00-Rigg_front matter 7/1/16 2:36 PM Page vii © University Press of Kansas. All rights reserved. Reproduction and distribution prohibited without permission of the Press. c o n t e n t s Preface, ix Acknowledgments, xi List of Abbreviations, xiii List of SS and Wehrmacht Ranks, xiv Prologue: A Brief History of the Wehrmacht, 1 Introduction, 9 1 Jews and Mischlinge Hiding Their Identities, 19 2 Half-Jews, the Wehrmacht, and OT Forced Labor Camps, 99 3 Mischlinge Who Received the Deutschblütigkeitserklärung, 171 4 Mischlinge and the Process of Getting a Genehmigung, 230 5 Mischlinge and Uncommon Rescue Stories, 251 Conclusion, 274 Notes, 279 Bibliography, 291 Index, 299 00-Rigg_front matter 7/1/16 2:36 PM Page viii © University Press of Kansas. All rights reserved. Reproduction and distribution prohibited without permission of the Press. Half Jew First Lieutenant Joachim Sonntag’s grave on the Russian front. This picture was taken in November 1942 by Achim von Bredow, a “37.5 percent Jew” according to Nazi law. 00-Rigg_front matter 7/1/16 2:36 PM Page ix © University Press of Kansas. All rights reserved. Reproduction and distribution prohibited without permission of the Press. p r e f a c e In 1942 a former German soldier entered SS headquarters in Berlin. He walked uneasily. His civilian jacket was adorned with medals he had earned in battle. An SS officer asked what he wanted. Hugo Fuchs wished to know where they had taken his Jewish father. The SS officer, upset, said, “I would send you straight where your father is if you didn’t have those medals!” Fuchs would never see his father again. He had been killed in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.1 It was winter 1942 and Walter Gross ran for his life across snow-cov- ered tundra on the eastern front in Russia. He heard the loud explosions of mortar shells and the whizzing of bullets as the enemy took aim at him. Things had gone wrong while he led a reconnaissance patrol. The enemy had killed everyone in his unit and he was desperately trying to make it back to his lines. As he reached the edge of the defensive trench, an explosion and shrapnel slammed his body against the earth. As he rolled over at the bottom of the ditch, he looked at his lacerated belly as his entrails poured out onto his legs. The warm blood soaked into his pant legs. With unbearable pain, he started to scream. One of his closest comrades, Joachim Schmidt, who had remained behind in the defensive trench, tried to shove his guts back into his body but he did so in vain. Gross and his comrade knew he was dying. Gross gave his friend a strange smile, shook his head, and said that this was a shitty war. He was dying for a country that had persecuted him and his family. He asked Schmidt to protect his Jewish mother. Schmidt promised. He knew that Gross was a Mischling. Blood continued to pour out of Gross. When his head slumped over and his body went limp, another Jewish soldier had died for the Fatherland. His mother committed suicide before her depor- tation to Auschwitz two months later.2 Fuchs and Gross were not alone in bravely serving their country while the Nazis murdered their families. During World War II, likely thou- sands of Jews and tens of thousands of partial Jews (Mischlinge) served in the Wehrmacht. A few even held high positions in it. Here follow some of their stories. [ ix ] 00-Rigg_front matter 7/1/16 2:36 PM Page x © University Press of Kansas. All rights reserved. Reproduction and distribution prohibited without permission of the Press. Knocked-out Russian T-34 tank with a dead body in front of it (top) and Russian corpses on the battlefield (bottom). These pictures were taken on the Russian front in 1943 by Achim von Bredow, a “37.5 percent Jew” according to Nazi law. These were the types of tanks men like quarter-Jew Horst von Oppenfeld, half-Jew Helmuth Kopp, and half-Jew Horst Geitner attacked during their time in combat. 00-Rigg_front matter 7/1/16 2:36 PM Page xi © University Press of Kansas. All rights reserved. Reproduction and distribution prohibited without permission of the Press. acknowledgments Several of the men whose stories appear in the following pages—along with their families—offered support, advice, and often food and housing. Their help was critical for my research, and from the bottom of my heart, I thank them all. Also, many historians, academics, and writers gave invaluable help. Foremost on the list is Michael Berenbaum. I cannot begin to express my gratitude to Michael Berenbaum of the University of Judaism for his constant support and willingness to help make my work stronger—it is not often that one has the help of one of the foremost Holocaust histori- ans, and I am grateful for his support. Next, Mark Bernheim of the University of Miami in Ohio was a tremendous help. He provided invaluable advice and feedback not only for this book, but also for my first book, Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers. His in- sights and constructive