Guy Stern: Thank you for asking. The Ritchie Boys train at Camp Ritchie, Md., sometime during World War II. Longtime Yale and Princeton professor Victor Brombert helped enact the official Allied policy of removing Nazi influence from german public life known as denazification. As was philanthropist David Rockefeller and media baron and billionaire John Kluge. In 2011, the Holocaust Memorial Center, in Farmington Hills, Michigan, hosted an exhibit of the Ritchie Boys' exploits. All had experienced harrowing escapes from Europe and dangerous but productive returns. According to the Holocaust Museum, two Jewish Another bit of indispensable Ritchie Boy handiwork: the order of battle of the German army. In addition to the Holocaust Museums award, the U.S. Senate passed a resolutionin 2021 honoring the bravery and dedication of the Ritchie Boys, and recognizing the importance of their contributions to the success of the Allied Forces during World War II.. Jon Wertheim: So in May of 1945, Germany surrenders, and you're assigned to the denazification process. Essentially they were intellectuals. They were heroes not necessarily or predominantly based on bravery but on their intelligence and deserving of the name Secret Heroes. Guy Stern: Yes, that carried weight and the belief in the printed matter was very great. Dabringhaus went on to write a book about the experience called Klaus Barbie: The Shocking Story of How the U.S. Used this Nazi War Criminal as an Intelligence Agent.. So was Archibald Roosevelt, grandson of Theodore Roosevelt. Their mission: to use their knowledge of the German language and culture to return to Europe and fight Naziism. Additional valuable information on the Ritchie Boys may be found in a forum-type Facebook page, Ritchie Boys of WWII, ably managed with considerable devotion by Bernie Lubran, son of Ritchie Boy Walter Lubran, and by Josh Freeling, whose great uncle was Ritchie Boy Kurt Kugelmann. So little was known about the Ritchie Boys until the excellent documentary film The Ritchie Boys came upon the scene in 2004. There were at least 30 languages spoken at Camp Ritchie, but the preference obviously was for German speakers because most of the enemy forces would be German, Frey says. You playacted. Then shaping the cold war era, they really played a significant role. Photo credit DoD/Holocaust Memorial Center, Why Marlene Dietrich Was One of the Most Patriotic Women in World War II, In World War I, African American 'Hellfighters from Harlem,' Fought Prejudice to Fight for Their Country, VE Day Marked End of Long Road for World War II Troops, Programs for Service Members and Their Families. 60-plus percent of the actionable intelligence gathered on the battlefield was gathered by Ritchie Boys. Why do so few Americans know about this? You sort of swing it around the neck from behind and then pull. Jon Wertheim: That's what you called yourself? G. Guy Ritchie's The Covenant is an intense action movie, full of gunfire and explosions that make you feel caught in the midst of danger. If a German POW wouldn't talk, he might face Guy Stern dressed up as a Russian officer. Divisions that liberated concentration camps included hundreds of Ritchie Boys, who interviewed survivors. Guy Stern: Yes, even last night. Many of the Jewish refugees lost family members, and at the end of the war, they searched for them. | Jon Wertheim: 60% of the actionable intelligence? David S. Frey,a history professor and director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide at the United States Military Academy,said that in the late 1930s, Gen. George Marshall, then the Army Chief of staff, realized that if the United States was going to war, it needed battlefield intelligence capabilitywhich its military lacked. And I said "Well, huh, in slang, there ain't nothing special about you, but if you were saved, you got to show that you were worthy of it. Jon Wertheim: What you describe, it almost sounds like these were precursors to CIA agents. Through the power of Holocaust history, the Museum challenges leaders and individuals worldwide to think critically about their role in society and to confront antisemitism and other forms of hate, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity. 202.437.1221 Many were foreign-born or had lived abroad for significant amounts of time. "How many machine guns do you have there?" Guy Stern: I was called to the company office and told you're shipping out. But there were the odd grace notes among the wreckage of a continent. The knowledge that his adopted country would not let him fight their common