Language:
French
Year of publication:
2008
Titel der Quelle:
Revue d'Histoire de la Shoah
Angaben zur Quelle:
189 (2008) 359-372
Keywords:
Antisemitism History 20th century
;
World War, 1914-1918 Jews
;
World War, 1914-1918 Participation, Jewish
Abstract:
Discusses the census of Jews in the German army, carried out in 1916 on government orders, and its effect on antisemitism. The order was given in response to Catholic and popular antisemitic claims that the Jews controlled food distribution and profited from the war, while avoiding service at the front. Though never officially publicized, the results were widely distributed on the front and among army officials. Discusses Jewish reactions and government responses, which included warnings about misuse of the poll's results. After the war the theme of Jewish shirkers became a central argument in right-wing propaganda. Discusses an antisemitic booklet from 1919 by Otto Armin, a pseudonym for Arnold Roth, who claimed it was based on results of the census. Although the war minister confirmed Armin's statistics, Jewish scholars showed that his numbers were based on false premises. The total number of Jews in Germany mentioned in the book, 615,000, included 65,000 Austrian and Russian Jews, and the number of Jews at the front was 65,414, not 27,515, as Armin claimed. Experts appearing before a parliamentary commission dealing with the reasons for the German defeat also denounced the theory of Jewish shirkers, but the Right remained unconvinced. Concludes that the theory was utilized by Hitler and that World War I provided the Nazis with a whole set of arguments against the Jews.
Note:
Another version appeared in Tsafon, 67 (2014) 59-71.
URL:
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