We've all heard stories of the occasional Wehrmacht soldier that happened to be jewish, yet for one reason or another was able to avoid becoming a victim of the Holocaust, whether by pure luck in hiding their identity, or due to some high ranking officer pulling strings to keep them safe. However, I've recently gotten curious as to just how far this went.
So, my questions are, what happened to Jews and other people classed as "undesirable" by the Nazi regime that were serving in the Wehrmacht before and during WW2? Were officers treated any differently from the rank and file? And what about those in specialist roles, such as surgeons and engineers?
This seemed like a question that should have been answered before, but surprisingly it hasn't; it's been asked several times though!
So, let's first establish what it means to be Jewish. This is an entire topic of debate and dispute and you'll get different answers from different people. I bring this up to mention though that the Third Reich's manner of determining who is and is not a Jew is markedly different from anthropological or religious approaches. The Reich under the NSDAP used a legal procedure called the Mischling Test. Mischling is a German word that means 'mixed-blood' and both of these terms are legal designations in the Reich that determined your level of participation in all aspects of life under the Reich. This test was an application of the Nuremberg Laws on Citizenship and Race, passed by the Reichstag on 15 September 1935 and later amended to include the First Supplementary Decree of 14 November 1935. I linked the laws below if you want to read them for yourself. Under these laws, you were a Jew if you practiced the religion or had three to four Jewish grandparents; you were a mischling if you had one or two Jewish grandparents. You were also considered a Jew if you had a Jewish spouse. Moreover, you were considered a Jew if you were the offspring of a marriage with at least one Jewish parent. The Laws also specified that if you were a Great War veteran, even if you were Jewish, you retained your pension.
Some persons who held the legal status of either Jew or mischling did not consider themselves Jewish and many rose to prominence under the Reich out of patriotism to Germany or in some cases a genuine and devout belief in National Socialism. Some notable examples are Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, a test pilot for the Luftwaffe and Bernhard Rogge, a Kriegsmarine officer.It was much better to be considered a mischling rather than a 'full Jew'. In many cases, mischlings were offered a German Blood Certificate which exempted you from most of Germany's racial laws by declaring you legally and officially of German blood (deutschblütig). This certificate differed from the status of 'honorary Aryan'; the certificate was given to individuals whereas honorary Aryan status was mostly given to people-groups and only occasionally persons.
Interestingly, the military experience of non-Aryans differs significantly in some cases than the experience of non-Aryan civilians. I can't really make any blanket statements here, as it seemed to vary widely based on who your commanding officer(s) were, and whether you were enlisted or an officer. Some officers addressed their men in general and just told them to go on as they were, and so it was. In another case, at least one German soldier was shot on sight by his officer for revealing impure ancestry. There was an unofficial rumor that serving in the Luftwaffe was probably the best bet for someone of non-Aryan ancestry and some of them made out well here. There was also a strong correlation between your actual ability and level of discrimination. The more educated you were, the more valuable you were to the Reich, and therefore were more likely to obtain a blood certificate after sufficiently demonstrating loyal service to the Reich, or at least have your blood status ignored while you served in the military. This didn't change the fact that the Nuremberg Laws still applied to you in the civilian world and were barred from marrying an Aryan, employing an Aryan under age 45, and more.
To address your question concerning the differentiation between officers and enlisted: the Reich retained many aspects of Imperial German military tradition. Under the Empire, military officers were really a class unto themselves and were strongly preferred to enlisted men in civil society. That isn't to say that enlisted veterans were treated poorly, not at all; just that officers received preferential treatment. Two prominent examples of Jewish officers who received special dispensation were Field Marshal Erhard Milch, who had a Jewish father, but was undoubtedly a loyal Nazi, as he was convicted of war crimes at the Nuremberg Trials; and Luftwaffe General of the Airforce Helmuth Wilberg.
Many veterans of the Great War considered non-Aryan believed that the Nuremberg Laws did not apply to them and drew a differentiation between the cultured, patriotic German-Jew and the Ostjuden, East Jews. At least some of these held genuine NSDAP values. A greater portion of Jews serving in the military did so for pragmatic reasons, trying to escape persecution through military service, or because they were already veterans and felt some loyalty to Germany, even if not to the NSDAP.
In general, non-Aryan soldiers went to great lengths to hide their identities through externally conforming as much as possible to the Nazi ideal, though forged papers could only get you so far. Embarrassingly, there were foreskin inspections and if you could not pull it down (aka you were circumcised), you were considered Jewish. Some Jewish soldiers if they were able to helped fellow Jews in Eastern Europe during the invasion of Russia by offering them passes or allowing them to flee.
All in all, it's a really case-by-case issue.
Bibliography / Further reading
Pegelow, T. (2006). Determining 'People of German Blood', 'Jews' and 'Mischlinge': The Reich Kinship Office and the Competing Discourses and Powers of Nazism, 1941-1943. Contemporary European History, 15(1), 43-65. Retrieved February 15, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20081294
Rigg, B. (2009). Lives of Hitler's Jewish Soldiers: Untold Tales of Men of Jewish Descent Who Fought for the Third Reich. University Press of Kansas. Retrieved February 15, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1f2qr44
Nuremberg Laws, https://web.archive.org/web/20090409194050/http://frank.mtsu.edu/~baustin/nurmlaw2.html