enemy was bitterly frustrating. Their subjects ranged from low-level German soldiers to high-ranking Nazi officers including Hans Goebbels, brother of Hitler's chief propogandist, Joseph Goebbels. Jon Wertheim: I understand you you had sparring partners. They all became American success stories, businessmen or academics. According to the kind of unit, according to the kind of person we were interrogating. Mr. Readers may be amazed to learn that the Ritchie Boys included five Marines who died on Iwo Jima, including two who graduated with a specialty of Terrain Intelligence) and were killed in action on the day the Marines stormed Iwo Jima (19 February 1945). Salinger were among the camp gradsbut 2,000 German-language refugees, almost all Jewish, were the prize pupils. who was awarded a Silver Star medal posthumously for gallantry beyond the call of duty. I'm denouncing this and I was forced to do it. Divisions that liberated concentration camps included hundreds of Ritchie Boys, who interviewed survivors. Guy Stern: The Bronze Star was given to me right at the end of hostilities. Training was designed to be as realistic as possible. told the story of his fathers motivation and bravery in the book Unavoidable Hope. David Frey teaches history to cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. An official website of the United States Government. Director, Communications Jon Wertheim: What is it like when you get together and reflect on this experience going on 80 years ago? The SS controlled the German police forces and concentration camps and directed the so-called "Final Solution" to kill all European Jews. Now 98, Fairbrook is the former dean of the Culinary Institute of America. Before the Tuskegee Airmen, there were the Hellfighters from Harlem, a group of African American National Guard Soldiers of New York's 15th Infantry Regiment who fought for the right to serve in combat during World War I. Germany surrendered on May 8th of that year. Fort Ritchie, as it later became known, closed in 1998. Engraved on the award are the words from Wiesels Nobel Prize acceptance speech, One person of integrity can make a difference., About the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Jon Wertheim: How did you find out you were going to go to Camp Ritchie? By highlighting those individuals who, in the midst of evil, stood for the best, rather than the worst of human nature, the Holocaust Memorial Center seeks to contribute to maintaining an open and free society, he added. Paul Fairbrook: Oh that is a very good question. David Frey: Much of it originated at Camp Ritchie because it had never it hadn't been done before. Still, if they were captured, they knew what the Nazis would do to them. All students of World War II need to learn about the the Ritchie Boys. Guy Stern: Yes and it's theatrics in a way yes. Since the story of the Ritchie Boys remained relatively unknown for a half-century or more, it was often left to their children and grandchildren to bring their accomplishments to light. David Frey: They made a massive contribution to essentially every battle that the Americans fought - the entire sets of battles on the Western Front. Book Summary: The title of this book is Ritchie Boy Secrets and it was written by Eddy, Beverley Driver. They were all forced to do it. In the age of mechanized warfare, you need to know what these large armies look like, what their capabilities are, how theyre arrayed, Frey says. A contribution made by a single individual, especially if one or more lives are saved, is generally recognized as truly heroic. Sensing danger, Stern's father tried to get the family out. The soldiers were sent for training to Camp Ritchie, Md., beginning June 19, 1942, where they trained at the Military Intelligence Training Center thus their nickname, the Ritchie Boys. Early on in World War II, the Army realized it needed German- and Italian-speaking U.S. soldiers for a variety of duties, including psychological warfare, interrogation, espionage and intercepting enemy communications. The boys were members of a military intelligence unit; strongly discouraged from talking about their war, they didnt hold their first reunion until 60 years after it ended. In a different way, the contributions made by a small team or by a large group of individuals may also save lives and deserve to be called heroic. After Hitler's defeat, many of them took on a challenging new assignment using their language and interrogation skills to find and arrest top Nazi war criminals. In 1944, the Ritchie Boys headed to Europe to fight in a war that was, for