World War I was ‘most Jewish of all wars,’ says author

          Journalist Richard Rubin dedicated a decade to capturing and telling the story of veterans of the First World War. In a quest that took him across the United States and France, he found and interviewed dozens of men and women, aged 103 to 113, who served in the war — among them two Jews, Stanley Lane and Samuel Goldberg.

          Their stories are told in Rubin’s book “The Last of the Doughboys: The Forgotten Generation and their Forgotten War” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). In telephone and email interviews, Rubin described the Jewish experience in World War I.

          Why do you say that World War I was “the most Jewish of all wars”?

          It was the first great multinational conflict where you had Jews represented in large numbers on both sides. The French, German, Austro-Hungarian, British, Russian and American armies all had thousands of Jews serving in their ranks. It’s almost certain that Jewish soldiers in one army killed Jewish soldiers in another. I can’t think of another war for which this was true.

          What roles did Jews play and did their roles differ from people of other ethnicities?

          Jews played exactly the same roles in combat as everyone else; this is another factor, I think, that makes this the most Jewish of all wars. The war was a force for assimilation and acceptance for Jews in all of those major combatants, with the possible exception of Russia.

          Were Jews able to continue their religious practices during the war?

          They were. All those armies (again, with the possible exception of Russia) commissioned many Jewish chaplains and sent them to the front with the troops — and again, to my knowledge, this was the first time in history such a thing was true.

          The American Expeditionary Forces, in particular, were very sensitive to the needs of Jewish soldiers in their ranks. The Jewish Welfare Board was created to minister to those needs. One of the things my grandfather saved from his service in WWI, and which I still have today, is a little mezuzah given to him by the JWB.

          General John J. Pershing was in charge of the construction of American military cemeteries in France after the war, and one decision that he made personally was that a certain percentage of unknown soldiers’ graves — a figure corresponding to their representation in the ranks while alive — be marked with stars of David instead of crosses. World War I was the only time in history when this was done; for World War II and afterward, all unknowns’ graves were marked with crosses.

          Do you have any anecdotes to share about individual Jews who were involved in the war?

          I have many, but I’ll just give you one: Sir John Monash, an Australian Jew, rose through the ranks to become commander of all Australian troops by the end of the war, and is widely considered by military historians to be the finest general in the entire British Expeditionary Force in WWI.

          Did you interview any Jews for your book?

          I interviewed two: Stanley Lane, who served with an artillery unit; and Samuel Goldberg, who served with the cavalry. Sam was one of the most colorful people I interviewed for the book — still feisty at 106, he was a great storyteller who had near-total recall.

          Was there a lasting impact on Jews after the war ended?

          Everywhere. At one end of the scale, there was the Third Reich, which was a direct result of the war, and the Treaty of Versailles. At the other end, in countries like Britain and America, where Jews had led somewhat marginalized lives before the war, they were now much more assimilated and accepted into the mainstream.

          Did Jews experience anti-Semitism while engaged in the war?

          To my knowledge, Jews did not face any institutional anti-Semitism in any of the allied nations’ armies (again, with the possible exception of Russia). I have read here and there that Jews were often passed over for officer commissions in the German army, but there were still plenty of Jewish officers in the German army; I know this because I have seen their graves in German military cemeteries in France.

          You said you discovered the name of a Jewish soldier on the wall of a tunnel, I believe. Can you tell about that?

          I spent some time exploring one of the old subterranean quarries at Chemin des Dames in France, where there was fighting throughout the war, particularly in 1917. At one time or another, the Germans, the French and the Americans took shelter in these mines, but the Germans spent the most time in them, and they left a lot of graffiti (as did the Americans).

          In this particular mine one of the first names I spotted on the wall that of a Musketier Cohn, with the dates 1915-1917. Herr Cohn even carved a niche in the wall above his name for a candle, and to this day visitors light candles in it. I wish I knew more about him.

          Stephanie Wagner is the vice president of communications and strategy for the Milwaukee Jewish Federation and a long-time friend of Richard Rubin.