Jewish soldiers of Hitler. Is it true that Hitler's army was the largest and strongest in the history of mankind?

For some reason, it is believed that in June 1941, no less than 5 million Wehrmacht soldiers crossed the border with the USSR. This common myth is easily refuted.

The strength of the Wehrmacht in June 1941 reached:

7,234 thousand people (Müller-Gillebrandt) including:

1. active army – 3.8 million people

2. Reserve Army – 1.2 million people

3 . air force – 1.68 million people

4. SS troops – 0.15 million people

Explanation:

The reserve army of 1.2 million people did not participate in the aggression against the USSR. It was intended for military districts in Germany itself.

Hivi civilians were taken into account in the total number indicated above. At the beginning of the Second World War, they did not actively participate in battles.

WHERE WERE THE WEHRMACHT TROOPS?

The Wehrmacht in June 1941 had about 700,000 soldiers in France, Belgium and Holland, in case the Allies landed.

In the rest of the occupation zones—Norway, Austria, Czechoslovakia, the Balkans, Crete, and Poland—nothing less than 1,000,000 soldiers were taken away from the Wehrmacht.

Riots and uprisings broke out regularly and a large number of Wehrmacht troops in the occupied territories were needed to maintain order.

The African corps of General Rommel had about 100,000 people. The total number of Wehrmat troops in the Middle East region reached 300,000 people.

HOW MANY WERMATE SOLDIERS CROSSED THE BORDER FROM THE USSR?

Müller-Hillebrandt, in his book German Land Army 1933-1945, gives the following figures for forces in the East:

1. In army groups (i.e. "North", "Center", "South" - ed. note) - 120.16 divisions - 76 infantry, 13.16 motorized, 17 tank, 9 security, 1 cavalry, 4 light , 1 mountain rifle division - the "tail" in 0.16 divisions arose due to the presence of formations that were not reduced in the division.

2. At the disposal of the OKH behind the front of the army groups - 14 divisions. (12 infantry, 1 mountain rifle and 1 police)

3. In the reserve of the Civil Code - 14 divisions. (11 infantry, 1 motorized and 2 tank)

4. In Finland - 3 divisions (2 mountain rifle, 1 motorized, 1 more infantry arrived at the end of June, but we will not count it)

And in total - 152.16 divisions, out of 208 divisions formed by the Wehrmacht. They include 99 infantry, 15.16 motorized, 19 tank, 4 light, 4 mountain rifle, 9 security, 1 police and 1 cavalry divisions, including SS divisions.

The real army

According to Muller-Gilebrandt, out of 3.8 million active army, 3.3 million people were concentrated for operations in the East.

If you look into Halder's "War Diary", we find that he defines the total number of the active army as 2.5 million people.

In fact, the figures of 3.3 million people. and 2,5 million people do not strongly contradict each other, since in addition to the actual divisions in the Wehrmacht (as in any other army) there were a sufficient number of units listed in the active army but essentially non-combat (builders, military doctors, etc., etc. ).

3.3 million Muller-Gillebrandt include both combat and non-combat units, and 2.5 million people. Halder - only combat units. So we will not be much mistaken in assuming the number of combat units of the Wehrmacht and the SS on the eastern front at the level of 2.5 million people.

Halder determined the number of combat units that in June could participate in hostilities against the USSR at 2.5 million people.

Echeloned formation

Before the attack on the USSR, the German army had a clearly defined echelon formation.

The first, strike echelon - army groups "North", "Center" "South" - included 120 divisions, incl. 3.5 SS motorized divisions.

The second echelon - so to speak, the operational reserve - was located directly behind the fronts of the army groups and consisted of 14 divisions.

The third echelon is the reserve of the main command, also consisting of 14 divisions.

That is, the attack went in three streams.

ALLIES OF THE WEHRMACHT

Most of them entered the war later than Germany and their participation at the very beginning was limited to only a few divisions.

Later, in 42-43, the number of the allied contingent reached 800,000 people.

Most of the allied troops were on the eastern front in 1943

RESULTS

In June 1941, 2.5 million soldiers crossed the border with the USSR. They were opposed by 1.8 million soldiers of the Red Army.

Directive No. 1 only supplemented the order to bring the troops to full combat readiness ... but the generals sabotaged it.

