Relatively recent Jewish converts to Christianity were, in Hitler's mind, fully Jewish (pp. 17-18). Those practicing Judaism but not racially Jewish (e. g., the Karaims and Tats) were spared (p. 283). All the while, German Muslims were accepted as full Germans (p. 18). German Mischlinge as a whole were at least temporarily spared from extermination, but non-German Mischlinge were definitely not (p. 169). The Nazis did employ the Crucifixion of Christ when convenient, but portrayed Jesus as a Jewish-rejected anti-capitalist (p. 185), not as a spurned Messiah and Savior. Rigg doesn't mention that the Nazis were not alone in this regard. Left-wing propaganda has always tried to make Christ out into an anti-capitalist.

No one monopolizes intolerance. Prior to WWII, German Jews and Mischlinge had tended to scorn the Ostjuden (the eastern European Jews), and even advocate German discrimination against them (pp. 12-13). Rigg candidly discusses the negative experiences of many Mischlinge with their fellow Jews. Some Mischlinge found parallels between Nazi racial classification and what they considered the exclusive policies of mainstream Judaism. One half-Jewish Mischlinge is quoted as describing as "disgusting" the Jewish prayer in which Jews thank God that He did not create them as gentiles (p. 48).

A major shortcoming of Rigg's analysis is his failure to contextualize German racism and all its absurd inconsistencies. He omits mention of the blonde, blue-eyed Polish children who were kidnapped and raised as Germans (as part of the Lebensborn program), while all other Poles were untermenschen (subhumans). In contrast, no ethnic Germans got this label, regardless of physical characteristics. Were German Mischlinge mostly slated for eventual extermination? Well, so were most of the Slavs. Rigg ignores the fact that the same tripartite division used against Jews was also used against Slavs, namely those 1). Condemned to immediate death, 2) Kept alive only as long as deemed useful to the Reich, and 3) Provisionally accepted, to varying degrees, as "true" Germans. The first group consisted of the 5-6 million murdered Jews (including several hundred thousand non-German Mischlinge; p. 169) and 2-3 million murdered Poles, including half of the Polish intelligentsia. To the second group belonged most of the German Mischlinge, both Jewish and Polish forced laborers, and the bulk of the German-conquered Polish population (as a colony, and reservoir of slave labor). The third group included Jewish-German officials, the aforementioned Schutzjuden, some of the German Mischlinge, the aforementioned kidnapped Polish children, and those Poles of at least partial German ancestry judged susceptible to Germanization.

Typically, the Jewish victims of the Germans are, tokenism aside, exclusively featured in educational Holocaust materials. The chief argument adduced for this monopoly is the one about Jews being uniquely targeted for TOTAL extermination. This is shown to be manifestly incorrect. In fact, Rigg could also have mentioned other known Jews within easy grasp of the Nazis who were nevertheless not killed. These include Bulgaria's Jews, most of the Jews used for German forced labor, Allied-Jewish POWs of the Germans (who were mistreated but usually not murdered), and the Swedish and Swiss Jews whose host nations were not forced to turn them over to Nazi Germany, for execution, as a condition of their continued neutrality. It is high time that Holocaust education be changed to devote equal time to Jewish and non-Jewish victims of the Germans.

Brian Mark Rigg's "Hitlers Jewish Soldiers" brings a new dimension to Third Reich and Wehrmacht scholarship. The Third Reich of the movies is often portrayed as a seamless juggernaut brought down only because of Hitler's decision to fight a two-front war. The reality was far more complex. Nazi Germany was a hodgepodge of competing governmental, party and military bureaucracies with overlapping responsibilities, run by ambitious men with often disparate agendas. Thus it is not surprising that even in what the Nazis considered the unambiguous goal of the removal of Jews from German life, there arose contradictions, confusion and exceptions in the particulars of its implementation.

The 1935 Nuremburg Laws began the eclipse of Jewish existence in Germany. Casting a wide net, the Reich ascribed Jewish identity to some who were astonished at their inclusion. In defining as Mischlinge (mixed breeds)those Germans with one or two Jewish grandparents, many who had been raised Christian and considered themselves Aryans suddenly found themselves on society's scrapheap.

This affected the Wehrmacht in that serving officers and NCOs who were "full"`Jews and Mischlinge -- many who had served with distinction in World War I -- were ordered purged from the ranks. The 'lucky" one applied for and received -- from Hitler personally -- exemptions enabling them to continue serving, or in some cases declarations that they were "of German blood" and entitled to the rights of Aryans. A notable example is the retention of Luftwaffe General -- later Field Marshall -- Erhard Milch, the organizational wizard who helped prepare the air armaments industry for the coming war.

Although legally unable to serve in leadership positions, Mischlinge continued to be liable for conscription and served past the outbreak of the war. In 1940, party ideology trumped military necessity and they began to be removed from active service. Astonishingly, as many as 150,000 soldiers identified as Jews or Mischlinge served, many with great disntction and a few reaching general officer rank.

