During World War II, if the Germans captured Allied prisoners and sent them to a PoW camp, what would become of the ones who were discovered later to be Jews?

by TheJucheisLoose

I'm especially interested in their treatment of officers who were found to be Jewish. Did the "officers' code" come into play?

Also, was there a difference between Jews captured by ground forces and those captured as pilots? I'm aware the Luftwaffe had its own prison system.

Capt_Blackadder

If you were caught without dog tags then most would lie or hide that they were Jewish. If you were a known jew then you would be treated much worse but for the most part not killed mostly beaten. However there is one large exception the Berga Camp Incident. It was near the end of the war and a group of POWs were split into Jewish and none Jewish groups. The Jews were sent to a coal mine that functioned as a concentration camp. Of the 350 sent there 27% were dead within 10 weeks by far the highest attrition rate of Western POWs. This incident was very obscure for a long time until around 10 years ago when the New York Times published an article as seen below.

There are a few other sources that deal with this topic. One of the better ones would be Men of Honour American GIs in the Jewish Holocaust.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/magazine/27PRISON.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

Rolten

Was it even possible for the Germans to determine whether or not the soldiers they captured were Jewish? Seems like something that is quite difficult to determine as long as the soldier himself does not admit it.

thecarebearcares

I thought this was a good question and sure enough it's been answered already here

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1d0goa/during_world_war_two_did_the_germans_ever_take/

iwouldnotknow

There are a number of reasons you could be arrested in Germany. You could be: a common criminal, a communist, a war resister, a Jew, etc.

How serious was being a Jew in relation to other possible reasons for being arrested?