On June 20, they sent most of the flight squadrons on vacation, and on June 21, and most of the combat units - on "weekends", with festivities, etc.

In aviation, tanks and other weapons, the Red Army was many times superior to the Wehrmacht.

The myth of the overwhelming superiority of the Wehrmacht can be considered destroyed.

In the absence of a land front in Europe, the German leadership decided to defeat the Soviet Union during a short-term campaign in the summer and autumn of 1941. To achieve this goal, the most combat-ready unit of the German armed forces 1 was deployed on the border with the USSR.

Wehrmacht

For Operation Barbarossa, out of the 4 headquarters of army groups available in the Wehrmacht, 3 were deployed ("North", "Center" and "South") (75%), out of 13 headquarters of field armies - 8 (61.5%), out of 46 headquarters of army corps - 34 (73.9%), out of 12 motorized corps - 11 (91.7%). In total, 73.5% of the total number of divisions available in the Wehrmacht was allocated for the Eastern Campaign. Most of the troops had combat experience gained in previous military campaigns. So, out of 155 divisions in military operations in Europe in 1939-1941. 127 (81.9%) participated, and the remaining 28 were partially manned by personnel who also had combat experience. In any case, these were the most combat-ready units of the Wehrmacht (see table 1). The German Air Force deployed 60.8% of the flying units, 16.9% of the air defense troops and over 48% of the signal troops and other units to support Operation Barbarossa.

German satellites

Together with Germany, its allies were preparing for a war with the USSR: Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Italy, who allocated the following forces for waging war (see table 2). In addition, Croatia provided 56 aircraft and up to 1.6 thousand people. By June 22, 1941, there were no Slovak and Italian troops on the border, who arrived later. Consequently, there were 767,100 men, 37 calculated divisions, 5,502 guns and mortars, 306 tanks, and 886 aircraft in the German allied troops deployed there.

In total, the forces of Germany and its allies on the Eastern Front numbered 4,329.5 thousand people, 166 settlement divisions, 42,601 guns and mortars, 4,364 tanks, assault and self-propelled guns and 4,795 aircraft (of which 51 were at the disposal of the Air Force High Command and together with 8.5 thousand people of the Air Force personnel are not taken into account in further calculations).

Red Army

Under the conditions of the outbreak of war in Europe, the armed forces of the Soviet Union continued to increase, and by the summer of 1941 they were the largest army in the world (see Table 3). In the five western border districts, 56.1% of the ground forces and 59.6% of the air force were stationed. In addition, since May 1941, the concentration of 70 divisions of the second strategic echelon from the internal military districts and from the Far East began in the Western Theater of Operations (TVD). By June 22, 16 divisions (10 rifle, 4 tank and 2 motorized) arrived in the western districts, in which there were 201,691 people, 2,746 guns and 1,763 tanks.

The grouping of Soviet troops in the Western theater of operations was quite powerful. The general balance of forces by the morning of June 22, 1941 is presented in Table 4, judging by the data of which the enemy outnumbered the Red Army only in terms of the number of personnel, because his troops were mobilized.

Mandatory clarifications

Although the above data gives a general idea of the strength of the opposing factions, it should be borne in mind that the Wehrmacht completed the strategic concentration and deployment in the theater, while in the Red Army this process was in full swing. How figuratively described this situation A.V. Shubin, "a dense body was moving from the West to the East at high speed. From the East, a more massive, but looser block was slowly moving forward, the mass of which was growing, but not at a fast enough pace" 2 . Therefore, the correlation of forces at two more levels should be considered. Firstly, this is the balance of forces of the parties in various strategic directions on the scale of the district (front) - army group, and secondly, on individual operational directions in the border zone on the scale of the army - army. At the same time, in the first case, only the ground forces and the Air Force are taken into account, and for the Soviet side, the border troops, artillery and aviation of the Navy are also taken into account, but without information on the personnel of the fleet and internal troops of the NKVD. In the second case, only ground forces are taken into account for both sides.

