The exceptions: The Jews Hitler chose to save himself | Weekend Special

The article presents the stories of three Jews whom Hitler personally ordered to be spared: Dr. Eduard Bloch, a doctor who treated his mother; Emil Maurice, a founding member of the SS declared an "honorary Aryan"; and Ernst Moritz Hess, his battlefield commander who received temporary protection. The analysis emphasizes that this was narcissism, not compassion.

The article, written by Daniel Shenef, focuses on three exceptional cases in which Adolf Hitler personally ordered the protection of Jews from Nazi persecution. The first case is that of Dr. Eduard Bloch, a Jewish doctor from Linz who treated Hitler's mother, Klara, for breast cancer in 1907. Hitler called him "Edeljude" (noble Jew) and ordered the Gestapo to protect him. Bloch and his family were allowed to remain in their home and later emigrate to the United States in 1940. The second case is that of Emil Maurice, party member number 594, a founding member of the SS and Hitler's personal driver. When it was discovered that his grandfather was Jewish, Hitler declared him an "honorary Aryan" despite Himmler's demand to expel him. Maurice survived the war and returned to work as a watchmaker. The third case is that of Ernst Moritz Hess, Hitler's commander on the Western Front in World War I. Hess, defined as Jewish under the Nuremberg Laws, received a letter of protection from Himmler on Hitler's orders in 1940, but the protection was removed in 1941 and he was sent to forced labor. The article concludes that these cases do not indicate compassion but pure narcissism of the dictator, who saw himself as above his own laws.