criticism have made both works better. Many thanks go to the lawyer Peter Schliesser, himself a “half-Jew” under the Nazis, for his extensive editorial help. His guidance and exten- sive editing throughout the writing of this book have been greatly appre- ciated. He is a true mensch. I would also like to thank the journalist David Seeley and author Michael Skakun for their comments. Warm thanks go to my graduate advisor at Cambridge University, Jonathan Steinberg, who encouraged the exploration of such a project back in 1996. His years of guidance and help mean more than he knows. Author of Frontsoldaten, Stephen Fritz, and Günther Montfort, Bundes - archiv-Militärarchiv in Freiburg, provided useful feedback on the struc- ture and content of the book. James Tent, an expert on the Mischlinge (see his excellent book, In the Shadow of the Holocaust), of the University of Alabama at Birmingham has proven most helpful. His feedback during the editorial stage of this manuscript has greatly strengthened it. University of Virginia history professor Hans Schmitt, also a “half-Jew” during the Nazis years, gave me incredible feedback. His support and help these last few years have been tremendous. I also thank the late Andy Baggs at American Military University and Luftwaffe expert Horst Boog for their help. Baggs’s com- [ xi ] 00-Rigg_front matter 7/1/16 2:36 PM Page xii © University Press of Kansas. All rights reserved. Reproduction and distribution prohibited without permission of the Press. [ xii ] acknowledgments ments and criticism, especially concerning military hardware, were greatly appreciated. Boog’s insights on the Luftwaffe helped me greatly with my biographies of Wilberg and Milch. James Corum of Oxford University and Dennis Showalter of Colorado College offered their comments and words of support and have been an inspiration. Retired Brigadier General Charles Fred Smith and Howard Spiro of Yale Med- ical School gave me the honor of reading this work and provided helpful advice on its substance and style. To have such a group of historians be- hind me has added not only to my confidence but also to my sense of re- sponsibility to do my best to live up to their expectations and examples. Thanks also go to Lois Drew and Bryan Burg for their editorial com- ments. My colleague from the Phillips Exeter Academy Summer School, Robert Schur Jr., has provided helpful suggestions drawing on his knowledge of World War II and writing. I profoundly appreciate the opportunity to work once again with the staff of the University Press of Kansas, especially editor-in-chief Michael Briggs and marketing manager Susan Schott, whom I consider both col- leagues and friends. This book could not have happened without their support and help. And last, I thank my wonderful mother, Marilee Rigg, and beloved wife, Stephanie Rigg, for their consistent encouragement throughout the years. 00-Rigg_front matter 7/1/16 2:36 PM Page xiii © University Press of Kansas. All rights reserved. Reproduction and distribution prohibited without permission of the Press. abbreviations AWOL Absent without leave DAK (Deutsches Afrika-Korps) German African Corps EKI (Eisernes Kreuz Erster Klasse) Iron Cross First Class EKII (Eisernes Kreuz Zweiter Klasse) Iron Cross Second Class Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei) Secret State Police KdF (Kanzlei des Fuhrers) The Führer’s chancellery (not to be confused with the same abbreviation used for Kraft durch Freude of the German Labor Front) NCO Noncommissioned officer NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei) Nazi Party OKH (Oberkommando des Heeres) Army High Command OKL (Oberkommando der Luftwaffe) Air Force High Command OKM (Oberkommando der Marine) Navy High Command OKW (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht) Armed Forces High Command OT (Organization Todt) forced labor camps POWs Prisoners of war RMI (Reichsministerium des Innern) Reich Ministry of the Interior SA Sturmabteilung storm detachment, a Nazi Party paramilitary formation SD (Sicherheitsdienst) security and intelligence service of the SS SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany SS (Schutzstaffel) the most feared organization of the Third Reich: the Gestapo, SD, and the Waffen-SS were all part of the SS Waffen-SS Armed Forces of the SS [ xiii ] 00-Rigg_front matter 7/1/16 2:36 PM Page xiv © University Press of Kansas. All rights reserved. Reproduction and distribution prohibited without permission of the Press. ss and wehrmacht ranks SS and Waffen-SS Wehrmacht U.S. Army Equivalent SS-Mann Soldat/Funker/Kanonier/ Ordinary Flieger/Schutze/Matrose Sturmmann Obersoldat/Oberschütze/ Private (Senior) Oberfusilier Rottenführer Gefreiter Private First Class N/A Obergefreiter Acting Corporal N/A Stabsgefreiter/Hauptgefreiter Administrative Corporal Unterscharführer Unteroffiziera/Maat Corporal Scharführer Unterfeldwebel/Obermaat Sergeant N/A Offiziersanwärter Officer Candidate N/A Fähnrich/Fähnrich z.