German, Jewish, and serving in the armed forces

A lawyer who is now president of the Association of Jewish Communities of Lower Saxony, has spoken of the “big” decision he made in becoming the first Jew since the Second World War to join the German armed forces.

Michael Fürst, who signed up to the German military – the Bundeswehr – in 1966 admitted making the controversial move even though two of his grandparents had perished in the concentration camps.

Speaking now to BBC World Service’s Heart and Soul programme, he said:”It was a big thing to decide, whether you were more German or more Jewish. So I decided to be German and Jew.”

In a revealing interview Fürst said he only once encountered antisemitism in the military, from a commanding officer, whose remarks he reported to his captain.

He recalled the captain telling him:”I’m glad you’ve come to see me, Fürst.

“I wanted to speak to you. I am an antisemite. My parents were sent during the Nazi time to the east of Germany, to make their new life there. And all the problems we had in that period came from the worldwide Jews.”

Now 76 year-old, Fürst told the programme that his decision to join the army shocked friends, some of whom called him the “schmuck from Hanover.”

Fürst was amongst a number of Jews of a similar age to join the Bundeswehr.
Anne, 36, converted to Judaism as a teenager, and attended a Jewish high school in Germany, also spoke of her determination to join the German army, where she still serves.

“The Bundeswehr is an armed force that exists to defend values that we share as a society – protecting human rights, protecting the constitution, based on a free and democratic order,” she told the BBC.

Johannes, a 24 year-old technician in the German air force, also said. “There’s a lot of cross-over between Jewish teachings and the values of the Bundeswehr,” he argues.

“For example, in Jewish ethics, everyone has the right to self-defence. Defending our values, defending the German constitution, that is self-defence. So for me, being Jewish is very compatible with being a soldier.”

The programme said that today there are around 300 Jewish serving personnel.
“I’m asked very often about antisemitism,” Zsolt Balla said, …”for me, as long as the system says: we have a problem and we have to do something about it, I’m on board,” he says.

Plans to recruit 10 Jewish chaplains are also revealed in the programme.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct4pjv