World War I marks a huge break in Central European Jewish history. Not only had the violent
wartime events destroyed Jewish life and especially the living space of Eastern European Jews
but the impacts of war the geopolitical change and a radicalization of anti-Semitism also led
to a crisis of Jewish identity. Furthermore during the process of national self-discovery and
the establishing of new states the societal position of the Jews and their relationship to the
state had to be redefined. These partially violent processes which were always accompanied by
anti-Semitism evoked Jewish and Gentile debates in which questions about Jewish loyalty to
the old and or new states as well as concepts of Jewish identity under the new political
circumstances were negotiated. This volume collects articles dealing with these Jewish and
gentile debates about military service and war memory in Central Europe.