The forgotten Jews who fought the Nazis

Itzchak Tessler

Dr. Simha Goldin and his father, a Polish soldier who was taken captive by the Soviet Army (Photos: Ido Erez, the Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center at Tel Aviv University)

About 250,000 Jewish soldiers were killed while fighting for Allies’ armies, 36,000 received awards of excellence from US Army and 160,000 were awarded citations from Red Army. So how did 1.5 million Jews who fought in World War II sink into oblivion?

There is not a single student in the Israeli educational system who doesn’t learn about the Jewish Brigade and about Hannah Szenes and her friends. The bravery of the 5,000 Brigade soldiers should be praised and admired, but the truth is that it’s just a drop in the ocean of Jewish blood which was shed on the front, vis-à-vis the Nazis.

About a million and a half Jews fought as part of the Allies’ armies. They stood out both because their number was much higher than their relative percentage in the countries they came from, and because of the huge number of losses they suffered.

According to different estimates, about 250,000 Jews were killed while fighting for the Allies’ armies. In addition, a relatively high number of Jews received medals of honor.

Dr. Shimha Goldin, the son of a Polish soldier who was taken captive by the Soviet Army, and the father of Lieutenant Hadar Goldin who died as a hero in Operation Protective Edge, decided to initiate a conference which would give the Jewish fighters in World War II all the respect they deserve.

“My father was a Polish soldier who was captured by the Russian army during the war, and that’s what saved his life,” he says.

Read more: The forgotten Jews…