Werner Goldberg (3 October 1919 – 28 September 2004) was a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
who was of half
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
ancestry, or in
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
terminology, who served briefly as a soldier during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. His image appeared in the ''
Berliner Tageblatt
The ''Berliner Tageblatt'' or ''BT'' was a German language newspaper published in Berlin from 1872 to 1939. Along with the ''Frankfurter Zeitung'', it became one of the most important liberal German newspapers of its time.
History
The ''Berline ...
'' as "The Ideal German Soldier", and was later used in recruitment posters and propaganda for the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
.
Biography
Goldberg's father grew up in
Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...
as a member of the Jewish community but had himself baptized in the local
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
church as he wished to become assimilated and marry a
Christian. Goldberg had no idea his father was
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
; he and his brother Martin (born 1920) had been baptized in the
Grünewald Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
Church at their father's request. After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the senior Goldberg lost his position under the Nazi law of April 1933,
Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, which expelled Jews from the German Civil Service.
The 1935
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws (german: link=no, Nürnberger Gesetze, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of ...
classed persons with at least three Jewish grandparents as Jewish; those with two Jewish grandparents would be considered Jewish only if they practised the faith or had a Jewish spouse.
Goldberg left school in 1935 and became an apprentice at ''Schneller und Schmeider'', a clothing company jointly owned by a Jew and a non-Jew, where many of his colleagues were Jews or . Goldberg's maternal uncle joined the Nazi party and refused to be seen with the Goldberg family, even avoiding Goldberg's mother.
At the beginning of 1938, Goldberg served a six-month term in the
Reich Labour Service
The Reich Labour Service (''Reichsarbeitsdienst''; RAD) was a major organisation established in Nazi Germany as an agency to help mitigate the effects of unemployment on the German economy, militarise the workforce and indoctrinate it with Naz ...
whose uniform, as Goldberg later recalled, "had a swastika on an armband". On 1 December 1938, Goldberg joined the
German Army. He took part in the
invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
on 1 September 1939, serving alongside childhood friend Karl Wolf, whose father was now a high-ranking
SS officer.
Goldberg's photograph appeared in the Sunday edition of the ''
Berliner Tagesblatt'' newspaper with the caption "The ideal German soldier" ("''Der ideale deutsche Soldat''"); the photograph had been sold to the newspaper by the official army photographer. It was later used on recruitment posters.
In 1940, following the
Armistice with France, Goldberg was expelled from the army under Hitler's order of 8 April 1940, which stated that all first-degree were to be discharged from the military. He returned to his former workplace, which had now changed its name to ''Feodor Schmeider'', having been obliged to remove the Jewish name ''Schneller''. Goldberg played an increasingly responsible role within the company, obtaining contracts for uniforms from the army and the navy. He also attended the
Reich Committee for Labour Studies school (, RAFA), where he was one of the four out of 80 students who passed the test to become a RAFA teacher. He then became a Labour Studies Board lecturer on the clothing industry, and delivered lectures to organizations and company directors, even publishing an article in the weekly trade publication ''Textilwoche''.
In December 1942, Goldberg's father was admitted to hospital. The
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
, however, raided the hospital and sent him to a Jewish one which had been requisitioned by the Gestapo for use as a prison, from which Jews were taken and sent to
Auschwitz. On Christmas Eve, gambling that the guards would be drunk or absent, Goldberg took his father from the hospital. The elder Goldberg was soon back in the hands of the Gestapo, and in April 1943 was summoned for deportation; Werner told him not to show up, and he was again saved. The father and son were the only members of their immediate family to survive the war.
Werner Goldberg later joined the
Christian Democratic Union of Germany and served twenty years between 1959 and 1979 as a politician of the
Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin
The Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin (House of Deputies) () is the state parliament (''Landtag'') of Berlin, Germany according to the city-state's constitution. In 1993 the parliament moved from Rathaus Schöneberg to its present house on Niederkirchne ...
in
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
. He died in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
on 28 September 2004, aged 84; he was survived by his wife Gertrud Goldberg, and three children.
In popular culture
Goldberg's story formed part of the 2006 documentary ''Hitler's Jewish Soldiers – Nazi-Jews in Hitler's Army'', a 58-minute film produced by Larry Price in association with the
Israel Broadcasting Authority
The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA; ) was Israel's public broadcaster from 1948 to 2017.
History
The Israel Broadcasting Authority was an outgrowth of the radio station ''Kol Yisrael'', which made its first broadcast as an independent st ...
.
Price's film was inspired by the 2002 book ''Hitler's Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military'' by
Bryan Mark Rigg
Bryan Mark Rigg (born March 16, 1971) is an American author and speaker.
Biography
Born and reared as a Baptist, Rigg studied at Phillips Exeter Academy, graduating in 1991 continued on to Yale University, and received his B.A. in 1996. He rece ...
.
Goldberg featured in the episode "The Jews Who Fought for Hitler" of the
Yesterday TV series ''Nazi Collaborators'', first screened in the UK in December 2010.
In 2015, the photograph was used for the monument to "Protectors of Motherland" in
Tobolsk
Tobolsk (russian: Тобо́льск) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1590, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, an ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
, as a surrogate for an image of a
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...
soldier, reportedly by mistake. The image on the monument was promptly fixed.
See also
*
Hessy Levinsons Taft – Jewish infant girl also used in Nazi propaganda
Notes
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Werner
1919 births
2004 deaths
Military personnel from Königsberg
German people of Jewish descent
Jewish military personnel
People notable for being the subject of a specific photograph
Reich Labour Service members
Politicians from Königsberg
German Army soldiers of World War II
Jewish collaborators with Nazi Germany