them, intensely personal. Guy Stern recalls arriving at Buchenwald Concentration Camp three days after its liberation, alongside a fellow American sergeant. Max Lerner recalls that in one respect at least, identifying most SS members was easy. "Enjoy" is perhaps not the right word. We see those who are the greatest of the greatest generation. In trying to assess the contribution of a single participant to an endeavor as gigantic as World War II, the question is often asked How much difference can one man make? Considering how remarkable Ritchie Boys were as individuals, does it make sense to try to find just one or perhaps two Ritchie Boys whose individual contributions stand out in terms of the difference it made? A PHOTO FROM A RITCHIE BOY REUNION HELD IN WASHINGTON DC. Photo credit DoD/Holocaust Memorial Center, It was an emotional reunion, definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Now is it because they were afraid that the Nazis might come back, that it's not over? David Frey: A lot of what was learned and the methods used are important to keep secret. Some of them requested new dog tags with very good reason. Wounded people. Jon Wertheim: Do you remember saying goodbye to your family? Another was, , a member of the Mormon faith, who was awarded the prestigious Medal of Honor posthumously for his heroic actions in the Battle of the Philippines. David Frey: Many of those who trained at Camp Ritchie actually did go on to the OSS the precursor to the CIA, That meant that the people who learned their craft at Camp Ritchie played a significant role in setting up what eventually became the CIA. Paul Fairbrook: When the soldiers said "I'm not going to talk" they could say "wait a minute. Victor Brombert: I remember being up on a cliff the first night over Omaha beach. Not just any Nazi party member. Victor Brombert: One had to playact with some of the people were acting as prisoners and some of them were real prisoners. ", Jon Wertheim: "Unprincipled and dishonorable and I'm sorry?". USO Tour Veteran. Max Lerner: They have a tattoo of their blood group under their left arms. There were Ritchie Boys who were in POW camps embedded and gathering information in the United States. Investment banker David Rockefeller and civil rights activistWilliam Sloane Coffin were among the Ritchie Boys, who were assigned to every Army and Marines unitand to the Office of Strategic Services and the Counter Intelligence Corps. Following the war, some of the Ritchie Boys were used as interrogators during the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals. What did work Is complicity. K. Lang-Slattery, Katie Lang-Slattery. Fred Frommer is a historian and writer, and author of several books, including You Gotta Have Heart: Washington Baseball from Walter Johnson to the 2019 World Series Champion Nationals. Jon Wertheim: This dog tag says Hebrew. After Germany's surrender, the Ritchie Boys took on the difficult task of identifying and tracking down Nazi criminals. A significant number of people, even those with some knowledge of Camp Ritchie, appear to visualize a graduate of the Armys Military Intelligence Training Center as follows: A physically-challenged man of the Jewish faith, who was born in Germany or Austria, joined the U. S. Army, and after being trained at Camp Ritchie served in the European Theater in World War II as an interrogator in relative safety behind the lines. Walter Midener, an attendee, was awarded the Silver Star. That was potentially lethal in Europe under fluid battlefield conditions, especially during the Battle of the Bulge, when the Wehrmacht infiltrated American lines with soldiers dressed in U.S. uniforms. Text STOP to opt out, HELP for help. The USO relies on your support to help service members and their families. But the opportunity to help fight and win the war was a wonderful way. We are honored to recognize the unique role they played serving the United States and advancing our victory over Germany., Outgoing Museum Chairman Howard M. Lorber added, We selected the Ritchie Boys because of their remarkable actions and heroism in helping to end the war and the Holocaust. For as casually as we often toss around the word "hero", sometimes no lesser term applies. Beginning in September 1944, the United States military trained Japanese Americans at Camp Ritchie, and their language skills were also used in the war effort, this time against Japan. David Frey: All in service of winning the war. As a Jew, I knew I might not be treated exactly by the Geneva rules. Jon Wertheim: Give us a sense of the kinds of