Jack Goldstein was American Army soldier forced into slave labor during World War II. Jack was one of thousands of Americans captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. The Nazi’s singled out those prisoners who were Jewish, or they thought were Jewish, and shipped them off to dig tunnels as slave laborers at a hellish place called Berga. A PBS Documentary tells the story of Jack Goldstein and the other American soldiers of Berga. When interviewed by PBS as an old man, Jack talked about the day the Germans asked all the people of his faith to step forward:

Some of the fellows were talking, they were saying, “Don’t say you’re Jewish,” you know. You don’t know what’s going to happen. But then later on when we got as a group, they (the Germans) said, “All the Jews stand over here.” That’s when I walked over, said I was Jewish.

Another American soldier, Joseph Littell, tells the story of another slave laborer who made a different choice. Joseph’s friend had thrown away his dog tags after being abused by a German guard. These dog tags identify you as either Hebrew, Catholic or Protestant. So imagine the scene. You’re in a Nazi slave labor camp and a fellow soldier and brother in the faith comes up to you and says:

I lay awake all night last night. I’m ashamed that I threw away my dog tag. I have renounced my Jewish faith in doing that. I didn’t want the Germans to know that I was Jewish. I’m prouder of that than anything. I won’t let that happen again no matter what it costs me.