Northwest

In the North-West direction, the troops of the German Army Group "North" and the Baltic Special Military District (PribOVO) opposed each other. The Wehrmacht had a rather significant superiority in manpower and some in artillery, but was inferior in tanks and aircraft. However, it should be borne in mind that only 8 Soviet divisions were located directly in the 50 km border strip, and another 10 were located 50-100 km from the border. As a result, in the direction of the main attack, the troops of the Army Group "North" managed to achieve a more favorable balance of forces (see Table 5).

Western direction

In the Western direction, the troops of the German Army Group Center and the Western Special Military District (ZapOVO) with part of the forces of the 11th Army of PribOVO confronted each other. For the German command, this direction was the main one in Operation Barbarossa, and therefore Army Group Center was the strongest on the entire front. 40% of all German divisions deployed from the Barents to the Black Sea (including 50% motorized and 52.9% tank) and the largest air fleet of the Luftwaffe (43.8% aircraft) were concentrated here. Only 15 Soviet divisions were located in the offensive zone of Army Group Center in the immediate vicinity of the border, and 14 were located 50-100 km from it. In addition, troops of the 22nd Army from the Ural Military District were concentrated on the territory of the district in the Polotsk region, from which, by June 22, 1941, 3 rifle divisions arrived at the place, and the 21st mechanized corps from the Moscow Military District - with a total number of 72,016 people, 1241 guns and mortars and 692 tanks. As a result, the troops of the ZAPOVO, contained in peacetime states, were inferior to the enemy only in personnel, but surpassed him in tanks, aircraft, and slightly in artillery. However, unlike the troops of Army Group Center, they did not complete their concentration, which made it possible to smash them piece by piece.

Army Group Center was supposed to carry out a double envelopment of the ZapOVO troops located in the Bialystok ledge, with a blow from Suwalki and Brest to Minsk, so the main forces of the army group were deployed on the flanks. From the south (from Brest) the main blow was delivered. On the northern flank (Suwalki) the 3rd Panzer Group of the Wehrmacht was deployed, which was opposed by units of the 11th Army of PribOVO. Troops of the 43rd Army Corps of the 4th German Army and the 2nd Panzer Group were deployed in the zone of the Soviet 4th Army. In these areas, the enemy was able to achieve significant superiority (see table 6).

Southwest

In the South-Western direction, Army Group South, which united German, Romanian, Hungarian and Croatian troops, was opposed by parts of the Kyiv Special and Odessa Military Districts (KOVO and OdVO). The Soviet grouping in the South-Western direction was the strongest on the entire front, since it was she who was supposed to deliver the main blow to the enemy. However, even here the Soviet troops did not complete their concentration and deployment. So, in KOVO in the immediate vicinity of the border there were only 16 divisions, and 14 were located 50-100 km from it. In the OdVO, there were 9 divisions in the 50-km border zone, and 6 were located in the 50-100-km zone. In addition, troops of the 16th and 19th armies arrived on the territory of the districts, from which by June 22 concentrated 10 divisions (7 rifle, 2 tank and 1 motorized) with a total number of 129,675 people, 1505 guns and mortars and 1071 tanks. Even without being staffed according to the wartime staff, the Soviet troops outnumbered the enemy grouping, which had only some superiority in manpower, but was significantly inferior in tanks, aircraft, and somewhat less in artillery. But on the direction of the main attack of Army Group South, where the Soviet 5th Army was opposed by units of the 6th German Army and the 1st Panzer Group, the enemy managed to achieve a better balance of forces for himself (see Table 7).

The situation in the North

The most favorable for the Red Army was the ratio on the front of the Leningrad Military District (LVO), where it was opposed by Finnish troops and units of the German army "Norway". In the Far North, the troops of the Soviet 14th Army were opposed by the German units of the mountain infantry corps "Norway" and the 36th Army Corps, and here the enemy had superiority in manpower and insignificant in artillery (see Table 8). True, it should be borne in mind that, since hostilities on the Soviet-Finnish border began in late June - early July 1941, both sides were building up their forces, and the data given do not reflect the number of troops of the parties by the start of hostilities.