courses they took. In New York, Paul Fairbrook, had a similar impulse. WebThe Ritchie Boys were a secret unit of the US Army during the Second World War. To do so, they learned photo analysis, terrain analysis, aerial reconnaissance, enemy army analysis, interrogation, signals intelligence and much more.. Jewish soldiers were in great danger if captured, and two were captured and executed due to being identified by their captors as German-born Jews. By 1937, violence against Jews was escalating. Why were you the one that made it to the United States? I thought, "I'm never going to do that," but I was shown how to do it. Max Lerner: He spent several days in my jail. Max Lerner recalls being put in charge of one prominent captured German prisoner at a jail in Weisbaden, Germany: that was Julius Streicher the founder and editor of the Nazi paper "Der Stuermer" and one of the country's leading antisemites. Jon Wertheim: You work 6 days a week, you swim every morning, you lecture, any signs of slowing down? He grew up in a close-knit family in the town of Hildesheim, Germany. That was the mantra. Guy Stern speaks at the opening of the Holocaust Memorial Centers Ritchie Boys exhibit and reunion at Farmington Hills, Mich., July 24, 2011. Many of the Ritchie Boys went on to have successful civilian careers, including J.D. These are people who made massive contributions. Victor Brombert: I saw immense debris. Individual Ritchie Boys were cited for their contributions by being awarded over 60 Silver Star Medals for bravery. Many had fled Nazi Germany but returned as American soldiers, deploying their knowledge of German language and culture to great advantage. You on one side and we on this side. Many of the 15,200 selected were Jewish soldiers who fled Nazi-controlled Germany, which was systematically killing Jews. Jon Wertheim: What do you remember feeling that day? Nearly 2,000 German-born Jews were trained at Camp Ritchie to interrogate captured German soldiers. A few days later, Stern returned to the place of his birth, hoping to reunite with his family. On June 6, 1944, D-Day the Allies launched one of the most sweeping military operations in history. Amid the chaos of war, Guy Stern and the other Ritchie Boys had a job to do. It was the viewing of that film that converted Dan into a Ritchie Boy Wannabe and launched him on a quest to help publicize this heroic group. Some didn't even go over to to Europe. Victor Brombert: What happened to one of the Ritchie Boys - at night on the way to the latrine, he was asked for a password and he gave the name - the word for the password - but with a German accent. and I said "may I know where I'm going?" Naturally, I turned to Dan Gross, the unofficial archivist for the Ritchie Boys. Choose which Defense.gov products you want delivered to your inbox. Nina Wolff Feld told her fathers story in Someday You Will Understand: My Fathers Private World War 2. We had to-- we got a lot of German prisoners who were willing to help us catalog all those documents. The 10 digit ISBN is 0811769968 and the 13 digit ISBN is 9780811769969. Other Ritchie Boys were able to express their motivation and accomplishments in memoirs with titles such as I Must Be a Part of This War and A Few Who Made a Difference. When Hitler came to power, the Bromberts fled to France, and then to the U.S. But it gave me great deal of satisfaction. At one point, Max Lerner disguised himself as a German officer and snuck behind enemy lines - leading a team of American soldiers into a German depot at night and destroying the equipment. Jon Wertheim: This is going behind enemy lines. Victor Brombert: By complicity I mean, "Oh we are together in this war. All the while, they tracked down evidence and interrogated Nazi criminals, later tried at Nuremberg. All SS members were subject to automatic arrest. Elie Wiesel, the Museums founding chairman, was the first recipient of the award, which was subsequently named in his honor. "How to kill a sentry from behind." Jon Wertheim: What was it like for you, leaving Nazi Germany, escaping as a Jew, and the next time you go back to Europe it's to fight those guys? The Department of Defense provides the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security. Essentially they were intellectuals. served as the Intelligence Officer for the Second Ranger Battalion and was among those who scaled the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc at Omaha Beach on D-Day. He added that the military chose intelligent people because they had to process a tremendous amount of information." Ritchie Boys Image by