Among The Front

Alessio Baggio
A Jewish Soldier In Hitler’s Army Unlikely Warrior
By Georg Rauch


  1933 Hitler is elected chancellor; 1939 Germany invades Poland; 1943 A Jewish soldier is placed on the front lines in the war against Russia as a telegraphist. Will he survive? Will he die? Only one book will be able to tell the tale of Georg Rauch’s A Jewish Soldier in Hitler’s Army. This historical non-fiction true story follows the main character, Georg Rauch, who is an Austrian citizen of Jewish descent. Otherwise known in German as a Mischlinge for being a quarter Jewish. The story captures his adventures as a telegraphist for the German army along the Eastern Front. From the very beginning, he experiences full fueled human anger and hatred as well as the horrors of death and destruction, “There thousands of vehicles had been left standing up to their axles in the mire. Stinking horse cadavers with legs pointing stiffly toward the sky" (Rauch 124). But Georg always sees ahead and triumphs over his own declining morale. As a historical note since the time he had entered the front, the German army had been in decline after two major military defeats at the Battle of Stalingrad and Battle of Kursk. Throughout his experiences on multiple fronts as well as eventual capture by the Russians, Georg hops across the European continent as both a soldier and a prisoner. Yet still keeps his own morals and value by writing letters back to his Austrian family throughout his time in service.

  I would highly recommend this book, not just because it's an action-packed war story, but also because it’s an exciting and interesting war story that reveals the complete memoir of someone's life. It explores new aspects of the war that I’d never read about before. In my reading experiences, I haven’t found many books translated into English uncovering the life of a German soldier (especially one being Jewish). For me, it's a unique experience reading about the enemy’s views and ideas of the war in Europe. A Jewish Soldier in Hitler’s Army expresses thematic ideas such as hope and perseverance and because of this, the book gave me a sense of realization that even in the darkest bleakest situations, light can still be found in the smallest cracks and crannies. While reading the few but long chapters the book has to offer, a portion of the pages are filled with letters the main character wrote to his family. What I found fascinating about this is even when “planes tipped from the sky and dropped their bombs, one wave after another. Giant fountains of explosion shot up the sky”(Rauch 189), Georg, was still writing letters of hope and reassurance back to his family in Vienna. Flashforward a year later in 1944 Georg finds himself in an open Romanian field as Russian tanks close in on his location. In a pure attempt to stay alive and live another day Georg scrambles to make a trench to hide. In the following minutes “ I could feel and hear, above the noise of the shrieking chains, the continuous working of heavy diesel motors" (Rauch 198).

  The story relates to me personally on many levels: my hobby, my heritage, and my family history. This book struck my fancy because it’s about WWII, which is a topic I’m very interested in both for its impact on human history and its memorabilia. In terms of my heritage, this book related to me because on my grandmother's side I’m partially Austrian due to my Northern Italian ancestry. Lastly, on a historical level, I found this book interesting because my grandfather during WWII was living in Italy during the German occupation and had to learn and adapt to the German language for his own survival.

  I would recommend this book to anybody interested in WWII and would rate this book for anyone 12 and older. This book can also relate to anyone interested in action and adventure because this also fits that criteria.