Reuel Abraham (born 1924), born Karl Heinz Schneider, is a former

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth ( , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth wing of the German Nazi Party. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. From 1936 until 1945, it was th ...

member and Luftwaffe pilot during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

reported to be the first former Nazi to

convert to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( or ) is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. "Thus, by converting ...

World War II

In 1942 Schneider joined the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

serving as a dive bomber pilot. Stationed in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, he witnessed the execution of a group of Jews by members of the SS. According to Schneider, following this experience he began to pretend to be ill in order to avoid combat, missed assigned targets, and tampered with bombs to prevent detonation. As a penitence following the war, he worked for twenty years as a coal miner, donating two thirds of his income anonymously to groups supporting Jewish orphans and survivors of the concentration camps.

Emigration and conversion

In 1965 he immigrated to Israel, buying a farm in Galilee. Schneider changed his name to Reuel Abraham, converted to Judaism, and became a citizen of Israel. He was circumcised in a hospital in Haifa.

References

1924 births Possibly living people Converts to Judaism German emigrants to Israel Hitler Youth members 20th-century Israeli Jews Israeli people of German descent Luftwaffe pilots German coal miners German resistance members 20th-century converts to Judaism {{Israel-bio-stub