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Tuesday, January 24, 2006
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WORLD WARS
In World War I (1914-1918), Jews fought in nearly every army and on all fronts.
In Germany, more than 100,000 Jews served. Of the 80,000 who fought on the
frontline, 12,000 died for the “German fatherland,” and 35,000 were decorated
for bravery.
In World War II (1939-1945), Jews fought only in the Allied armies.
More than 500,000 Jewish soldiers and officers served in the US Armed Forces. In
the Russian Red Army, nearly half of the 450,000 Jewish soldiers were killed in
battle.
Beginning in 1940 in France, the Armée Juive (Jewish Army) fought the
occupying Nazi forces, while the “Jewish Brigade” fought in the British Army.
For Jews, association with World War II is primarily with the Holocaust— the
systematic genocide of 6 million Jews, 1.5 million of whom were children. The
total figure represented one-third of the world’s Jewish population at that
time.
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