Group photo of Jewish soldiers awarded after the battle of Ivangorod

At the outbreak of war, in July 1914, the Hungarian patriotic enthusiasm was shared by the assimilated Jews of Hungarian sentiment. In the synagogues there were worship services as in Christian churches for the victory of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The sincere enthusiasm of the Jews was only enhanced by the fact that the war was against the anti-Semitic Russian Empire, where bloody pogroms took place even at the beginning of the century. At the time of the war, about 300,000 Jews fought in the Austro-Hungarian forces, and about 6 per cent of the Hungarian troops were Jews. Within the officer’s corps, including the reserve officer staff, the number of Jews was considerable, and many of them served in the army’s medical arm.