Reuel Abraham (born 1924), born Karl Heinz Schneider, is a former Hitler Youth member and Luftwaffe pilot during World War II reported to be the first former Nazi to convert to Judaism.

World War II

In 1942 Schneider joined the Luftwaffe serving as a dive bomber pilot. Stationed in Poland, 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.[1][2] 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.[1]

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.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Ex-Nazi bomber pilot converts to Judaism". The Miami News. 21 April 1966. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  2. ↑ Nanette Asimov (27 June 2001). "Reform rabbis welcome converts — with new rules". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
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