Did any jews serve in the German Army during WW2 just to protect themselves?

Answer 1

Under new laws passed by the Nazi regime, Jews were officially banned from serving in the German armed forces.

Officially, a person was defined as "Jewish" if he/she had at least one fully-Jewish grandparent. So, one-quarter Jewish blood was officially enough to make a person a Jew in Nazi eyes. For those defined as Jewish in that way, it was - in theory - impossible to serve in the German military.

But the theory did not always work. Jews serving in the German armed forces could appeal against their expulsion. High officials, including Hitler himself, considered some of these appeals --- and frequently ruled in favor of letting the "Jew" stay on as a soldier.

There is a fascinating book on this topic, "Hitler's Jewish Soldiers" by Bryan Mark Rigg. It is well researched and it is not fantasy. The book claims that about 150,000 Jews or "Mischlinge" (partial Jews) served in the German military in WW2.

Go to the website below for further details.

EDIT: Jason, also take a look at the second link below (Amazon) and read some of the reviews by people who have read Bryan Rigg's book. Consider the extraordinary case of Field Marshal Erhart Milch, who was either 50% or even 100% Jewish.

Answer 2

You must remember that the nazis were extremely keen on "order"- meaning that there were many "cathegories" of people, ranging from "full aryan" through "half blood" etc. "jew" or "slavic" or "nordic" were also such cathegories and mixes were also classified.
SFAIK a person classified as of 1/8 jewish blood was subject to the regular military draft- provided of course they were not actual Jews (culture and religion wise) but "assimilated" germans of Jewish ancestry. They could not serve in the SS (muslims could)
The russian communists had a similar system, but based on the occupation/ social status or nationality of the parents/ancestors. Having a cousin who owned his own house often meant a death sentence here.
Back to Adolf. It is said that there were orders which protected the families of the Jewish WW1 veterans- at least until they died. Same thing applied to those who served in the nazi army- having a son in uniform might mean the difference between a half-normal existence and the gas chamber

Answer 3

I would say no, the reson is this...... if someone wanted to be in the German army during ww2(at least for the S.S) the army would check there family history back, I think, 3 generations for any Jewish relation. Adolf Hitler wanted an Aryan Army........ and he made that clear. But, still, I'm sure that there might have been a few that made it in some how.
Hope that helps! ; D

Answer 4

Given the numbers, I'm sure there was more than one but the one that comes to mind would be Solomon Perel.

See the movie Europa Europa

or

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Perel

Answer 5

There's always the possibility.