In October–November 1916, the so-called "Judenzählung" ("Jew count") was held by the German Army to examine the popular anti-Semitic claim that German Jews were "shirking" their duty to the Fatherland by avoiding war service. The "Jew count" revealed that in fact German Jews were disproportionately over-represented in the front-line units, as most German Jews were anxious to prove their German patriotism and love of the Fatherland by volunteering for front-line duty. Many young German Jewish men wished to rebut the anti-Semitic canard that they were not real Germans by fighting for the Fatherland, and thus showing that they loved Germany as much as their Gentile neighbors, hence the disproportionate number of German Jews on the front-line compared to their share of the German population. As the results of the "Jew count" did not please the two men in charge of High Command, namely Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff, the latter a "fanatical anti-Semite" who had been expecting the "Jew Count" to reveal that German Jews were disproportionally underrepresented on the front-line, the High Command issued a facetious statement saying that for the safety of the German Jewish community the "Jew count" could not be made public, as it would endanger the lives of German Jews. The implication that if people could see just how far German Jews were allegedly "shirking" their duty to the Fatherland, then pogroms would break out in Germany led to a major upsurge in anti-Semitism, which Chamberlain was quick to exploit.