Photo Courtesy of Jakub T. Jankiewicz's Flickr Page - V Piknik Kawaleryjski - Bliżyn - https://www.flickr.com/photos/jcubic/14055736714
Creative Commons License - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Here is a link to an article that I wrote earlier this week in the Guardian Liberty Voice. It is about a one-man play that I saw last week, on Thursday, about "mischlings", the derogatory term that Nazis used for mixed bloods or part-Jews, who served in the Germany Army during the days of the Holocaust. It was a topic that I had barely ever heard anything about prior to the play, with maybe the movie Europa, Europa being the once exception, and that seeming to be the one extraordinary exception in an otherwise seeming strict cleansing of Aryans versus Jews. Apparently not, though. Here is the article that I wrote about it:
The Holocaust’s Hidden Stories of Jews in German Army:
It is indeed a rather astonishing story.
Roger Grunwald, himself a child of parents that survived the Holocaust. He explained his family's own story, as his father managed to secure an escape from Nazi Germany in the 1930's to the Philippines, one of the few countries at that time that permitted entry for Jews looking to flee Germany. His mother, on the other hand, was not as lucky, and stayed in Germany, eventually being sent to Auschwitz, although she managed to survive.
His aunt also survived after a stay at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and that was part of his legacy growing up as a rare child where both parents (as well as the aunt) had improbably managed to survive the Holocaust. It had understandably been a source of fascination for him throughout his life, although at one particular time in 2009, he had gone to visit to visit his aunt in order to discuss her experiences during the Holocaust. His mother had died years before, back in 2001, and urged him to do something to make sure people remembered the Holocaust, and he had been wrestling with ideas on how to do this since.
But his aunt gave him the present of a unique book on the subject by Bryan Mark Rigg, Hitler's Jewish Soldiers, which documented many of these cases of part-Jews serving in the Nazi German Army during the days of the Third Reich and the Holocaust.
He considered himself well-read generally, and particularly on the subject of the Holocaust, but he had to admit that he had never heard of this particular chapter in history. But he was moved enough to learn more and, eventually, this became the topic of his one-man play.
The most famous example is Field Marshall Erhard Milch, a first-degree Mischling. His father was Jewish, so technically, under the infamous Nazi Nuremberg Laws, he would be considered a Jew. But Hermann Göring personally interceded on his behalf, essentially saying that it was up to him to determine who was Jewish, and who was not.
Milch was probably the highest ranking and most famous example of a "mischling," although he is far from being the only one.
This is truly a fascinating, yet little known, aspect of World War II history, one that deserves to be explored further.
Please take a look at my article with the Guardian Liberty Voice, which elaborates a bit further on the one-man show by Grunwald, as well as a couple of fascinating stories in brief about a few of these men. Here again, is the link:
The Holocaust’s Hidden Stories of Jews in German Army:
Source: http://www.holocaust.cz/images/events/nuernberger_gesetze.jpg
I got the image from:
This was the description that Wikepedia had for the image -
The diagram shows the pseudo-scientific racial division, which was the basis of racial policies of Nazi Germany. Only people with four German grandparents (four white circles – leftmost column) were considered to be "full-blooded" Germans. German nationals with three or four Jewish ancestors (at rightmost) were considered Jews according to the Nuremberg laws. The center column shows the Mischling grade, either 1 or 2, depending on the number of one's Jewish ancestors. All Jewish grandparents were automatically defined as members of the Jewish religious community (regardless of whether they actually identified their religion as such.)… Reichsauschuss für Volksgesundheitsdienst (German government agency)
Creative Commons License - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Here is a link to an article that I wrote earlier this week in the Guardian Liberty Voice. It is about a one-man play that I saw last week, on Thursday, about "mischlings", the derogatory term that Nazis used for mixed bloods or part-Jews, who served in the Germany Army during the days of the Holocaust. It was a topic that I had barely ever heard anything about prior to the play, with maybe the movie Europa, Europa being the once exception, and that seeming to be the one extraordinary exception in an otherwise seeming strict cleansing of Aryans versus Jews. Apparently not, though. Here is the article that I wrote about it:
The Holocaust’s Hidden Stories of Jews in German Army:
It is indeed a rather astonishing story.
