Heart and Soul: German, soldier, Jew
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 18 August 2023
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After the horrific role played by the German military in the Holocaust, arguably the last place you would expect to find a Jew would be in the German Armed Forces. And yet it is estimated that today there are around 300 practising Jewish military personnel, and since 2021 they have had their own chaplain, the first chief rabbi – and the first non-Christian - in nearly 90 years. With the help of serving personnel and the head of the military rabbinate, Shelly Kupferberg explores what it means to be Jewish in today’s German armed forces. Shelly also hears from Michael Fürst, the very first Jew to sign up after World War Two, who is now the president of the association of Jewish communities of Lower Saxony.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Love Genessa is the True Crime Podcast from the BBC World Service and CBC Podcasts, |
| 0:06.4 | investigating the murky world of online romance scams. |
| 0:10.0 | She was trying to get me to send her money. |
| 0:12.6 | Catch up with the whole series now, search for Love Genessa, wherever you found this podcast. |
| 0:18.4 | You win their art, you win their wallet. |
| 0:24.6 | Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:31.0 | I only have to listen to a few seconds of music like that from Nazi Germany |
| 0:37.0 | and already I get shivers down my spine. |
| 0:46.0 | The Nazi relays were such tunes were heard where massive displays of military power, |
| 0:52.0 | power that would result in the extermination of 6 million Jews, |
| 0:58.0 | 6 million people, just like me. |
| 1:12.0 | It's hard for me to watch the footage of all those men in military uniform |
| 1:17.0 | who pledged their allegiance to my country. |
| 1:20.0 | I still don't understand how they could commit the atrocities they did in the name of Germany. |
| 1:27.0 | For sure, more than 8 decades after this scene, Germany's moved on |
| 1:32.0 | and the German army or Bundeswehr has moved on. |
| 1:36.0 | In 2023, the Bundeswehr now has a new role at the heart of Europe. |
| 1:42.0 | With walls stalking the continent, the Bundeswehr has a big funding increase in its sights, |
| 1:48.0 | a boost of 100 billion euros. |
| 1:52.0 | Part of a new foreign policy set out by the government |
| 1:55.0 | in response to the invasion of Ukraine. |
| 2:04.0 | I'm not sure I believe in inherited trauma, |
... |
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