Germany to reintroduce military rabbis for the first time since 1930s

Source: CNN

Members of parliament attend a session of the Bundestag on May 29, 2020 in Berlin.

Germany is reintroducing rabbis into its military for the first time since the Nazis banned them from the armed forces in the 1930s. The German Parliament rubber-stamped the law reestablishing the official position of military rabbi on Thursday in what was the first expansion of the law on military pastoral care since 1957.

The Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said the move was a return to the tradition and a “contribution against growing anti-Semitism, extremism and populism” in society.
Military rabbis were part of the German armed forces during World War I, when around 100,000 Jewish soldiers fought for the country. They were banned shortly after Adolf Hitler assumed power in 1933, as part of the Nazi’s early efforts to remove Jews from the public life.

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