Sons and Soldiers. Most chose the eldest son, to carry on the family name. ahollinger@ushmm.org. Originally a resort, Camp Ritchie was a curiously idyllic setting to prepare for the harshness and brutality of war. It was Sunday, May 13, 1945, Henderson marvels. David Frey: They were in fact. WebOne can readily point to the case of Ritchie Boy William R. Perl who outwitted Adolf Eichmann and saved an estimated 40,000 lives. Just two weeks shy of turning 100, Guy Stern drips with vitality. Salinger, author of the classic book The Catcher in the Rye.. Guy Stern speaks at the opening of the Holocaust Memorial Centers Ritchie Boys exhibit and reunion at Farmington Hills, Michigan in 2011. David Frey: They were incredibly effective. Edited by Stephanie Palewski Brumbach and Robert Zimet. And that has been the driving force in my life. Sometimes, not even information about their fate: it was the 1990s before Werner Angress could confirm his father perished in Auschwitz. This is the good conduct medal which I'm not really entitled to (laugh) and this here is the European theatre of operations medal with five battles in which I participated. Singer. Web4.73K subscribers The Ritchie Boys of World War Two were more than 15,000 servicemen who fled Nazi Germany and Austria, becoming instrumental in the allied war effort with Jon Wertheim: Why were the Ritchie Boys so successful? But at wars end, almost none found what they were really looking fortheir families. Isn't it a miserable thing? There were recruiting posters all over town, Making such a distinction in this case is very difficult. The intelligence they gathered was coveted by higher commanda postwar Pentagon report ascribed more than half of the credible battlefield intelligence gathered in Europe to the Ritchie Boys. Recruits were chosen based on their knowledge of European language and culture, as well as their high IQs. July 20, 2017, Martin Selling questions German prisoners near the front in France, 1944. David Frey: Techniques where you want to get people to talk to you. After their training, the Ritchie Boys were dispersed in different Army units. The USO is a not-for-profit organization and not part of the Department of Defense (DoD). The very aspect of these SOBs now being at my command (laugh) gave me also some personal satisfaction. It was hard for us not to notice that beyond the stories runs a deep sense of pride. A website by Dan Gross and Ritchie History Museum. Did it give you any satisfaction? David Frey: You had a whole load of immigrants who really wanted to get back into the fight. For more information, visit ushmm.org. Jon Wertheim: This was really a broad range of intelligence activities. Some Ritchie Boys were recruited to go on secret missions during the war. Besides their language ability, these soldiers were familiar with the culture and thinking of enemy soldiers, which would aid them in their efforts. The largest set of graduates were 2,000 German-born Jews. Dead people. After following in his familys footsteps and serving in the military, Air Force veteran Lyle Apo turned to USO Hawaii for the opportunity to volunteer and help current service members. Jon Wertheim: Did you ever worry your accent might get you killed? Museum to Confer its Highest Honor, The Elie Wiesel Award, Secret Unit Formed 80 Years Ago Was Instrumental in Nazi GermanysDefeat and Included Many Who Had Fled the Regime. David Frey: It was a very broad range And they did it all generally in eight weeks. They all rose to the top of their fields, as did a number of other Ritchie Boys. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), The Ritchie Boys train at Camp Ritchie, Maryland during World War II. In 2011, the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan, hosted an exhibit of the Ritchie Boys exploits. What could be more appropriate than to honor them with an award bearing the name of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.. Surviving soldiers were among the attendees. The soldiers were sent for training to (Photo: US Army/US Department of Defense), https://www.history.com/news/ritchie-boys-wwii-jewish-refugees-military-intelligence, The Jewish Refugees Who Fled Nazi GermanyThen Returned to Fight. Victor Brombert: It was very, very hard, very difficult and very rare to have a German denounce another German at that point. Victor Brombert: The shared experience, exactly. Some of these books, Frey says, were nearly 500 pages long by the end of the war. Guy Stern: And some we didn't break but 80% were so darned scared of the Russians and what they would do. Wayne State