Until the outbreak of World War I, there were no Jewish chaplains in the German army. Guidelines issued by the Prussian army in 1856 stated, “considering the relatively small number of Jewish soldiers and their wide distribution … employing Jewish chaplains has never been considered possible or necessary.”
With more than 100,000 Jewish soldiers in the field, the situation changed dramatically. Suddenly there were 30 Jewish chaplains in the German army; 76 in the Austrian army. The activities of a Feldrabbiner [field rabbi] included conducting services, visiting the wounded in field hospitals, performing funerals, and providing religious literature. On the Eastern front, the army chaplains also organized extensive aid programs for the local civilian population, many of whom were displaced by the war and destitute.
Photo: Leo Baeck as a Feldrabbiner, or Field Chaplain, during World War I. Baeck left for the front in September 1914, serving first in France and later on the Eastern front.
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