Using Extensive archival reserach and hundreds of personal interviews with Mischlinge, Author Rigg presents a lucidly written and fascinating account of their experiences. In his understanding of Third Reich institutions (Hitler's chancellery office, the interior ministry, armed forces and service high commands inter alia), we see puzzlement, frustration, arbitrariness and delay in implementing laws and directives as they pertained to these soldeirs. We also see individual advisors and decision makers whose inclination to help or hinder affected the careers and even survival of the Mischlinge.

We also see the situation from the soldiers' perspective: surprised and demoralized, but in the main still eager to serve, whether to prove their loyalty to Germany or protect their families. Rigg is at his best interweaving the intense personal experiences of the soldiers -- still vivid in the telling after fifty years -- with how their fate was being decided at institutional level. To the credit of the individual services, small units and commanders generally supported Mischlinge, many of whom had proven themselves to their comrades on the field of battle. Sadly, as the war progressed, protection became increasingly difficult.

"Hitler's Jewish Soldiers" is an immensely readable, informative contribution to an aspect of Third Reich history that is complex, little known, and fraught with emotion even now for those affected.

For anyone wishing to understand the confusion of Nazi Germany, this book by Rigg is a must read. The work is the end of a ten year project, one that began pretty much by happenstance as Rigg was working on a Yale University grad thesis. It wasn't long before he was on the trail of some important data. To learn that many in the Nazi ranks had Jewish blood is to sense the problem of identification. Who was and who was not worthy to fight for the Reich? As Rigg points out, there were many exceptions to the rule; even Hitler allowed some Jews into the ranks, especially when these were good soldiers. In many cases men were not aware of their Jewish roots and were culled from the ranks when their background became known. Some lied to stay in the forces; some were shot! Rigg's book gives additional insights as to the thinking that ran rampant in 1930's Germany.
The book includes a chapter in which he cites comments by a few German Jews who survived the war in the Nazi forces. "Why," he asked, "didn't you stand up for the right." One 75% Jewish officer said: "Ideology had made us inhuman." In addition to the text, the book includes over 100 pages of footnotes as well as an extensive bibiliography, a valuable tool for any student of WW-II.

I first learned about the previously unknown subject of Germans of Jewish descent when watching the author of this book being interviewed on NBC's Dateline. Bryan Mark Rigg examines an unexplored fact, that numerous soldiers in the German Wehrmacht during World War 2 were of partial Jewish descent and some earned the highest honors and decorations.

In fact the chief of staff of the 2nd SS Panzer Division 'Das Reich', Obersturmbannfuehrer (Lt Col) Peter Sommer was of partial Jewish descent and given the strict racial laws of the SS, this was highly unusual. In the German military, the divisional chief of staff was the de facto commander of the unit and Peter Sommer may have on occasions served as the actual divisional commander, which was the greatest irony of all, given the war record of Das Reich and some of its more controversial actions, especially in France in 1944.

An interesting aspect concerning German Jews is that many of them considered themselves completely assimilated in German life and those 'Mischlinge' (the German term for mixed race individuals-this is a perjorative term equivalent to'mongrel' or 'half breed') who served were unaware or unwilling to acknowledge the Holocaust until the end of the war. Many of these soldiers owed their survival to sympathetic officers and comrades who considered the German racial laws rightfully ridiculous. Some officers and enlisted personnel of so-called suspicious antecedents even received exemptions from Hitler himself declaring them Aryan and allowing them to serve.

An oddity in this book is a quote from Hermann Goering stating that he would protect Jews and indeed two important officers in the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) were half-Jewish: Helmut Wilberg, one of the most important strategists in the pre-war Luftwaffe and a putative commander of the Luftwaffe until his death in an accident in 1941 and Erhard Milch, who became Head of Production of the Luftwaffe and who ended up tried as a war criminal. Rigg notes that Goering's pragmatism outweighed any possible conflicts concerning Nazi racial laws as well as the possibility of Goering's Jewish descent. Rigg notes that Goering's family had Jewish ancestors and other references state that Goering's mother was the mistress of a Jewish nobleman in Imperial Germany and there may have been suspisions that the nobleman was Goering's actual father.

Despite the courage of the partial Jewish officers and men in this study (Rigg documents at least 10 winners of the Knight's Cross), their final fate had Germany won the war would have been the same as their Jewish relatives. In fact, by 1944 most Mischlinge were no longer serving in the military but as forced laborers.

An engrossing read and an important comtribution to Holocaust and World War 2 studies. Don't miss it!

When one considers the incalculable number of words written about World War II, it is astonishing that no one has tackled the subject of Jewish soldiers in the Wehrmacht before now. Bryan Mark Rigg breaks this new ground in a scholarly and exhaustive manner. Impressive research (much of it eye-witness interviews), copious endnotes, and a serious style give this book the credibility demanded by readers skeptical of its premise: men of Jewish ancestry served in the German Armed Forces (including the Waffen SS) by the tens of thousands.