University Professor Ehrhard Dabringhaus, another attendee, was ordered shortly after the war to become the American control officer to Klaus Barbie, the notorious war criminal. Jon Wertheim: So there's all sorts of impact years and years and years after the war from this this camp in Maryland? Victor Brombert was with the first American armored division to land on Omaha Beach. Our country owes them an enormous debt of gratitude for their courage and sacrifices. and if you don't get it from one prisoner, you might get it from the other. Gross wrote to me saying, My The Ritchie Boys, some of whom landed on the beaches at Normandy, helped to interpret documents and gather intelligence, and conducted enemy warfare. In civilian life, he became a noted sculpture and fine arts teacher and rose to the presidency for the Center for Creative Studies at Detroits College of Art and Design. When they landed on the beaches of Normandy, Wehrmacht troops were waiting for them well armed and well prepared. Jon Wertheim: SS men, you're saying, have a tattoo under their left arm with their blood type? (U.S. Army Signal Corps). Guy Stern, a Bronze Star Medal recipient who attended, said: "It was an emotional reunion, definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Guy Stern: I had my whole uniform with medals, Russian medals. The story of Camp Ritchie and the men (and women) who came there is a story that needs to be broadcast more widely. Salinger, author of the classic book "The Catcher in the Rye.". Right. Jon Wertheim: How effective were they at gathering intelligence? Max Lerner: Wear civilian clothes, pass messages, kill. Guy Stern: I had an immediate visceral response to that and that was this is my war for many reasons. Jon Wertheim: So it sounds like this gave the officers in the field a guide to the German Army so they could then interrogate the German POW's more efficiently. David Frey: I think they did. After recruiters found out he spoke four languages, they dispatched him to Camp Ritchie, where strenuous classroom instruction was coupled with strenuous field exercises. Of the nearly 20,000 Ritchie Boys who served in WWII, around 140 were killed in action, including at the costly Guy Stern arrived in the U.S. alone at age 15, settling with an uncle in St. Louis. Andrew Hollinger Hed endured a lot already, including three brutal months in Dachau concentration camp after Kristallnacht in 1938, before finding haven in America. In trying to assess the contribution of a single participant to an endeavor as gigantic as World War II, the question is often asked How much difference can one man make? Considering how remarkable Ritchie Boys were as individuals, does it make sense to try to find just one or perhaps two Ritchie Boys whose individual contributions stand out in terms of the difference it made? It was the viewing of that film that converted Dan into a Ritchie Boy Wannabe and launched him on a quest to help publicize this heroic group. Jon Wertheim: You have a smile on your face when you think back. The story of Camp Ritchie and the men (and women) who came there is a story that needs to be broadcast more widely. You really know an awful lot of the subtleties when you're having a conversation with another German and we were able to find out things in their answers that enabled us to ask more questions. And incredibly, they were responsible for most of the combat intelligence gathered on the Western Front. One or more of Hendersons Ritchie Boys was present at every major moment of the American war in Europe: landing on Omaha Beach, speeding with Pattons tanks, liberating concentration camps. How German-Jewish refugees who fled the Nazis gathered military intelligence in Europe for the U.S. By Brian Bethune And we all were scared. And I had no choice." We worked harder than anyone could have driven us. And we were strafed and I said to myself, uh, "now, it's the end' because I could you could feel the machine gun bullets. The so-called Ritchie Boys were among roughly 15,000 graduates of training programs at Camp Ritchie, a former National Guard Camp in Maryland named for the late Maryland Governor, Albert C. Ritchie. St. Joseph Communications uses cookies for personalization, to customize its online advertisements, and for other purposes. Since the story of the Ritchie Boys remained relatively unknown for a half-century or more, it was often left to their children and grandchildren to bring their accomplishments to light.
12380 River Ridge Dr, Folsom, La,
Priznaky Tehotenstva 5 Dni Po Styku,
Nico And Will Have A Baby Fanfiction,
Articles H