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Article: Jews in the Spanish army.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
- Article from:
- Quadrant
- Article date:
- April 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Quadrant Magazine Company, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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SIR: I was surprised to read in Michael Galak's article (December 2007) about the "Jewish regiments fighting alongside Christian defenders ... during the Arab invasion of the Iberian Peninsula". Many historians appear to be ignorant of this.
In two dense histories of Spain I found references to discrimination against the Jews and sometimes outright persecution of Jews during the Visigothic period, but nothing about their military contribution. In Friedrich Heer's book God's First Love he claims that the oppressed Jews of Spain "found allies and protectors in the Arabs who were preparing to conquer the peninsula". Paul Johnson's A History of the Jews also refers ...