Roger Grunwald, himself a child of parents that survived the Holocaust. He explained his family's own story, as his father managed to secure an escape from Nazi Germany in the 1930's to the Philippines, one of the few countries at that time that permitted entry for Jews looking to flee Germany. His mother, on the other hand, was not as lucky, and stayed in Germany, eventually being sent to Auschwitz, although she managed to survive.
His aunt also survived after a stay at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and that was part of his legacy growing up as a rare child where both parents (as well as the aunt) had improbably managed to survive the Holocaust. It had understandably been a source of fascination for him throughout his life, although at one particular time in 2009, he had gone to visit to visit his aunt in order to discuss her experiences during the Holocaust. His mother had died years before, back in 2001, and urged him to do something to make sure people remembered the Holocaust, and he had been wrestling with ideas on how to do this since.
But his aunt gave him the present of a unique book on the subject by Bryan Mark Rigg, Hitler's Jewish Soldiers, which documented many of these cases of part-Jews serving in the Nazi German Army during the days of the Third Reich and the Holocaust.
He considered himself well-read generally, and particularly on the subject of the Holocaust, but he had to admit that he had never heard of this particular chapter in history. But he was moved enough to learn more and, eventually, this became the topic of his one-man play.
The most famous example is Field Marshall Erhard Milch, a first-degree Mischling. His father was Jewish, so technically, under the infamous Nazi Nuremberg Laws, he would be considered a Jew. But Hermann Göring personally interceded on his behalf, essentially saying that it was up to him to determine who was Jewish, and who was not.
Milch was probably the highest ranking and most famous example of a "mischling," although he is far from being the only one.
This is truly a fascinating, yet little known, aspect of World War II history, one that deserves to be explored further.
Please take a look at my article with the Guardian Liberty Voice, which elaborates a bit further on the one-man show by Grunwald, as well as a couple of fascinating stories in brief about a few of these men. Here again, is the link:
The Holocaust’s Hidden Stories of Jews in German Army:
http://guardianlv.com/2015/05/the-holocausts-hidden-stories-of-jews-in-german-army/
If you see that Grunwald is coming around to your neck of the woods (I found out about it only because I am a subscriber to Eternal Flame), then consider attending the show to gain a unique perspective on this topic. Or pick up a copy of Bryan Mark Rigg's Hitler's Jewish Soldiers. Admittedly, I did not pick up a copy at the show, although I do intend to get a copy and read it eventually (promise). Of course, if you go to one of these plays, you can pick up your own copy, and try to be prepared to ask Mr. Grunwald a question. I actually had one (in two parts, actually), but he never saw my hand up in the air, evidently.
In any case, I also thought it would be a little more complete to add the following diagram that shows how the official Nazi definition of a Jew worked, with one or two grandparents being Jewish not enough to classify one as a Jew, whereas three or more definitely made you a Jew:
If you see that Grunwald is coming around to your neck of the woods (I found out about it only because I am a subscriber to Eternal Flame), then consider attending the show to gain a unique perspective on this topic. Or pick up a copy of Bryan Mark Rigg's Hitler's Jewish Soldiers. Admittedly, I did not pick up a copy at the show, although I do intend to get a copy and read it eventually (promise). Of course, if you go to one of these plays, you can pick up your own copy, and try to be prepared to ask Mr. Grunwald a question. I actually had one (in two parts, actually), but he never saw my hand up in the air, evidently.
In any case, I also thought it would be a little more complete to add the following diagram that shows how the official Nazi definition of a Jew worked, with one or two grandparents being Jewish not enough to classify one as a Jew, whereas three or more definitely made you a Jew:
Source: http://www.holocaust.cz/images/events/nuernberger_gesetze.jpg
I got the image from:
This was the description that Wikepedia had for the image -
The diagram shows the pseudo-scientific racial division, which was the basis of racial policies of Nazi Germany. Only people with four German grandparents (four white circles – leftmost column) were considered to be "full-blooded" Germans. German nationals with three or four Jewish ancestors (at rightmost) were considered Jews according to the Nuremberg laws. The center column shows the Mischling grade, either 1 or 2, depending on the number of one's Jewish ancestors. All Jewish grandparents were automatically defined as members of the Jewish religious community (regardless of whether they actually identified their religion as such.)… Reichsauschuss für Volksgesundheitsdienst (German government agency)
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