Results

Thus, the German command, having deployed the bulk of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front, was unable to achieve overwhelming superiority not only in the zone of the entire future front, but also in the zones of individual army groups. However, the Red Army was not mobilized and did not complete the process of strategic concentration and deployment. As a result, units of the first echelon of covering troops were significantly inferior to the enemy, whose troops were deployed directly at the border. Such an arrangement of Soviet troops made it possible to smash them piece by piece. On the directions of the main attacks of the army groups, the German command managed to create superiority over the troops of the Red Army, which was close to overwhelming. The most favorable balance of forces developed for the Wehrmacht in the zone of Army Group Center, since it was in this direction that the main blow of the entire Eastern campaign was dealt. In other directions, even in the bands of the covering armies, the Soviet superiority in tanks affected. The overall balance of forces allowed the Soviet command to prevent the enemy's superiority even in the directions of his main attacks. But in reality the opposite happened.

Since the Soviet military and political leadership did not correctly assess the degree of threat of a German attack, the Red Army, having begun in May 1941 the strategic concentration and deployment in the Western theater of operations, which was to be completed by July 15, 1941, was taken by surprise on June 22 and did not had neither offensive nor defensive groupings. Soviet troops were not mobilized, did not have deployed rear structures, and were only completing the creation of command and control bodies in the theater of operations. On the front from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathians, out of 77 divisions of the Red Army covering forces in the first hours of the war, only 38 incompletely mobilized divisions could repulse the enemy, of which only a few managed to take up equipped positions on the border. The rest of the troops were either in places of permanent deployment, or in camps, or on the march. If, however, we take into account that the enemy immediately threw 103 divisions into the offensive, it is clear that an organized entry into the battle and the creation of a solid front of Soviet troops was extremely difficult. By preempting the Soviet troops in strategic deployment, by creating powerful operational groupings of their fully combat-ready forces in the chosen directions of the main attack, the German command created favorable conditions for seizing the strategic initiative and successfully conducting the first offensive operations.

Notes
1. For more details, see: Meltyukhov M.I. Stalin's missed chance. Scramble for Europe 1939-1941 (Documents, facts, judgments). 3rd ed., corrected. and additional M., 2008. S. 354-363.
2. Shubin A.V. The world is on the edge of the abyss. From global crisis to world war. 1929-1941. M., 2004. S. 496.

150 thousand soldiers and officers of the army, air force and navy could be repatriated to Israel, according to the Law of Return. This suggests that in almost every Jewish family in Germany in the 40s, someone fought on the side of the Nazis ...

In the photo: Wehrmacht private Anton Mayer

Rigg's raids

He crossed Germany on a bicycle, sometimes doing 100 kilometers a day. For months, he lived on cheap jam sandwiches and peanut butter, slept in a sleeping bag near provincial train stations. Then, there were raids in Sweden, Canada, Turkey and Israel. The search trips lasted for six years, in the company of a video camera and a portable computer. In the summer of 2002, the world saw the fruits of this devotion: 30-year-old Brian Mark Rigg published his final work, Hitler's Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and People of Jewish Origin in the German Army.

Brian, an evangelical Christian (like President Bush), from a Texas Bible Belt working family, an Israel Defense Forces volunteer soldier and a US Marine Corps officer, suddenly became interested in his past. Why, one of his ancestors served in the Wehrmacht, and the other died in Auschwitz?

Behind Rigg was studying at Yale University, a grant from Cambridge, 400 interviews with Wehrmacht veterans, 500 hours of video evidence, 3,000 photographs and 30,000 pages of memoirs of Nazi soldiers and officers - those people whose Jewish roots allow them to repatriate to Israel even tomorrow. Rigg's calculations and conclusions sound quite sensational: in the German army, on the fronts of World War II, up to 150 thousand soldiers who had Jewish parents or grandparents fought.

The term "mishlinge" in the Reich called people born from mixed marriages of Aryans with non-Aryans. The racial laws of 1935 distinguished between "Mischlinge" of the first degree (one of the parents is Jewish) and the second degree (grandparents are Jewish).

Despite the legal "corruption" of people with Jewish genes, and despite the crackling propaganda, tens of thousands of "Mischlings" lived quietly under the Nazis. They were called up in the usual way to the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine, becoming not only soldiers, but also part of the generals, at the level of commanders of regiments, divisions and armies. Hundreds of Mischlings were awarded Iron Crosses for bravery. Twenty soldiers and officers of Jewish origin were awarded the highest military award of the Third Reich - the Knight's Cross.

