Apologies if this has been posted before. "36,000 Army Air Forces (AAF) personnel were confined in prisoner of war (POW) camps in Europe. There, under the 1929, Geneva Convention, POWs had certain rights. These rights were not always honored by the Germans, however. Conditions varied widely from camp to camp, officers usually fared better than enlisted men who sometimes faced malnutrition and beatings. The treatment of Jewish POWs ranged from their being ignored or segregated to brutality and even death. Despite their status as POWs, some Jewish and non-Jewish Americans were sent to concentration camps where they were subjected to the horrors of starvation, overwork, no medical attention, beatings and murder. Some are known to have died at Berga slave labor camp. At least one American airman is thought to have been executed at Dachau, and some AAF POWs were sent to the infamous Mauthausen concentration camp where some were put to death." Factsheets : Army Air Forces Victims of the Holocaust
As terrifing as combat was then if someone was Jewish that would have made it worse. Was there any allowances made to allied combatents who were of the Jewish faith? Could if they wished (knowing some of what might be in store for them it would be understandable ) get a different identity ie flying officer Goldberg become flying officer Smith ? Bailing out of a burning bomber would be would be scary enough without having to be taken and tortured by some black shirt S.S officers because you happen to have a Jewish name ...
Jewish RAF Special Operators in Radio Counter Measures with 101 Squadron There were many stories of Jewish families giving their sons crosses to wear. They knew what they were getting into.
We had a few threads over the years on the Ausch..concentration camp and British and other allied pow's incarcerated in the POW camp there Gordon. May be interesting to others if they would like to do a search. I remember the surprise of some members to find that we had allied military in the complexes. Some testified at Neuremburg and they were certainly not there because they were Jewish. However they were not in the Jewish barracks of course.
