Judaism in IR 23?

[grenadierwerner]

After seeing and hearing at Fort Macarthur last July how often the Imperial Army of the First World War was mistaken for and equated with the Wehrmacht of the Second, I am considering making my personified character, Werner Weiß, Jewish, in order to both further understanding of the political distinctions of the two Germanies and bring to light the heroism displayed by the more than 100,000 Jews in the Imperial army at public events such as Fort Macarthur.

I will not, however, further consider this idea if there is no historical record of any members of J.R. 23 being Jewish; although my desire to further public understanding is great, my determination to unit accuracy is greater still.

Therefore, I ask those who might be better informed on this topic if there would be any basis for adding this aspect to my persona. In addition, if our unit leadership considers this to be tasteless or offensive in any way, I ask that it be made known here so that I may avoid causing any undue trouble for our fine organization.

Brett

[rodian]

Aug 17, 2013 13:13:24 GMT -8 grenadierwerner said:

After seeing and hearing at Fort Macarthur last July how often the Imperial Army of the First World War was mistaken for and equated with the Wehrmacht of the Second, I am considering making my personified character, Werner Weiß, Jewish, in order to both further understanding of the political distinctions of the two Germanies and bring to light the heroism displayed by the more than 100,000 Jews in the Imperial army at public events such as Fort Macarthur.

I will not, however, further consider this idea if there is no historical record of any members of J.R. 23 being Jewish; although my desire to further public understanding is great, my determination to unit accuracy is greater still.

Therefore, I ask those who might be better informed on this topic if there would be any basis for adding this aspect to my persona. In addition, if our unit leadership considers this to be tasteless or offensive in any way, I ask that it be made known here so that I may avoid causing any undue trouble for our fine organization.

Brett

IMHO considering Silesia (the home region of your regiment) did have Jews, it would be possible that they did have a few Jews in their ranks.

Also, the JR23 website mentions in it's summarised version of the original unit's history: "The region contained substantial populations at various trade centers, such as Breslau and Oppeln. These populations were more culturally and religiously diverse than those in other parts of Prussia. "

If you're going to do this I'd just advise you to do some good research and know the customs etc. in case you get asked about it.

www.zum.de/whkmla/region/germany/sildemography.html

[soldataltengarde]

Brett, I am assuming you are Jewish.. If yes, by all means; I encourage you to do so, because German is German and the German Jews served faithfully for the Kaiser.

But if you are not personally of that faith, well then it may not be in good taste.. perhaps having a display describing the many faiths during the Kaiserzeit would be better.