Martin Salomonski: The Jewish New Year on the Western Front
Oct 3rd, 2016 by bachmann
Somewhere around 100,000 German Jews served in the German Army during World War I, with about 18,000 awarded the Iron Cross. During the war, German Jews requested the appointment of field rabbis to serve as military chaplains for the Jewish soldiers and personnel at the frontline. This request was granted by the Kaiser, growing from 6 rabbis to 30 during the height of the war. Martin Salomonski, a rabbi from Frankfurt, enlisted and served as a chaplain from 1916-1918, receiving an Iron Cross medal in 1917. In September of 1916, he embarked on the bold and ambitious task of organizing New Year’s meals for 1,600 Jewish soldiers on the front, amidst the bloody and devastating battle of the Somme. He procured four field kitchens, three cooks, a theater, and a piano to accommodate the celebration. In 1918, he published a short pamphlet of his war experience, including tending to the spiritual needs of soldiers, sharing his own poetry, and giving detailed descriptions of the conditions and suffering that took place during his service.
“In such hours, which are not spared anyone in the field, one learns to pray. One is enfolded in humble devotion and spiritual purification, and is not far away from Goodness or from God.”
“The loss of limbs is a lesser evil than blindness, facial disfiguration, and permanent loss of speech. And then there are the smaller irritants that make defenseless patients despair: oppressive summer heat and its companion plague of flies. Very few effective remedies exist against the latter, which in many cases make the last hours of the dying even more miserable.”
-Salomonski (translated)
After the war, he continued to serve as a rabbi in Berlin, becoming deeply involved in the acceptance of the Jewish community. Salomonski was also dedicated to the German nation, remaining optimistic in spite of the rise of the Nazi party. While some of his fellow chaplains who served in WWI fled, Salomonski remained in Germany, committed to the Jewish community. Tragically, he was eventually deported to Theresienstadt and then to Auschwitz where he was murdered in October of 1944.
Photo of the 1600 Jewish soldiers celebrating the New Year
The kitchen operation
Getting the meal
- Description:
- Salomonski, Martin. Jüdische Seelsorge an der Westfront. Berlin : L. Lamm, 1918.
- Persistent Link:
- http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:2958209
- Repository:
- Widener Library
- Institution:
- Harvard University
