Werner Goldberg Werner Goldberg ( October 3 , 1919 – September 28 , 2004 ) was a German who was of part Jewish ancestry , or " Mischling " in Nazi terminology , who served briefly as a soldier during World War II and whose image appeared in a German newspaper as " The Ideal German Soldier " . Biography . Werner ' s father grew up in Königsberg as a member of the Jewish community but he had himself baptized in the local Lutheran church as he wished to become assimilated and marry a Christian . After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933 , Mr . Goldberg lost his position under the Nazi law of April 1933 , Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service , which expelled Jews from the German Civil Service . Werner left school in 1935 and became an apprentice at Schneller und Schmeider , a clothing company jointly owned by a Jew and a non - Jew , where many of his colleagues were Jews or mischlinge . Werner ' s uncle on his mother ' s side was an opportunist who joined the Nazi party and refused to be seen with the Goldberg family , even avoiding Werner ' s mother . At the beginning of 1938 Werner served a six month term in the Reich Labour Service whose uniform , as Werner later recalled , " had a swastika on an armband " . On December 1 , 1938 Werner joined the German Army . He took part in the invasion of Poland on September 1 , 1939 , serving alongside childhood friend Karl Wolf whose father was now a high - ranking SS officer . Shortly after the beginning of the War , Werner ' s photograph appeared in the Sunday edition of the " Berliner Tageblatt " newspaper with the caption " The Ideal German Soldier " ; the photograph had been sold to the newspaper by the official army photographer . It was later used on recruitment posters . In 1940 following the Armistice with France , Werner was expelled from the army under Hitler ' s order of April 8 , 1940 which stated that all 1st degree Mischlinge were to be expelled from the military . He returned to his former workplace which had now changed its name to the Feodor Schmeider Company , having been obliged to remove the Jewish name Schneller . Werner played an increasingly more responsible role within the company , obtaining contracts for uniforms from the army and the navy . He also attended the Reich Board of Labour Studies School ( " Reichsaussschuss für Arbeitsstudie " ) where he was one of 4 out of 80 students who passed the test to become a REFA teacher . He then became a Labour Studies Board lecturer on the clothing business , and delivered lectures to organizations and company directors , even publishing an article in the weekly trade publication " Textilwoche " . In December 1942 , Werner ' s father was admitted to the Bavaria Hospital . The Gestapo however raided the hospital and sent him to a Jewish hospital which had been requisitioned by the Gestapo for use as prison , from which Jews were taken and sent to Auschwitz . On Christmas Eve , gambling that the guards would be drunk or absent , Werner took his father from the hospital . Mr . Goldberg was soon back in the hands of the Gestapo and in April 1943 was summoned for deportation , but Werner told him not to show up and he was again saved . He became the only member of Werner ' s family to survive the War . Werner Goldberg ' s story formed part of the 2006 documentary " Hitler ' s Jewish Soldiers " , a 58 minute film produced by Larry Price in association with the Israel Broadcasting Authority . Price was inspired by the 2002 book " Hitler ' s Jewish Soldiers " by Bryan Mark Rigg . Werner Goldberg featured in an episode of the Yesterday TV series " Nazi Collaborators " , first screened in the UK in December 2010 . Werner Goldberg died in Berlin on September 28 , 2004 ; he was survived by his wife Gertrud Goldberg , and three children .