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After Adolf Hitler came to power he implemented many changes in Germany. The Enabling Act passed on March 23
1933 giving Hitler dictatorial power and control over the public economic and military aspects of
society he had full control. Its full name was the "Law to Remedy the Distress of the People
and the Reich." Hitler also enacted the Nuremberg Laws which were the anti-Semitic and racist laws
that were enacted in Nazi Germany on September 15 1935. The National Socialist German Workers
Party or NSDAP also called the Nazi Party was the only political party allowed in Germany. The law
created a scale of just how Jewish a person was from full Jew half Jews quarter Jews using the
derogatory term "mishlinge" meaning half-breed mongrel or hybrid. Jews were not targeted for
their faith because they had been reclassified as a race and persecuted for not being of pure Aryan
blood. How did some Germans classified as Jews avoid being targeted and remain in the military?
Who were these men and what were their ranks and positions? What did they and others in
Germany really know about the concentration and later the death camps? Hello I'm Colin
Heaton former soldier Marine Corps scout sniper history professor historian and book author and
we will answere these questions and other issues on this segment of Forgotten History. [Music]
In his groundbreaking book "Hitler's Jewish Soldiers the Untold story of Nazi Racial
Laws and Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military" released in 2002 after many years of
research and interviews former history professor and historian Dr. Bryan Mark exposed the hypocrisy
of Nazi laws and legal doctrine. As Rigg stated quote, "Thousands of men of Jewish descent and
hundreds of what the Nazis called full Jews served in the military with Hitler's knowledge
the Nazis allowed these men to serve but at the same time exterminated their families.
Hitler lived the Jews but what he also needed was experienced commanders and fighters. What's
fascinating is how involved Hitler was in the screening process at the height
of the war he was personally deciding whether this private or that should be of German blood,"
end quote. Jewish children could not attend German schools or play on sports teams and they were not
allowed to leave the country at first, although many were encouraged to do so later but could
not take their money with them. Jews soon had their businesses and homes confiscated.
One of these laws the "Law of the Reich Citizen" deprived Jews of German citizenship designating
them "subjects of the state." Also the Law for the Protection of German Blood and German
Honor usually called simply the "Blood Protection Law" "forbade marriage or sexual relations between
Jews and Aryans or citizens of German or kindred blood." German Jews lost their jobs the military
was purged of Jewish soldiers sailors and airmen and doctors lawyers and others were removed from
their professional positions and eventually over time deported to the east most to Poland after
the war started in 1939. Jews also had the letter J stamped into their passport for "Jude". These measures
were among the first of the racist Nazi laws that culminated in the Holocaust but there were
some Jews who were allowed to continue serving the Third Reich. Many Jews managed to hide their
affiliation but some were well known to be Jews even if their families were converted Christians going
back several generations. Any soldier who wanted to be declared a German had to submit a complex
application including photos of his head and body and skull measurements. Hitler would screen these
photographs for a long time and decide whether the application was worthy of being an Aryan.
Many Jews some 100,000 served in the German military many in secret as their backgrounds
escaped to detection. Others were cleared and given Aryanization blood certificates due to their claim
that their Jewish fathers were in fact not their fathers at all, often naming distant relatives or
family acquaintances who were long dead and could not testify in courts. In 1942 when the Germans
were losing in the east Hitler started to revoke the initial rights he provided the michelings. On
his orders the Armed Forces High Command began dismissing almost half the Jews in the military.
Only those half-Jewish officers who had earlier been declared to be of German
blood were allowed to stay but in late 1944 the majority of these officers were also removed.