Wehrmacht veterans complained to Rigg that the authorities were reluctant to introduce them to the orders and pulled with promotion in rank, mindful of their Jewish ancestors (there was a similar “clamp” of Jewish front-line soldiers in the Soviet army).

fate

The revealed life stories might seem fantastic, but they are real and documented. So, an 82-year-old resident of the north of Germany, a believing Jew, served in the war as a Wehrmacht captain, secretly observing Jewish rituals in the field.

For a long time, the Nazi press placed on their covers a photograph of a blue-eyed blond in a helmet. Under the picture was written: "The ideal German soldier." This Aryan ideal was the Wehrmacht fighter Werner Goldberg (with a Jewish dad).

Wehrmacht Major Robert Borchardt received the Knight's Cross for the tank breakthrough of the Russian front in August 1941. Then, Robert was sent to Rommel's African Corps. Near El Alamein, Borchardt was captured by the British. In 1944, the prisoner of war was allowed to come to England to be reunited with his Jewish father. In 1946, Robert returned to Germany, telling his Jewish dad: "Someone must rebuild our country."

In 1983, shortly before his death, Borchardt told German schoolchildren: "Many Jews and half-Jews who fought for Germany in World War II believed that they should honestly defend their fatherland by serving in the army."

Colonel Walter Hollander, whose mother was Jewish, received Hitler's personal charter, in which the Fuhrer certified the Aryan identity of this Halachic Jew. The same certificates of "German blood" were signed by Hitler for dozens of high-ranking officers of Jewish origin. Hollander, during the war years, was awarded the Iron Crosses of both degrees and a rare distinction - the Golden German Cross. Hollander received the Knight's Cross in July 1943, when his anti-tank brigade destroyed 21 Soviet tanks in one battle on the Kursk Bulge. Walter was given leave; he went to the Reich via Warsaw. It was there that he was shocked by the sight of the destroyed Jewish ghetto. Hollander returned to the front spiritually broken; personnel officers entered in his personal file - "too independent and little controllable", hacking his promotion to the rank of general. In October 1944, Walter was taken prisoner and spent 12 years in Stalin's camps. He died in 1972 in Germany.

The story of the rescue of Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef Yitzhak Schneersohn from Warsaw in the autumn of 1939 is full of secrets. Chabad in the United States turned to Secretary of State Cordell Hull for help. The State Department agreed with Admiral Canaris, the head of military intelligence (Abwehr), on Schneerson's free passage through the Reich to neutral Holland. The Abwehr and the Rebbe found a common language: German intelligence officers did everything to keep America from entering the war, and the Rebbe used a unique chance to survive. Only recently it became known that the Abwehr Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Ernst Bloch, the son of a Jew, led the operation to evacuate the Lubavitcher Rebbe from occupied Poland.

Bloch defended the Rebbe from the attacks of the German soldiers accompanying him. This officer himself was "covered" by a reliable document: "I, Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer of the German nation, hereby confirm that Ernst Bloch is of special German blood." True, in February 1945, this paper did not prevent Bloch from being dismissed. It is interesting to note that his namesake, a Jew, Dr. Eduard Bloch, in 1940 personally received permission from the Führer to leave for the United States: he was a doctor from Linz who treated Hitler's mother and Adolf himself in his childhood.

Who were the "Mischlings" of the Wehrmacht - victims of anti-Semitic persecution or accomplices of the executioners?

Life often put them in absurd situations. One soldier with an Iron Cross on his chest came from the front to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp to ... visit his Jewish father there. The SS officer was shocked by this guest: "If it were not for the award on your uniform, you would have quickly ended up in the same place where your father is."

Another story was told by a 76-year-old resident of Germany, 100% Jewish: in 1940 he managed to escape from occupied France using forged documents. Under a new German name, he was drafted into the Waffen-SS - selected combat units. “If I served in the German army, and my mother died in Auschwitz, then who am I - a victim or one of the persecutors? The Germans, feeling guilty for what they have done, do not want to hear about us. The Jewish community also turns its back on people like me, because our stories contradict everything that is used to be considered the Holocaust.

