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Jewish Brigade Will Participate in Occupation of Germany, Churchill Announces

September 29, 1944
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Prime Minister Winston Churchill, addressing the House of Commons today announced that the Jewish brigade now being formed will participate in the occupation of Germany.

The British Prime Minister said that it seemed to him appropriate that a unit of the race which suffered indescribable torments from the Nazis should be represented in the forces gathered for the final overthrow of the tormentors. “I do not doubt that they will not only partake in the struggle, but also in the occupation which will follow,” he declared.

In the House of Lords today Lord Strabolgi raised the question of whether the British Government proposes to accept in the Jewish brigade non-British Jewish soldiers now serving in units other than the Palestine battalions. Lord Croft, Under-Secretary of the War Office, replying for the Government, stated that the basis for the Jewish brigade are the existing Palestine battalions and further Palestine recruits, but the British Government will consider Jews volunteering from other units. Lord Strabolgi expressed the opinion after the session that Jews serving in the British Army as well as Jews of neutral and occupied countries can volunteer for service in the Jewish brigade.

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