The centennial of the First World War means that we have plenty of grim events to commemorate, and none more so than in this present year. 1916 was the point at which the war moved into the full-scale industrial mass production of death. We are already reading the accounts of the horrors of Verdun and the Somme, and other atrocities abounded.
One in particular demands our attention, although it is not well known beyond the ranks of specialist historians. Briefly, in October 1916, the German War Ministry began counting the number of Jews serving in its full time forces, in the so-called Judenzählung, or “Jewish census.” But why should that be regarded as such a momentous and even dreadful event? Let me offer some background.
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