Jewish airmen in WWII

[Graham Boak]

Surely this is largely a matter of integration and tolerance in differing societies, with differences between western and Eastern Europe, and protestant or catholic nations, and democratic or autocratic societies.

There is no separate listings of, and publicity given to, Jews in the RAF because it mattered little to the society at the time. This is not to say that examples of intolerance and anti-semitism cannot be found in Britain of that period, but little more than that directed at other sectarian groups. I could quote the hatred between protestants and catholics in Glasgow. Other than at the time for Church parade, Jews would not stand out as a distinctive group (and even then would probably be outnumbered by other "non-conformists"). Individual examples come to mind: the electronic technician on the Bruneval raid; at least one South African ace; a Beaufighter pilot from Canada. This is about what I would expect from random sampling of any minority.

There is the additional factor that, as in many nations, the British military recruited their officers from a restricted strata of society, especially in peacetime. Some prejudice is probably inevitable in such situations.

After all, how many Methodists were there in the Royal Air Force?

[G. Warrener]

Originally Posted by Franek Grabowski

Graham
Perhaps I was not clear enough. Jewish names were of big cities rather than small villages: Amsterdamski, Berliner, Bremer or Krakowitzer.
Also only particular trade names were considered Jewish. Smith, Schmidt, Kowal or Kowalski are Arian ones, but there are some variations considered Jewish like Kowalewski or Goldschmidt. I cannot say anything about Messerschmitt though. This is a very subtle matter.

How about Goodman - a Pole that got away?

http://www.fau.edu/library/br123.htm

;-) graham

[malladyne]

Many Jews in the UK are so anxious to either assimilate themselves or to hide their true identity that they assume English names and very often those that display a English root or a certain element of taste and style.
For example, I know of a jewish legal practice in North London where the of the principal partners were called Isidore Isaacs,Nahum Rothstein and Jacob Goldblatt, but upon qualifying as solicitors they changed their names to Rupert Winchester, Guy Sheringham and Alex Tonbridge.
During the War, of course, such Jewish airmen as there were (not that many) had much better reasons to change theirr names..and many did.
Malladyne

[drgondog]

John Chalot 358Fs/355fg was a Jew, went down on 11 March and spent the rest of the war at Dachau (survived). Only Jewish fighter pilot I am aware of in the 355th

Regards,

Bill Marshall

[Franz von Werra]

As per the Jewish pilot controversy, here's what Wikipedia says. Although I don't think it's determinant information, I find it interesting.

Palestinian contribution
The RAF's official "Battle of Britain Roll of Honour" recognises 1 Palestinian as having fought in the Battle of Britain: Pilot Officer George Ernest Goodman (42598 ), born in Haifa, Palestine (now Haifa, Israel). The Palestinian contribution is also sometimes described as the "Israeli contribution", although the State of Israel was not proclaimed until 1948. PO Goodman's parents were British Jews, he carried a British Passport and was educated at Highgate. He is therefore sometimes recorded as a British airman.

At least 32 (probably 43) Jewish airmen took part in the Battle of Britain (just over 1% of participants). Over three-quarters were British Jews, the rest fighting in the American, Belgian, Canadian, Czechoslovak, Polish and South African contingents (Martin Sugarman).

Also see:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/...w2/sugar4.html

[Franek Grabowski]

Martin Sugarman's 'research' may only be called as a crap. Goodman was not Jewish, it was underlined by his family.