German Rabbi Chaplain Feldgebetbuch

[Chap15]

A recent find. A 1918 dated Jewish field prayer book is stamped with RsB./IVB4 1943 on thelast page.<O></O>
I don’t know what the RsB. part stands for but IVB4 stands for the Zentralstelle f******252;r J******252;dische Auswanderung (German Bureau for Jewish Emigration). The stamp is dated 1943. My best guess is that this book was taken from a former Jewish WW1 Imperial German Army veteran and that it was destined to go to some library or archive. The book reads from right to left instead ofleft to right.<O></O>
It has 184 pages with prayers both in Hebrew and German writing. The foreword is signed by “Die Feldrabbiner des Ostens” (The Field Rabbi in the East). The (roughly) translated text of the foreword reads: “ This Jewish field prayer book is distributed in the fourth year of the war. The form and contents of this book are based on the experience of war. By order of the Field Rabbi in the East, the Army Rabbi Dr. S. Levi (A.O.K. 10) took care of the publishing of this book. The translations of the Hebrew prayers in German as well as the German prayers are – except for the named salmons that were copied from the salmon book for German Jews – provided by the publisher. Thanks to the numerous gifts from German Jews, who we hereby wish to thank, this book could be printed in Wilna.<O></O>
may it strengthen the faith and inspire the strength in the holy service for the Fatherland to increase.<O></O>
Signed: Area Upper-East, during the feast of freedom 1918. The Field Rabbi of the East.<O></O>

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[McCulloh]

Wow-now that is unusual.
I've seen exactly one picture of a feld-rabbi in @30 years.
You might want to post this at the Thrid Reich History Forum in the Holocaust section.We don't do much about the Holocaust here, but they have a few guys who work at the Museum who egularly check in over there.
I don't know anything about the "Dept. of Jewish Emigration" and I doubt this is the sort of thing the SS seized for their planned cultural museum(s), but it's a very interesting and valuable bit of history.

[Chap15]

Wow, I didn't think much about the holocaust with this item in regards to getting it past the SS.
There is some question about non Christian chaplains in the Imperial Army. This is proof that there was. I also just finished reading a book called The Fighting Rabbis. In the book they mention a rabbi fighting in the east during WWI.
I only thought about the Holocaust in this way...I found it sad that a German Jew was fighting for Germany in the east in one war, and then the next war, German Jews (and others too) were being murdered in the east by Germans (and others too).