German military authorities through the Foreign Political Office of the National Socialist offices, announce that henceforth there will be no Jews in the German Army.
“Even in the event of war, I feel certain that we shall not call upon Jews to help defend Germany,” Dr. Hartmann of the foreign political office declared.
According to Dr. Hartmann, Jews in the Reichswehr, or national army, are as scarce as those in the Hitlerite stormtroop ranks.
“Jews are neither adaptable to army life nor do they like the stringent disciplinary nor non-profitable aspects of that occupation,” he explained. “So far as our records indicate, there is not a Jew in either the army or navy. The few Jews who were in the service at the time of our Leader’s ascension to power have been given ample opportunity to resign. Apparently they have taken advantage of it.”
Dr. Hartmann said that in the history of the German military forces, Jews have never numbered more than one percent of the total force. This figure is not below the proportion of all the Jews in Germany to the rest of the population.
Asked whether the government did not recognize the fact that 12,000 German-Jewish soldiers who died in the war did not merit some consideration, Dr. Hartmann said: “They are getting consideration. Their parents are not being put out of public office.”
The high Jewish soldier mortality during the war, as great or greater than that of “Aryan” soldiers, was attributed to Jewish inability to “take care of themselves.”
When an instance in which a German-Jewish doctor was ousted from his profession because two of his four years at the front were spent in a hospital where he suffered from severe gas and shrapnel wounds was cited, Dr. Hartmann said he knew nothing of such matters. He said it is possible that such long convalescence periods might be deducted from time spent at the front. He would not discuss the dismissal of many court and medical officials who met with the requirements as “front kampfers” or those who held office before August, 1915.
The Nazi foreign office refused to estimate the number of Nazi stormtroops in existence. The number, generally admitted to be 700,000, is popularly believed to be far in excess of this. When asked whether the total had mounted to 2,000,000, Dr. Hartmann declared it was “much less.”
Jews may still belong to the Stahl-helm organization of world war veterans; but practically all old officers of the organization have either resigned or been ousted from their posts.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
