Joe Liebgott's war records show that he was listed as being Jewish by the National Jewish Welfare Board in 1945. Likely, however, he was Catholic based on genealogical records from Banat Brestowatz in the former Yugoslavia. Whatever his religion, this document predates the writing of the script for Band of Brothers. His comrades in arms and the Bureau of Records assumed he was Jewish even though he was likely not. Why he did this or never denied these assumptions will likely never be known other than he was thoroughly determined to distance himself from Nazism . My father, Thomas Liebgott, was from the same town as Joe's family. He was raised Catholic and emigrated to Canada before WW2. Here he joined the "Anti Fascist League" and like Joe was fiercely opposed to Nazism. Also, like Joe, he had some attraction to Judaism and ultimately converted and married a Jewish woman, my mother. My fathers Swabian German and my mother's Yiddish were the same to my ear. I have also found online that my father Thomas and Joe Liebgott were in the same family tree. Joe had 2 uncles Stephen and Phillip. My brother was given the same names so it was likely the families were related. To sum up, Joe was doubtless Catholic but, for reasons of his own, never denied assumptions that he was Jewish. There was no Hollywood/Jewish conspiracy plot to suggest he was re-created as a Jewish character.

Are you related to Matt Liebgott in the Chicago area. My father was born in Banat Brestowatz. He would have been 86 this year in October. My father was in the concentration camps that Partisans created in Banat Brestowatz and was then shipped to other camps with his final destination in Gakaw (Speilling), one of the death camps which he was able to escape from with his mother and sister. In regards to Judism, my father told me he remembered his grandparents used to spell their last name Schwarz as Schwartz before the war. For some reason it was changed. The family has always been raised Catholic. > On Feb 19, 2019, at 3:08 PM, Bernie Liebgott <b.liebgott@sympatico.ca> wrote: > > > > Joe Liebgott’s war records show that he was listed as being Jewish by the National Jewish Welfare Board in 1945. Likely, however, he was Catholic based on genealogical records from Banat Brestowatz in the former Yugoslavia. Whatever his religion, this document predates the writing of the script for Band of Brothers. His comrades in arms and the Bureau of Records assumed he was Jewish even though he was likely not. Why he did this or never denied these assumptions will likely never be known other than he was thoroughly determined to distance himself from Nazism . > My father, Thomas Liebgott, was from the same town as Joe’s family. He was raised Catholic and emigrated to Canada before WW2. Here he joined the “Anti Fascist League” and like Joe was fiercely opposed to Nazism. Also, like Joe, he had some attraction to Judaism and ultimately converted and married a Jewish woman, my mother. My fathers Swabian German and my mother’s Yiddish were the same to my ear. I have also found online that my father Thomas and Joe Liebgott were in the same family tree. Joe had 2 uncles Stephen and Phillip. My brother was given the same names so it was likely the families were related. > To sum up, Joe was doubtless Catholic but, for reasons of his own, never denied assumptions that he was Jewish. There was no Hollywood/Jewish conspiracy plot to suggest he was re-created as a Jewish character. > > <image003.png> > > _______________________________________________ > Email preferences: http://bit.ly/rootswebpref <http://bit.ly/rootswebpref> > Unsubscribe https://lists.rootsweb.com/postorius/lists/donauschwaben-villages@rootsweb.com <https://lists.rootsweb.com/postorius/lists/donauschwaben-villages@rootsweb.com> > Privacy Statement: https://ancstry.me/2JWBOdY <https://ancstry.me/2JWBOdY> Terms and Conditions: https://ancstry.me/2HDBym9 <https://ancstry.me/2HDBym9> > Rootsweb Blog: http://rootsweb.blog <http://rootsweb.blog/> > RootsWeb is funded and supported by Ancestry.com <http://ancestry.com/> and our loyal RootsWeb community