The Jews in the Eastern War Zone

by American Jewish Committee

THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR

It was against this background of ever-spreading persecution and misery that the great war broke upon the Jews. They accepted it as loyal Russian citizens, and not without hope that it might lead to some improvement in their own conditions.

The Kehillas (communities) of Petrograd, Odessa and other cities officially sent large sums in gold for the reservists, established hospitals for the use of the wounded without distinction of race or creed, held great patriotic demonstrations in the synagogues, at which the Rabbis urged the Jewish youth to render their full share of military service, and in other ways, presented, as the Mayor of Odessa said, “an example of readiness to sacrifice everything for the army.”

The spirit of the Jews of Russia at the outbreak of the war is well expressed in the appeal which the Jewish community of Vilna, the oldest in Russia, at the very heart of the Pale, issued in connection with the establishment of a military hospital:

“Our beloved Fatherland—the great Russian Empire—has been provoked to bloody, terrible conflict. It is a struggle for the integrity and greatness of Russia. All true sons of Russia have risen as one man to shield their country, with their own breasts, against the onslaught of the enemy. Our brothers of the Jewish faith, all over the Russian Empire, have also responded to the call of duty ... and many have voluntarily joined the army which has gone forth to the field of battle. But circumstances now demand that those of us who have not been fortunate enough to be called forward to fight for our country with weapons in our hands should also make whatever sacrifices we can. We owe a sacred obligation to those who have left their families behind, those who are defending our country, and us, with their blood and their lives. It is our duty to assume all responsibility for the families of the reservists. It is our duty to take care of those who will fall wounded or ill in the war. No doubt this sacred duty will be assumed by the entire Jewish population of the Empire, by individuals no less than by entire communities. The history of all past wars, especially those of the nineteenth century, beginning with the war of 1812, shows that the Jews have honestly and sacredly fulfilled their duty as citizens and were ever ready to sacrifice upon the altar of their country their wealth, their blood and even their lives.... In like manner, at this great crisis in the life of our country, we, the representatives of the Jewish community of Vilna, the oldest in Russia and at the very heart of the present conflict, take the liberty of appealing to our co-religionists to begin at once the work of organizing relief for the wounded and for the families of the reservists. We must care equally for all the soldiers of our glorious army, without distinction of race or creed, for all are brothers, sons in common of our great Fatherland....”

The Jewish press also gave resonant voice to this spirit of loyalty and devotion. The “Novy Voskhod,”[14] one of the leading Jewish organs in Russia, issued this call:

“We were born and brought up in Russia. Our ancestors are buried here. We Russian Jews are bound to Russia by ties which cannot be broken, and our brothers who have been driven beyond the ocean by cruel fate cherish their memories of Russia all through life. Custodians of the commandments of our forefathers, nucleus of the entire Jewish nation, we, the Jews of Russia, are nevertheless united inseparably with the country in which we have dwelt for hundreds of years, and from which neither persecution nor oppression can tear us away. At this historical moment, when our country is threatened by foreign invasion, when brute force has taken up arms against the great ideals of humanity, the Jews of Russia will bravely go forth to battle and will fulfil their sacred duty....”

The Jewish contingent in the Russian army numbered from 350,000 (an estimate made by the Mayor of Petrograd before the Conference of Russian Mayors in August, 1914), to 400,000 (the estimate made by the Jewish Colonization Association, Petrograd). The thousands of Jewish students who have matriculated at foreign universities because the “percentage rule” had closed the Russian universities to them, returned to enroll under the colors, even though they knew that there was no hope of preferment for them.

On the field of battle the Jewish soldiers distinguished themselves for valor. Over one thousand received the Medal or Cross of St. George. From the many letters of appreciation and affection written by Russian officers to the relatives of Jewish soldiers under their command who had been disabled or killed, it was evident that the Jews had won the affection and respect of the fighting men in the field. But it was their eternal misfortune that the war, by the logic of military geography, had to be fought out, on the Eastern side, in Poland; for between the Poles and the Jews there had long been a state of open conflict—and the developments of the campaign in Poland foredoomed the Jews to disaster appalling and almost irretrievable.