After the war even the Jewish communities rejected them as being collaborators even though they had
no knowledge of the death camps despite the fact that most like the German population in general
knew nothing of the death camps abroad. They knew about concentration camps basically prisons For
those whom the government targeted for not going along with the program but the extermination camps
and policy was labeled Top Secret by Heinrich Himmler personally. Not even Hitler issued written
or verbal orders on that issue and the matter was never discussed as it was all on a need to
know basis which was established at the Wannsee Conference on January 20th 1942. Some Jews even
served in the Waffen SS such as SS Sergeant Heinz Loewin who was killed in action and his brother
Army Sergeant Joachim Loewin also served. Adolf Hitler saw the value in keeping some men who were
known to be Jewish in some degree or were married to Jews and this is a partial list. We'll highlight
just a few of them. Former West German Chancellor and quarter Jew Helmut Schmidt was interviewed
by Brian Rigg and Schmidt served in the Lufwaffe as an anti-aircraft artilleryman. Field Marshal and
state Secretary for Aviation Erhard Milch was an early member of the Nazi Party and considered so
valuable his entire history was changed. Due to him having a Jewish father in 1933 his mother Clara
Milch provided an affidavit to her son-in-law the police president of Hagen and later SS General
Fritz Heinrich Hermann. This document claimed that her deceased Uncle Carl Brauer was the true father
of her six children not her Jewish husband which was of course ridiculous. Milch was denounced as a
Jew by SS Colonel Theo Croneiss Riech Marshal Hermann Goering took the matter straight to Hitler who
declared Milch an Aryan. Another noteworthy person was quarter Jew Franz Mendelssohn who was a Nazi
Party member and a direct descendant of the Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and he was a designer
for German torpedo boats and also worked in design and building of U-boats and was decorated with the
War Cross second class. Half-Jew Colonel Walter H. Hollander received the German blood certificate
and was highly decorated for combat heroism on the Eastern Front with the Knight's Cross for heroic
actions on July 18 1943. He also received the Iron Cross first and second class the rare Close Combat
Badge in Bronze, the General Assault Badge, the Infantry Assault Badge, the Wound Badge in Gold
for five or more wounds, and the German Cross in Gold. He was one of the most highly decorated
Jews of the war. U-Boat Commander Captain Helmut Schmoekel who joined the Navy in 1936 was also an
interesting character. In 1938 it was discovered that Schmoekel's maternal grandfather was a full
Jew leading to his discharge from the service. Schmoekel's father petitioned for his reinstatement
which was granted in July 1939. He served on the Olympia and cruiser Admiral Hipper before
attending U-Boat school. He took command of U-802 in December 1943 and sank one ship the Watuka
of 1,621 tons on March 22 1944. He surrendered U-802 on May 11 1945 at Lock Eriboll. He also
earned the Iron Cross in both classes. Quarter Jew Colonel Felix Buerkner was a German equestrian and
he competed in the individual dressage event at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. He served
in the cavalry in World War One and in 1930 he founded the German R School in Berlin and
prepared the German dressage national team for the 1936 Berlin Olympics serving as team captain.
During World War II he was commander of the Heeresreit und Fahrschule at Hanover and later at Potsdam
Krampnitz. After World War II he returned to Hanover educating horses for other riders.
Buerkner won 14 German national titles. Half-Jew General Helmut Wilberg was a highly decorated
World War One fighter pilot who became one of the primary air combat theoreticians. He was
also instrumental along with Erhard Milch in helping to get the Luftwaffe built up and remove it
from the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles. He also commanded the Air War College and was a
staff officer of the Condor Legion under Field Marshal Hugo Sperrle during the Spanish Civil War.
Half Jew Major General Werner Reinhold Curt Maltzahn who commanded the mortar rocket school
and led regiments in Russia lost his Jewish mother half-sister and two nieces in the Holocaust but he
did not know what had happened to them until after the war. Colonel General Gotthard Fedor
August Heinrici was a World War One veteran and married to a half-Jewish woman named Gertrude and
she and their children Hartmut and Gisela were declared Aryans by Hitler. Heinrici was one of
Germany's best generals a master of defensive operations so Hitler also saw his value. He was
warded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. Another luminary was quarter Jew Admiral
Bernhard Rogge with a very unique career and as an example he served in the Navy in World War
one and later during World War II became a vice admiral. His greatest claim to fame was
when he commanded the surface raider Atlantis which hunted down enemy merchant ships in the
Atlantic Pacific and Indian Oceans. Rogue constantly disguised his ship changing
the appearance and identity to avoid Allied detection and by the time Atlantis was itself
sunk Rogge had sunk 16 ships for 106,227 tons and captured six more ships of 38,137 tons or
a total of 22 ships for 144 364 gross tons. Rogge received the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves
and both Iron Crosses. He retired as a rear admiral in the West German Navy after the war.
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