26th September 2008, 01:14
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Junior Member
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Massachusetts, USA
Posts: 15
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Re: Jewish airmen in WWII
As a first approximation I would expect that the number of Jewish aircrew in the USAAF would be the same as the percentage of the US population that was Jewish. I'm sure the information is out there somewhere, but I couldn't find it. According to this website: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html, in 2006 1.8% of the US population was Jewish. Again as a rough guess I'd say 1.8%, give or take, of USAAF aircrew would have been Jewish.
I have a list of the men in two rooms of Lager B of Stalag Luft IV. They probably represent a reasonably random sample of bomber aircrew enlisted men in the spring of 1944. Of the 51 names I would say that one is Jewish (though some others could be too) or about 2%. I have not calculated what the confidence limits on that measure are, but it is consistent with the first estimate.
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