The Jews in the Eastern War ZoneAmerican Jewish Committee
History
The Jews in the Eastern War Zone
American Jewish Committee
World War, 1914-1918 -- Jews
The Jewish youth, which, as a result of the restrictions as to
admission to the high schools of the country, had been forced to study
abroad, returned home when war was declared, or entered the armies
of the allied nations. A large number of Jewish students fell at the
defense of Liege and also at other points on the western front.
The Zionist youths, when they were confronted with the dilemma of
accepting Turkish sovereignty or being compelled to emigrate from
Palestine, preferred to go to Alexandria and there to join the English
army.
The Jews built hospitals, contributed money, and participated in the
war in every respect just as did the other citizens. Many Jews received
marks of distinction for their conduct at the front.
Before me lies the letter of a Jew who returned from the United States
of America:
“I risked my life,” he writes, “and if, nevertheless, I came as far
as Archangel, it was only because I loved my fatherland more than my
life or that American freedom which I was permitted to enjoy. I became
a soldier, and lost my left arm almost to the shoulder. I was brought
into the governmental district of Courland. =Scarcely had I reached
Riga when I met at the station my mother and my relatives, who had
just arrived there, and who on that same day were compelled to leave
their hearth and home at the order of the military authorities. Tell
the gentlemen who sit on the benches of the Right that I do not mourn
my lost arm, but that I do mourn deeply the self-respect that was not
denied to me in alien lands but is now lost to me.”=
Such was the sentiment of the Jews that found expression in numerous
appeals and manifestations in the press, and finally also in this
House. Surely these sentiments should have been taken into account. One
should have a right to assume that the Government would adopt measures
for the amelioration of the fate of the Jews who found themselves in
the very centre of the war-like occurrences. Likewise, one should have
taken into account the sentiments of hundreds of thousands of Jews who
shed their blood on the field of battle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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