The Jewish Monitor (Fort Worth-Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 10, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, October 29, 1920 Page: 3 of 16
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Friday October 29 1920.
THE JEWISH MONITOR
Page Three
Jewish Officers in the Austrian
Army
By Jacob Mestel.
II.
(Copyright 1920 by I. J. P. B.)
Very often the Jewish officer
would suffer on account of anti-Se-mitlsm
not only by way of finding
it hard to reach a higher rank in the
army but what is worse in the very
performance of his daily routine du-
ties. The hardest and most danger-
ous posts were usually assigned 'to
Jews very often for sheer wicked-
ness. Here is an illustration: The
Jewish lieutenant K. (a bank clerk
in civilian life) of the 95th Infantry
Regiment 1s given the command dur-
ing the Carpathian battle to withdraw
from the Russian lines with the CO
men in his sub-company. The sub-
company does not withdraw in a
manner pleasing to the commander
of the battalion of which it forms a
part. He calls down the officer
charges him with leading his com-
pany in "Jewish" order and asks him
to go through the performance
again. The officer obeys the com-
mand and starts his company anew
but with the same result Three
times the poor harassed soldiers go
back and forth in formation until at
last the advance of the Russians
makes it impossible for the company
to withdraw and a Russian bullet
puts an end to the incessant chican-
ery of the Jewish lieutenant. This
is only one of the many instances of
useless destruction of Jewish life by
superior officers of the Austrian ar-
my. An important part was played by
the Jewish officers in the intellectual
life of the battlefield. Aside from
the fact that both in the military in-
telligence bureaus and fields news-
papers Jews had the overwhelming
majority Jews were likewise active
in the higher commands and the staffs
of divisions. In many strategic plans
of the Austrian army command there
was to be found evidence of Jewish
energy and resourcefulness. How
often has Jewish ability turned de-
feat Into victory! Here is an illus-
tration: It happened in the princi-
pal office of the general staff of the
Albanian army. Major of the Gen-
eral Staff K. a Hungarian converted
Jew placed before the command his
plan for an offensive. He also pre-
sented another plan for an offensive
prepared by the then editor of a
comic field paper "Papadhatsi. A
Hungarian Jewish first lieutenant
asked by the chief of the general
staff what difference there was be-
tween the two plans replied: "The
water your excellency. He thought
of the difficulties connected with the
crossing of the river near Duratso
but he proably had in mand the fact
that the baptismal water had some-
thing to do with the stifling of the
major's mind. In the end the plan of
the Jewish lieutenant was accepted
and as a result the position of the
Austrian army advanced toward Va-
lona and down to the Lake of Ochrida.
The question of a uniform language
was a severe problem for the Austro-
Hungarian army command. A coun-
try of so many races and national!
ties as the former monarchy was
must needs suffer from a severe lack
of co-ordination and discipline. The
language of all command was Ger-
man except for the Hungarian militia
troops "Honved." But the soldier
had to be taught how to shoot in his
mother tongue. Here the Jewish of-
ficer showed his real worth. Nearly
every Jewish officer in the Austro-
Hungarian army spoke German in ad-
dition to the language of the prov-
ince he had come from the Galician
Jew spoke Polish and Ukranian the
Hungarian Croatian and Slovak etc.
The Jewish officer was therefore
able in every regiment to communi-
cate with the soldiers in their mother
tongue and best train them for ef-
ficient service in the army.
But in the field of battle itself
Jewish knowledge of languages was
of great help. "The army lives on
the war" was one of Napoleon's fa-
mous sayings by which he meant
that wherever the soldier comes he
is to be furnished with food quarters
and all his needs. Even the modern
war is carried on in the same man-
ner. But to obtain all these supplies
a knowledge of the language of the
province is of prime importance.
Here it was again the Jewish officers
who brought together German and
Hungarian commanders and the na-
tives in Slovak districts. It was par-
ticularly important in the occupied
regions of Russia. Russian Jews
themselves were very valuable for
the German-Austrian invasion. Im-
mediately upon occupation the con-
queror found a population that un-
derstood in some way the language
of the victor. Where however it
was necessary to have personal con-
tact with the population in recon-
noitering requisitions settling of
dspiutes with a foreign population
etc. it was again the Jewish officers
who were best to fill the posts of that
nature.
Other countries adopted the same
system of sending Jewish officers
wherever their knowledge of lan-
guages was of necessity. Jewish of-
ficers were thus used in the Turkish
army on the Palestinian front and
even in Albania where the language
was barely known to anyone it was
again the Jewish officers who were
first to learn the weird idiom.
Confidence placed in Jewish officers
was great and not once a case was
discovered where it had been ill placed
or where suspicion was attached to
a Jewish officer's official conduct
The seriousness with which they car-
ried out their tasks was always a
shining example for others. So it
was in Brest Litovsk in the guarding
of the headquarters of Field Marshal
Hindenburg. When Austria was
called upon to furnish three honorary
guard officers for personal service
with Hindenburg the officers chosen
one army doctor and two first lien-
tenants (of whom the author was
one) were Jews.
Even in exhortations to fight and
the Inspiration of courage into troops
the Jews did their share. The German-Austrian
officer always showed
mora enthusiasm for the part of Ger
many in the war than for Austria.
On the other hand the officers of
other races of the former monarchy
would Invariably think of their own
national independence than of any
Austrian victory and would not in-
frequently act against Austrian in-
terests. But the Jewish officer felt
at that time only a strong Aus-
tria would secure for him real e qual-
ity and domestic peace. The Jew
looked therefore at Austria's victory
as a matter of grave concern to him
personally and undertook to perform
all that lay in his power to bring
about such a victory. We aro fa-
miliar with the call to arms in the
form of a patriotic Jewish poem en-
titled "The Maccabeans" written by
a young Jewish Austrian sub-lieutenant.
His "Cavalry Song" was re-
cited all over the Austrian army and
will be known as the great war poem
that issued from the pen of a Ger-
many lyrist.
Another circumstance may brin?
pride to the Jewish officer. Th? rut-
(Continued on Page 14)
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Fox, George. The Jewish Monitor (Fort Worth-Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 10, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, October 29, 1920, newspaper, October 29, 1920; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth296784/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .