Memorial Plaque of the Great Synagogue of Danzig

In most European states Jews were considered unfit to defend their countries. In the Germanic lands, a few were army purveyors in the eighteenth century, but Jews were barred from enlistment until the early nineteenth century. Scores of Jews fought for Germany in World War I, and twelve thousand were killed in battle. Nevertheless, during and after the war, Jews were accused of avoiding enlistment or dodging the front-line service.

This plaque from the Great Synagogue of Danzig expresses the Jewish community's patriotism. The inscription commemorates the fifty-six people who died fighting in World War I "for the fatherland." (Danzig was part of the German state of Prussia from the late eighteenth century until 1919, when the Treaty of Versailles granted the city independent status.) In 1939, faced with increasing Nazi persecution, Danzig's Jews shipped the contents of their synagogue to the United States for safekeeping. The fact that they included this cumbersome marble plaque indicates its importance to the community.

Source: The Jewish Museum, New York, 2003.