List of 77s

In January 1944, the personnel department of the Wehrmacht prepared a secret list of 77 high-ranking officers and generals "mixed with the Jewish race or married to Jewish women." All 77 had Hitler's personal certificates of "German blood". Among those listed are 23 colonels, 5 major generals, 8 lieutenant generals and two full army generals. Today, Brian Rigg states: "To this list, one can add another 60 names of senior officers and generals of the Wehrmacht, aviation and navy, including two field marshals."

In 1940, all officers who had two Jewish grandparents were ordered to leave military service. Those who were “stained” with Jewishness only by one of their grandfathers could remain in the army in ordinary positions. The reality was different - these orders were not executed. Therefore, they were repeated to no avail in 1942, 1943 and 1944.

There were frequent cases when German soldiers, driven by the laws of the "front-line brotherhood", hid "their Jews", not giving them to the party and punitive bodies. Such scenes of the 1941 model could well have taken place: a German company hiding “their Jews” captures Red Army soldiers, who, in turn, hand over “their Jews” and commissars for reprisals.

Former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt, an officer in the Luftwaffe and the grandson of a Jew, testifies: “Only in my air unit there were 15-20 guys like me. I am convinced that Rigg's deep immersion in the problems of German soldiers of Jewish origin will open up new perspectives in the study of the military history of Germany in the 20th century.

Rigg single-handedly documented 1,200 examples of mischlinge service in the Wehrmacht - soldiers and officers with the closest Jewish ancestors. A thousand of these front-line soldiers had 2,300 Jewish relatives killed - nephews, aunts, uncles, grandfathers, grandmothers, mothers and fathers.

One of the most sinister figures of the Nazi regime could add to the "list of 77". Reinhard Heydrich, the Fuhrer's favorite and head of the RSHA, who controls the Gestapo, criminal police, intelligence, counterintelligence, fought rumors of Jewish origin all his (fortunately short) life. Reinhard was born in Leipzig (1904), the son of a conservatory director. Family history says that his grandmother married a Jew shortly after the birth of the father of the future chief of the RSHA. As a child, older boys often beat Reinhard, calling him a Jew (by the way, Eichmann was teased at school as a “little Jew”), at the age of 16 he joins the chauvinist Freikorps organization to dispel rumors about a Jewish grandfather.

In the mid-1920s, Heydrich served as a cadet on the Berlin training ship, where the future Admiral Canaris was the captain. Reinhard meets his wife Erica, arranges Haydn and Mozart's home violin concertos with her. But in 1931, Heydrich was dismissed from the army in disgrace for violating the code of officer honor (seducing the infant daughter of the ship's commander). Heydrich ascends the Nazi ladder. The youngest SS Obergruppenführer (a rank equal to an army general) is intriguing against his former benefactor Canaris, trying to subdue the Abwehr. Canaris's answer is simple: the admiral, at the end of 1941, hides photocopies of documents about Heydrich's Jewish origin in his safe.

It was the chief of the RSHA who held the Wannsee Conference in January 1942 to discuss the "final solution of the Jewish question." Heydrich's report clearly states that the grandchildren of a Jew are treated as Germans and are not subject to repression. One day, returning home drunk to smithereens at night, Heydrich turns on the light in the room. Reinhard suddenly sees his own image in the mirror and shoots him twice with a pistol, shouting to himself, "Disgusting Jew!"

Air Field Marshal Erhard Milch can be considered a classic example of a "hidden Jew" in the elite of the Third Reich. His father was a Jewish pharmacist. Due to his Jewish origin, Erhard was not accepted into the Kaiser military schools, but the outbreak of the First World War gave him access to aviation, Milch got into the division of the famous Richthoffen, met the young ace Goering and distinguished himself at the headquarters, although he did not fly on airplanes.

In 1920, Junkers provided patronage to Milch, promoting the former front-line soldier in his concern. In 1929, Milch became the general director of Lufthansa, the national air carrier. The wind was already blowing in the direction of the Nazis, and Erhard provided free Lufthansa aircraft for the leaders of the NSDAP. This service is unforgettable. Having come to power, the Nazis declare that Milch's mother did not have sex with her Jewish husband, and Erhard's true father is Baron von Beer. Goering laughed for a long time about this: “Yes, we made Milch a bastard, but an aristocratic bastard!” Another aphorism of Goering about Milch: “In my headquarters, I myself will decide who is a Jew and who is not!”

