Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss today ordered the education authorities of the new West German Army, the Bundeswehr, to teach the modern German soldiers that the German Jews made vast contributions to their country during World War I.
The announcement of that order was made by the Bundeswehr’s chief information officer, Col. Gerd Schmuekle. According to Col. Schmuekle, the modern German army will be taught these facts, which Nazi propaganda had tried to obliterate: Approximately 100,000 of old Germany’s 500,000 Jews fought in the German armed services during World War I; about 35,000 German Jews were decorated for bravery in that war; about 12,000 German Jews lost their lives “in defense of the German Fatherland.”
According to Col. Schmuekle, the Defense Minister has also taken two other steps “to restore the record of history.” Mr. Strauss has ordered reprinting of a book, entitled “War Letters from Dead German Jews,” which was published in 1935–and immediately suppressed by the Nazi authorities. Mr. Strauss also requested all German state authorities, to restore on World War I memorials the names of Jewish servicemen which had been erased on the orders of the Nazi regime.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
