page_title: Meno Burg
section_title: Officer during the Restoration
hierarchical_section_title: Meno Burg / Officer during the Restoration
caption_attribution_description: English: Berlin - Prussian war academy, Unter den Linden 74, after change of residence comming from the street Burgstrasse. Deutsch: Berlin - Preußische Kriegsakademie, Unter den Linden 74, nach Umzug aus der Burstrasse. In dem Gebäude, erbaut von Karl Friedrich Schinkel, war bis 1876 die Vereinigte Artillerie- und Ingenieurschule, die danach in die Burstrasse verlegt wurde.
context_page_description: Meno Burg, also referred to as Judenmajor, was a Prussian field officer. Burg reached the highest rank ever attained by a Jew in the Prussian Army of the 19th century. However, his military career is also an example of the discrimination which was suffered by Jews who served the Prussian government.
context_section_description: Since 1816 as an instructor at the United Artillery and Engineer School (German: Vereinigte Artillerie- und Ingenieurschule) in Berlin, Burg's principal subject of instruction was drawing and geometry, on which science he wrote a text-book that attained great popularity, being frequently republished and translated into several languages. On 4 July 1826, Burg was promoted to first lieutenant, on time and according to his seniority. It is noteworthy that Burg received his promotion, while other Jewish volunteers, who claimed their legitimate rights to employment in the civil service, had been rejected because of their faith.
  Despite the highest protection by August Prince of Prussia, Burg nearly had not been promoted to the rank of a captain. In this promotion drama, Burg initially had to compromise to be promoted to the rank of a "captain of the army" only, a rank that was not equivalent to a captain of the artillery. Then he was invited to be baptized, to make the promotion possible, what Burg ultimately rejected. Burg requested the baptism once in 1824, but then he postponed his request "because of family relationships" on 16 November 1824.
  On 6 December 1830 Burg had to learn, that the King did not even want to appoint him to the rank of a captain of the army, because he had not attained "the salvation of the Christian faith". Burg's accomplishments in the service and the fact that he was a well-known book author and a respected military educator were not taken into consideration. Since it simply came down to discrimination based on his belief, Burg considered quitting the army. Completely unforeseen, he was finally promoted to the rank of a captain of the artillery, on time and according to his seniority. He could not, however, wear the uniform of the artillery, but only the uniform of an armory captain (German: Zeugkapitän), a special branch in the Prussian army that ranked at the bottom.
caption: Vereinigte Artillerie- und Ingenieurschule
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