Conceptions of Comradeship: Hans H. Pinkus and the nazification of the reichsvereinigung ehemaliger kriegsgefangener

This article examines the relationship between Hans H. Pinkus, a prominent GermanJew, and the Reichsvereinigung ehemaliger Kriegsgefangener (ReK), the largest association of former German prisoners of the FirstWorldWar. Pinkus's surrender in August 1914 called his soldierly virtue into question and threatened to confirm stereotypes of Jewish cowardice. Military surrender carried a stigma, and Pinkus was counted among the former prisoners who sought to redeem their image with the general public and the community of German veterans. Drawing on Pinkus's correspondence with the ReK, the article chronicles his influential role in the organization's development and his marginalization following Hitler's rise to power. An analysis of Pinkus's involvement in and removal from the ReK both complements and complicates earlier work on Jewish war veterans, which has largely focused on the Reichsbund ju" discher Frontsoldaten. Pinkus's experiences as a member of the ReK demonstrate how many German veterans came to accept the 'social death' of loyal Jewish comrades despite holding no antisemitic views. The experiences of surrender, captivity, and the post-war struggle for respect influenced themanner in which the ReK rationalized the removal of Pinkus from its membership. If Pinkus's expulsion made integration into the veterans' community a possibility, the ReK was willing to sacrifice one of its most dedicated members for the sake of securing a place in Hitler's 'community of the front'.