Field Marshal Milch actually headed the Luftwaffe on the eve and during the war, replacing Goering. It was Milch who supervised the creation of the new Me-262 jet and V-missiles. After the war, Milch served nine years in prison, and then, until the age of 80, he worked as a consultant to the Fiat and Thyssen concerns.

Grandchildren of the Reich

Dr. Jonathan Steinberg, head of the Rigg project at the University of Cambridge, praises his student for his courage and overcoming the hardships of the study: "Bryan's findings make the reality of the Nazi state more complex." The young American, in my opinion, not only makes the picture of the Third Reich and the Holocaust more voluminous, but also makes Israelis take a fresh look at the usual definitions of Jewry.

It was previously believed that in World War II, all Jews fought on the side of the anti-Hitler coalition. Jewish soldiers in the Finnish, Romanian and Hungarian armies were seen as exceptions to the rule. Now Brian Rigg confronts us with new facts, leading Israel to an unheard of paradox.

Let's think about it: 150 thousand soldiers and officers of the Nazi army could be repatriated, according to the Israeli Law of Return. The current form of this law, spoiled by a late insert about the separate right of the grandson of a Jew to aliyah, allows thousands of Wehrmacht veterans to come to Israel! Left-wing Israeli politicians are trying to defend the grandchildren amendment by saying that the grandchildren of a Jew were also persecuted by the Third Reich.

Read Brian Rigg, gentlemen! The suffering of these grandchildren was often expressed in the delay of the next Iron Cross. The fate of the children and grandchildren of German Jews once again shows us the tragedy of assimilation. The grandfather's apostasy from the religion of his ancestors like a boomerang hits the entire Jewish people and his German grandson, who is fighting for the ideals of Nazism in the ranks of the Wehrmacht.

Unfortunately, a gallant flight from one's own "I" characterizes not only Germany of the last century, but also the Israel of today.

Hitler's Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story of Nazi Race Laws and People of Jewish Origin in the German Army.

A book by Brian Mark Rigg (Israeli citizen) who claims, on the basis of documentary evidence, that 150,000 Jewish soldiers and officers fought in the Nazi army.

Rigg's research was based on 400 interviews with Wehrmacht veterans, 500 hours of video evidence, 3,000 photographs and 30,000 pages of memoirs of Nazi soldiers and officers - those people whose Jewish roots allow them to repatriate to Israel even tomorrow.

Werner Goldberg

The term "Mishlinge" in the Reich called people born from mixed marriages of Aryans with non-Aryans. The racial laws of 1935 distinguished between "mishlinge" of the first degree (one of the parents is Jewish) and the second degree (grandparents are Jews). Despite the legal "corruption" of people with Jewish genes and despite the crackling propaganda, tens of thousands of "Mischlings" lived quietly under the Nazis. They were called up in the usual way to the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine, becoming not only soldiers, but also part of the generals at the level of commanders of regiments, divisions and armies.

Hundreds of Mischlings were awarded Iron Crosses for bravery. Twenty soldiers and officers of Jewish origin were awarded the highest military award of the Third Reich - the Knight's Cross. However, many veterans of the Wehrmacht complained that the authorities were reluctant to submit to orders and pulled with promotion in rank, mindful of their Jewish ancestors.

For a long time, the Nazi press published a photograph of a blue-eyed blonde in a helmet. Under the picture was: "The perfect German soldier." This Aryan ideal was the Wehrmacht fighter Werner Goldberg (with a Jewish dad).

Wehrmacht Major Robert Borchardt received the Knight's Cross for a tank breakthrough of the Soviet front in August 1941. Then he was sent to Rommel's African Corps. Under El Alamein he was captured by the British. In 1944 he was allowed to come to England to be reunited with his Jewish father. In 1946, Borchardt returned to Germany, telling his Jewish dad: "Someone must rebuild our country." In 1983, shortly before his death, he told German schoolchildren: "Many Jews and half-Jews who fought for Germany in World War II believed that they should honestly defend their fatherland by serving in the army."

Colonel Walter Hollander, whose mother was Jewish, received Hitler's personal letter, in which the Fuhrer certified the Aryanism of this Halachic Jew (Halacha is traditional Jewish law, according to which a Jew is considered born of a Jewish mother. - K.K.). The same certificates of "German blood" were signed by Hitler for dozens of high-ranking officers of Jewish origin.

During the war years, Hollander was awarded the Iron Crosses of both classes and a rare distinction - the Golden German Cross. In 1943, he received the Knight's Cross when his anti-tank brigade destroyed 21 Soviet tanks in one battle on the Kursk salient.

When he was given leave, he went to the Reich via Warsaw. It was there that he was shocked by the sight of the destroyed Jewish ghetto. Hollander returned to the front broken. The personnel officers entered in his personal file: "too independent and little controllable", cutting down his promotion to the rank of general.

Who were the "Mischlings" of the Wehrmacht: victims of anti-Semitic persecution or accomplices of the executioners?

Life often put them in absurd situations. One soldier with the Iron Cross on his chest came from the front to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp to? visit his Jewish father there. The SS officer was shocked by this guest: "If it were not for the award on your uniform, you would have quickly ended up with me where your father is."

And here is the story of a 76-year-old resident of Germany, a 100% Jew. In 1940, he managed to escape from occupied France on forged documents. Under a new German name, he was drafted into the "Waffen-SS" - selected combat units. “If I served in the German army, and my mother died in Auschwitz, then who am I - a victim or one of the persecutors?” he often asks himself. people like me. Because our stories contradict everything that is used to be considered the Holocaust. "

In 1940, all officers who had two Jewish grandparents were ordered to leave military service. Those who were tainted with Jewishness only by one of their grandfathers could remain in the army in ordinary positions.

But the reality was different: these orders were not carried out. Therefore, they were repeated once a year to no avail. There were frequent cases when German soldiers, driven by the laws of "front-line fraternity", hid "their Jews" without betraying them to party and punitive bodies.

There are 1200 known examples of mischlinge service in the Wehrmacht - soldiers and officers with the closest Jewish ancestors. A thousand of these front-line soldiers had 2,300 Jewish relatives killed - nephews, aunts, uncles, grandfathers, grandmothers, mothers and fathers.

This list could be supplemented by one of the sinister figures of the Nazi regime - Reinhard Heydrich, the Fuhrer's favorite and head of the RSHA, who controlled the Gestapo, criminal police, intelligence and counterintelligence. All his life (fortunately short) he struggled with rumors about Jewish origins.

Heydrich was born in 1904 in Leipzig into the family of a conservatory director. Family history says that his grandmother married a Jew shortly after the birth of the father of the future chief of the RSHA. As a child, older boys beat Reinhard, calling him a Jew.

It was Heydrich who held the Wannsee Conference in January 1942 to discuss the "final solution of the Jewish question." His report stated that the grandchildren of a Jew were regarded as Germans and were not subject to reprisals. They say that one day, returning home drunk to smithereens at night, he turned on the light, saw his image in the mirror and shot him twice with a pistol with the words: "A vile Jew!"

Air Field Marshal Erhard Milch can be considered a classic example of a "hidden Jew" in the elite of the Third Reich. His father was a Jewish pharmacist.

Due to his Jewish origin, he was not accepted into the Kaiser military schools, but the outbreak of the First World War gave him access to aviation. Milch fell into the division of the famous Richthoffen, met the young Goering and distinguished himself at headquarters, although he himself did not fly airplanes. In 1929 he became the general director of Lufthansa, the national air carrier. The wind was already blowing in the direction of the Nazis, and Milch provided free planes for the leaders of the NSDAP.

This service is unforgettable. Having come to power, the Nazis declare that Milch's mother did not have sex with her Jewish husband, and Erhard's true father is Baron von Beer. Goering laughed for a long time about this: "Yes, we made Milch a bastard, but an aristocratic bastard." Another aphorism of Goering about Milch: "In my headquarters, I myself will decide who is a Jew and who is not!"

After the war, Milch served nine years in prison. Then, until the age of 80, he worked as a consultant for the Fiat and Thyssen concerns.

The vast majority of Wehrmacht veterans say that when they joined the army, they did not consider themselves Jews. These soldiers tried with their courage to refute the Nazi racial chatter. With triple zeal at the front, Hitler's soldiers proved that their Jewish ancestors did not prevent them from being good German patriots and staunch warriors.