The book is replete with fascinating historical esoterica such as Heydrich's possible Jewish ancestry, accounts of Goring protecting high-ranking Luftwaffe Mischlinge (partial Jews), and the role many individual partial Jews played in the German war machine. It also documents in detail the sometimes bureaucratic, sometimes pragmatic way that exemptions from the Nuremburg Laws were handed out.

Throughout Hitler's Jewish Soldiers the reader is repeatedly confronted with the absurdity of Nazi racial policy, as were high-ranking Nazis themselves. By 1933 Jews had become so integrated into German society that many citizens didn't realize they had Jewish blood in their ancestral past. Nazi researchers unearthed these skeletons so effectively that many patriotic Germans and even Party members were turned into outcasts and became a target of the German government instead of having their patriotism harnessed to help an increasingly hopeless war effort. Some Nazis recognized this, leading Himmler to his famous lament "each (German) has his decent Jew". Rigg's view however, is that while many Mischlinge escaped the full weight of Nazi racial policy during the war for pragmatic reasons, they would have faced an unfortunate fate after a German victory.

Perhaps the most compelling chapter is the final one. An examination of what Mischlinge knew about the Holocaust, Rigg demonstrates that generally speaking, they didn't understand what was going on in the extermination camps. Given that some of these people had had dozens of relatives deported, in retrospect that seems astounding. However most Mischlinge were fully integrated members of secular German culture and the idea of their own society exterminating them en masse was beyond their imagination. Since one would expect Jewish Germans to know more about the holocaust than Aryan Germans, this conclusion does seem to stand in contrast to that of Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioners.

Hitler's Jewish Soldier's is essential to fully understanding Nazi racial policy and its practical implementation. Bryan Mark Rigg has made an impressive debut and I look forward to his next work.

"Hitler's Jewish Soldiers" by Bryan Mark Rigg, is a unique World War II history. He has had access to government archives, private records, and personal interviews that most history buffs only dream about. Indeed, one must have a thorough background in the German National Socialist years and modern military history just to begin to appreciate the level of the research that went into the book.

Apart from the unique breadth and focus of Mr. Rigg's research, his book stands out for its fresh and intriguing perspective. The author explores the various reasons why men who appear to have nothing to gain and everything to lose might find themselves in the German military. Their reasons often included elements of patriotism, considerations of personal safety by hiding in plain sight, desire for personal or career advancement, the hope that a soldier's family might benefit from his loyal service, and a sense of duty instilled by previous military training before the Nazis came to power.

The Nazi German racial laws focused more on ancestry than choice of religion. There were significant numbers of Jews, half-Jews, and quarter-Jews in the German military. Although there were few Jews of pure ancestry, there were substantial numbers of the so-called mischlinge, or people of mixed heritage. Hitler's Jewish Soldiers analyzes the actions and motivations of people who could possess one of two extremely different points of view to explain what really went on in Germany in the Nazi era.

A truly unique case history that Mr. Rigg references in his book is Bernhard Rogge. Rogge began his naval career in the Kaiser's navy, served the Reichsmarine of the post WW1 republic, then Hitler's navy to reach the rank of vice admiral, after Germany fell Rogge worked managing with a shipping company, and finally he retired in the 1960's after serving as a vice admiral in the Bundesmarine. Rogge, as a quarter Jew married to a Jew was considered a full Jew under Nazi pronouncements. In 1939, his wife and mother in law, also Jewish, killed themselves to escape the persecution. Hitler gave Rogge an exemption from the Nazi racial laws. Hitler later personally awarded the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves to Rogge for his military accomplishments. Rogge served with humanitarian distinction in command of the auxiliary cruiser Atlantis, sinking or capturing 22 ships and remaining away from port for 655 days without any serious morale or discipline problems. Later in the war, his task group built around the Prinz Eugen supported the epic German evacuation in the Baltic Sea away from the Russian invasion in the east. Nobody will ever know how many German lives were saved. Certainly no Nazi, Rogge is just one example of a man of possessed of two heritages who is remembered for serving his country loyally and decently.

The most common analytical shortcut taken by modern historians is to write of groups of people. Since it requires the collective efforts of thousands, and perhaps millions, of people to wage a modern war, it seems quite reasonable to assume that groups of people acted in accordance with a common goal and a unanimous conviction in their ideals. Although it may make perfectly good sense to approach the history of war and politics as a study of the conflicts among races, religions, and nations, the resulting oversimplification dilutes and obscures the real lessons of history. By exploring the individual motivations of men whose backgrounds fit neatly into neither of two competing groups, Mr. Rigg actually examines the whole concept of why men participate in war.

It should be obvious that neither army in a conflict, and certainly no individual soldier, goes into battle with the intention of being remembered as the 'bad guy' in history. Unfortunately, modern writers frequently assume too many things and attribute commonly misunderstood purposes to the German soldiers, and such errors are the result of stereotyping. Many soldiers of Jewish heritage served with valor and were awarded Iron Crosses and Knights Crosses. Individual commanders often shielded Jews in their units. The political and military motivations of leaders and the men who followed them should be revealed so that future generations will actually learn from history. Mr. Rigg's book is a significant contribution to the analysis of an obscure and misunderstood issue.