"We are all Jews here"

In January 1945 Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds was in the Ziegenhain stalag with 1000 of his fellow prisoners.  Edmonds was the highest ranking American officer, and he was told by his German captors to order all the Jews to step forward.  Instead he ordered all of the men to stand together and then told the Germans, “We are all Jews here.”

That act may have saved the lives of up to 200 Jews.  This week President Obama went to the Israeli embassy where he participated in a ceremony recognizing Sgt. Edmonds as the first American service member to be named “Righteous Among the Nations,” an honor given to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.  

In these days of bigotry and xenophobia, it is good to be reminded of people like Sgt. Edmonds. 

[Information from this post came from an article by Julie Hirschfeld Davis,. “Wartime Act of Defiance:  ‘We Are All Jews Here,’” New York Times, 28 Jan. 2016, p. A8.  It should be noted that Sgt. Edmonds never spoke of what he did.  His actions came to light because of testimony from Jewish soldiers who were saved.]