As the World War I exhibit "Over Here: WWI and the Fight for the American Mind" in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building is just steps away from the Dorot Jewish Division, I wondered what in our collection would add to the story of World War I. What can we feature that supplements the wonderful display of American history shown in the exhibit?

I began looking at our collection to find materials that would attract a WWI history buff as well as anyone who casually passed through the exhibit. There is no single representation of early 1900s Jewish experience; Jewish soldiers served on both sides of the Great War. What I found most interesting was the mindset of Jewish soldiers fighting for Germany at the time. They fought to establish themselves and their identity as German Jews, fighting for a nation who would aim to eradicate their families in the decades to come. We see early signs of what was to come during the Great War, starting from the Judenzählung.

Judenzählung is German for "Jewish Census," which was conducted in October of 1916 by the German Military High Command. The purpose of it was to confirm the lack of patriotism of German Jews.

"In October 1916, when almost three thousand Jews had already died on the battlefield and more than seven thousand had been decorated, War Minister Wild von Hohenborn saw fit to sanction the growing prejudices. He ordered a "Jew census" in the army to determine the actual number of Jews on the front lines as opposed to those serving in the rear. Ignoring protests in the Reichstag and the press, he proceeded with his head count. The results were not made public, ostensibly to "spare Jewish feelings." The truth was that the census disproved the accusations: 80 percent served on the front lines." (Elon, Amos. The Pity of It All. pg. 338)

Many Jews at the time were striving to be accepted and sought to prove their patriotism by fighting for Germany on the front lines. Our collection also houses a book (in German) of all Jewish soldiers who died fighting for Germany during the Great War, "Die jüdischen Gefallenen des deutschen Heeres, der deutschen Marine und der deutschen Schutztruppen, 1914-1918."

While thousands of Jewish soldiers perished fighting for Germany, anti-semitism only grew after the war. In 1919, General Erich Ludendorff blamed the Berlin government and the civilian population for the German surrender in November 1918. He gave rise to the "stab-in-the-back" myth, blaming the republicans who overthrew the monarchy. Since many Jews supported the Weimar Republic and were thought to be unpatriotic due to previous claims by the Judenzählung, they became a natural scape goat. In response to accusations of the lack of patriotism, German Jewish veterans published this leaflet in 1920: