We now know that this perception needs to be broadened. Fortunately, a book written by historian Beverley Eddy tells the story of Camp Ritchie and the Ritchie Boys in great detail and with professional skill. They became known as the Ritchie Boys. Their enormous contributions to defeating Nazismone Army study concluded they were responsible for obtaining nearly 60 percent of the actionable intelligence gathered in Europe during the warand their postwar justice efforts remain little known to Americans even today. It was also in Europe that some of them, like Guy Stern, learned what had happened to the families they left behind. Drawing on archival research, memoirs and interviews with several Ritchie Boys (there were 1,985 in all), he focuses on a half dozen. But Hildesheim was now in ruins. Guy Stern: I went to my father one day and I said, "classes are becoming a torture chamber". He grew up in a close-knit family in the town of Hildesheim, Germany. So whatever information they're giving you is information that you probably already know. For decades, they didn't discuss their work. There are valid reasons to consider that the Ritchie Boys as a group made a unique and enormous contribution to our military success in World War II. Walter Midener, an attendee, was awarded the Silver Star. But the opportunity to help fight and win the war was a wonderful way. Approximately 20,000 menmany of whom were immigrants and refugees from more than 70 countries, including 2,800 German and Austrian refugees who fled Nazi persecution and had arrived in the United States as enemy alienswere trained there. and I said "may I know where I'm going?" Most of the guys in basic training were Southerners who hated the Jewish boys from New York and busted our chops most of the time, George Sakheim, who had fled to the United States by way of Palestine, told POLITICO Magazine. Max Lerner: They have a tattoo of their blood group under their left arms. From that point on, Ritchie Boys were involved in every major battle in Europe, using their language skills to gather intelligence, interpret enemy documents, and engage in psychological warfare encouraging German soldiers to surrender by dropping leaflets, through radio broadcasts, and in trucks equipped with loudspeakers. The evidence was before us. Jon Wertheim: This was really a broad range of intelligence activities. The Ritchie Boys trained for war against these fake Germans with fake German tanks made out of wood. Dead people. 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. Many of the German and Austrian Jewish refugees reported to Camp Ritchie while still designated as "enemy aliens." It was not only that short term impact on the battlefield. Just two weeks shy of turning 100, Guy Stern drips with vitality. "How many machine guns do you have there?" Many of these soldiers landed at Normandy, France, on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and others followed to perform their specialized tasks, which provided advanced intelligence to allied forces regarding German war plans and tactics. A mighty onslaught of more than 160,000 men, 13,000 aircraft, and 5,000 vessels. We were crusaders.". The Ritchie Boys train at Camp Ritchie, Md., sometime during World War II. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, Stern, by then a college student, raced to enlist. Some of them were trained as spies and some of them went on to careers as spies. All students of World War II need to learn about the the Ritchie Boys. Embedded in every Army unit, they interrogated tens of thousands of captured Nazi soldiers as well as civilians extracting key strategic information on enemy strength, troop movements, and defensive positions. After recruiters found out he spoke four languages, they dispatched him to Camp Ritchie, where strenuous classroom instruction was coupled with strenuous field exercises. Message & data rates may apply. Max Lerner: They were all justifying themselves. David Frey: This is where the having an intelligence officer from Camp Ritchie was of critical importance. Guy Stern: Yes, that carried weight and the belief in the printed matter was very great. ", Jon Wertheim: "Unprincipled and dishonorable and I'm sorry?". There were Ritchie Boys who were in virtually every battle that you can think of and some actually suffered the worst fate. The Ritchie Boys, some of whom landed on the beaches at Normandy, helped to interpret documents and gather intelligence, and conducted enemy warfare. Germany surrendered on May 8th of that year. Making such a distinction in this case is very difficult. 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. Jon Wertheim: Because you were Jewish you were ostracized? Now in their late 90s, these humble warriors still keep in touch, swapping stories about a chapter in American history now finally being told. Jon Wertheim: Did you worry what might happen if you were captured? Contact. Immigrants like Guy Stern. Choose which Defense.gov products you want delivered to your inbox. David Frey: The work they do in the field, being able to glean information simply by from the uniform that a captured POW is wearing or the type of weapon that they have or the unit that they've just captured. 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. So I experienced viscerally, fear. What did work Is complicity. It was an impact on war crimes. David Frey: The purpose of the facility was to train interrogators. He is among the last surviving Ritchie Boys - a group of young men many of them German Jews who played an outsized role in helping the Allies win World War II. 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. Salinger were among the camp gradsbut 2,000 German-language refugees, almost all Jewish, were the prize pupils. You want to give them that feeling that you know who they are, they know who you are. And when their identity was discovered, they were summarily executed by the Germans that had captured them. One of the ways they identified subjects wanted for interrogation was by consulting a book - the Central Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects which listed enemy nationals suspected of committing tens of thousands of war crimes in Europe everyone from low ranking members of the armed forces to top Nazi officials. 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. Many had fled Nazi Germany but returned as American soldiers, deploying their knowledge of German language and culture to great advantage. Wehrmacht Captain Curt Bruns, convicted by a military tribunal of ordering the murder of those two Ritchie Boys, was executed by a firing squad in June, 1945. The case of, stands out in my mind as the essence of the reason why the Ritchie Boys were able to use their intelligence (and motivation) to make an enormous difference. In New York, Paul Fairbrook, had a similar impulse. But it gave me great deal of satisfaction. Jon Wertheim: What is it like when you get together and reflect on this experience going on 80 years ago? Jon Wertheim: This-- This is a remarkable story. Jon Wertheim: And you think because it had that signature, somehow that certified it. Additional valuable information on the Ritchie Boys may be found in a forum-type Facebook page, , ably managed with considerable devotion by Bernie Lubran, son of Ritchie Boy, , and by Josh Freeling, whose great uncle was Ritchie Boy. Did your dog tag identify you as Jewish? Guy Stern recalls arriving at Buchenwald Concentration Camp three days after its liberation, alongside a fellow American sergeant. They significantly helped the war effort and saved lives.. Many of the Ritchie Boys went on to have successful civilian careers, including J.D. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Jon Wertheim: This had a real material impact on World War II. Max Lerner: You know how to tell an SS man? Max Lerner: There were no Nazis. You know a lot about them already. But ask him about his most formative experience - and he doesn't hesitate. Main telephone: 202.488.0400 The soldiers were sent for training to But at wars end, almost none found what they were really looking fortheir families. Guy Stern: I had an immediate visceral response to that and that was this is my war for many reasons. Victor Brombert: There were long and demanding exercises and close combat training. On a cold November morning in 1938, Herman watches in horror as his One can also point to a Ritchie Boy They took their name from the place they trained - Camp Ritchie, Maryland a secret American military intelligence center during the war. David Frey teaches history to cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Tonight, we'll introduce you to members of a secret American intelligence unit who fought in World War II. And if you get up early enough, you might catch him working out at his local park in the suburbs of Detroit. Associate producer, Jennifer Dozor. A website by Dan Gross and Ritchie History Museum. Making such a distinction in this case is very difficult. This particular edition is in a Hardcover format. But the Sterns could only send one of their own to the U.S. (See Actress. You want to convince them that you're trustworthy. All SS members were subject to automatic arrest. At the time though, the military wouldn't take volunteers who weren't born in the U.S. Of late, the Ritchie Boys have been the subject of growing media attention including, in May, on the television news program 60 Minutes. The Ritchie Boys were members of a secret American intelligence group whose mastery of the German language and culture proved critical to the Allies' victory over Hitler. Already available are biographies and memoirs by and about individual Ritchie Boys as well as the book by the NYT best-selling author Bruce Henderson and books about Austrian-born Ritchie Boys by Robert Lackner and Florian Traussnig. Jon Wertheim: What you describe, it almost sounds like these were precursors to CIA agents. He was shot right away and killed. Harmony Jones, a military child, shares how being raised in a military family helped shape her future for success. Because they served in so many different capacities. The group also included large numbers of first- or second-generation Americans who still spoke German or other languages at home, Frey says. WebOne can readily point to the case of Ritchie Boy William R. Perl who outwitted Adolf Eichmann and saved an estimated 40,000 lives. January 2, 2022 / 6:52 PM Jon Wertheim: 60% of the actionable intelligence? WebIn the United States at the end of World War II, there were prisoner-of-war camps, including 175 Branch Camps serving 511 Area Camps containing over 425,000 prisoners of war (mostly German).The camps were located all over the US, but were mostly in the South, due to the higher expense of heating the barracks in colder areas. Guy Stern: And some we didn't break but 80% were so darned scared of the Russians and what they would do. David Frey: It was a very broad range And they did it all generally in eight weeks. 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. The very aspect of these SOBs now being at my command (laugh) gave me also some personal satisfaction. 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. Jon Wertheim: What do you remember feeling that day? Guy Stern: Yes, doing my job interrogating. Never. This was our kind of war. The appearance of DoD visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. Follow him at @ffrommer. Ritchie Boys were a military intelligence unit made up of mostly German, Austrian and Czech refugees and immigrants, many of whom were Jewish. Guy Stern: It was absolutely, we won kid. Nina Wolff Feld told her fathers story in Someday You Will Understand: My Fathers Private World War 2. He still works six days a week. Jon Wertheim: You have a smile on your face when you think back. In any major military conflict, there will likely be both individual heroes and groups of heroes. We believe it will also recognize the value of a group as large as 20,000. The danger from the German side, of course, was far higher. But after a year, he joined the U.S. Army and became one of the 20,000 Ritchie Boys, a special group of soldiers trained at Camp Ritchie (formerly a Maryland National Guard site) to serve in military intelligence during World War II. The unit consisted mostly of young Germans, some of them of Jews, that had found a new homeland in America after their flight from the Nazis. and if you don't get it from one prisoner, you might get it from the other. Following the war, some of the Ritchie Boys were interrogators during the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals. Jon Wertheim: Was it your knowledge of the language or your knowledge of the psychology and the German culture? A PHOTO FROM A RITCHIE BOY REUNION HELD IN WASHINGTON DC. Jon Wertheim: You let him know you were Jewish? As a Jew, I knew I might not be treated exactly by the Geneva rules. Jon Wertheim: Sixty percent of the actionable intelligence? About 200 Ritchie Boys are estimated to be alive today. Victor Brombert: My parents were pacifists so the idea of my going to war was for them calamitous, however they realized that it was a necessary war, especially for us. 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. Eight Week Classes - Dates & Graduation Numbers. Many of them were Jewish refugees from Europe, who fled their homeland, came to America and joined the U.S. Army. Knowing how to shape that appeal was pretty critical to the success of the mobile broadcast units. Web34K views 1 year ago. And to take those heights against heavy firing, going up those steep cliffs, and of course, it had been done. Step back in time and remember the lead up to VE Day, or "Victory in Europe Day," when soldiers and civilians alike across the world celebrated the end of the years-long World War II in Europe. Captain Harvey J. Cook 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. Paul Fairbrook: (laugh) You bet your life I'm proud of the Ritchie Boys. The intent of this web page, in addition to providing demographics and statistics not available elsewhere, will be to highlight individual secret heroes whose contributions were also singularly significant. Camp Ritchie served the Maryland National Guard until 1942. 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. Dozens of Ritchie Boys worked at the Nuremberg Trials as prosecutors, interrogators and translators. Guy Stern: Yes, even last night. After the war, Guy Stern and the other Ritchie Boys were celebrated for their achievements. The purpose of the tattoo was to identify a soldier's blood type in case a transfusion was needed or if his dog tags went missing. His mother answered the door. In civilian life, he became a noted sculpture and fine arts teacher and rose to the presidency for the Center for Creative Studies at Detroit's College of Art and Design. How The Ritchie Boys Helped Win World War II For America. The Allies liberated Paris in August and drove Nazi troops out of France. 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. They all became American success stories, businessmen or academics. Victor Brombert: By complicity I mean, "Oh we are together in this war. Guy Stern arrived in the U.S. alone at age 15, settling with an uncle in St. Louis. Guy Stern, a Bronze Star Medal recipient who attended, said: "It was an emotional reunion, definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. 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 a real element of - costumes and deception and accents. / CBS News. All Rights Reserved. In August 2021, the bipartisan US Senate Resolution 349 officially recognized the bravery of those troops. (U.S. Army Signal Corps). They did counterintelligence training. 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. For more information, visit ushmm.org. If a German POW wouldn't talk, he might face Guy Stern dressed up as a Russian officer. Naturally, I turned to Dan Gross, the unofficial archivist for the Ritchie Boys. Background. In 2011, the Holocaust Memorial Center, in Farmington Hills, Michigan, hosted an exhibit of the Ritchie Boys' exploits. Many of the 15,200 selected were Jewish soldiers who fled Nazi-controlled Germany, which was systematically killing Jews. Immigrant Soldier, The Story of a Ritchie Boy, based on the true experiences of a refugee from Nazi Germany, combines a coming of age story with an immigrant tale and a World War II adventure. Victor Brombert: Yes, I realized that I was afraid. The Ritchie Boys: Americas Secret Weapon Against the Nazis | by United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Memory & Action | Medium 500 Apologies, but something went wrong on our end. Because they would know this information. 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. Another unusual sight: towering over recruits, Frank Leavitt, a World War I veteran and pro wrestling star at the time, was among the instructors. And I had no choice." Both refugees like Fairbrook and Stern, as well as a number of American-born recruits with requisite language skills - were drafted into the Army and sent to Camp Ritchie. In the Ardennes region of Belgium, the Germans mounted a massive counteroffensive, which became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Victor Brombert: Yes, well with a stick. I can look anybody straight in their eye and say I think I've earned the right to be an American. In exchange for their knowledge of German language, culture and topography, which proved critical in extracting information vital to the war effort, the Army offered citizenship. 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. 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. Paul Fairbrook: When the soldiers said "I'm not going to talk" they could say "wait a minute. Jon Wertheim: That's how you looked at it. Guy Stern: My fellow students it was an all-male school withdrew from you. Following the war, some of the Ritchie Boys were used as interrogators during the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals. The Ritchie Boys landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and helped liberate Paris. 60-plus percent of the actionable intelligence gathered on the battlefield was gathered by Ritchie Boys. Sons and Soldiers concentrates on six of them, two deadincluding Selling, who passed away at 86 in 2004but who left detailed memoirs, and four still flourishing in their 90s. Two Ritchie Boys were identified as German-language interrogators working for the Americans after they were captured in a Nazi counterattack; revealed to be Jewish, the men were summarily executed. Stern also said that its important for people everywhere to remember those who perished and those who survived the Holocaust and, in a world increasingly faced with sectarian strife and intolerance, to set forth the lessons of the Holocaust as a model for teaching ethical conduct and responsible decision-making. Still, if they were captured, they knew what the Nazis would do to them. The Ritchie Boys exhibit at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Mich., July 24, 2011. And we all were scared. They knew the psychology and the Max Lerner: Wear civilian clothes, pass messages, kill. And there's nothing that I wanted more is to get some revenge on Hitler who killed my uncles, and my aunts and my cousins and there was no question in my mind, and neither of all the men in Camp Ritchie. David Frey: Right. He is among the last surviving Ritchie Boys - a group of young men many of them German Jews who played an outsized role in helping the Allies win World War II. I don't know. Did it give you any satisfaction? A nonpartisan, federal educational institution, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is Americas national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust dedicated to ensuring the permanence of Holocaust memory, understanding, and relevance. It was here that over 19,000 Ritchie Boys, many of them German-Jewish immigrants from Europe At a time when the U.S. military urgently needed foreign language speakers, the Ritchie Boys offered a key resource. They chose their eldest son. We had to-- we got a lot of German prisoners who were willing to help us catalog all those documents. 97-year-old Max Lerner, an Austrian Jew fluent in German and French, served as a special agent with the counterintelligence corps, passing information to French underground resistance groups. Their subjects ranged from low-level German soldiers to high-ranking Nazi officers including Hans Goebbels, brother of Hitler's chief propogandist, Joseph Goebbels. There were recruiting posters all over town, Paul Fairbrook: They sent us back to Camp Ritchie and they created something that I call the equivalent of the Library of Congress. Apart from the fighting, there were other threats confronting the Ritchie Boys. On June 6, 1944, D-Day the Allies launched one of the most sweeping military operations in history. 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). Enter. 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. David Frey: Techniques where you want to get people to talk to you. What's most extraordinary about this group: many of them were German-born Jews who fled their homeland, came to America, and then joined the U.S. Army. That was the mantra. Guy Stern: I preferred not having it. David Frey: They were in fact. Victor Brombert: It was very, very hard, very difficult and very rare to have a German denounce another German at that point. As members of the Ritchie Boys, German and Austrian refugees offered language skills and knowledge that proved vital to American military intelligence. Recruits were chosen based on their knowledge of European Language and culture, as well as their high IQs. -This story was originally published on defense.gov. Individual Ritchie Boys were cited for their contributions by being awarded over 60 Silver Star Medals for bravery. And that's what the key to the success was. Even after the Pentagons change of heart about handing weapons to enemy aliens, suspicion of their bearing and accents remained widespread among regular American soldiers, sometimes reaching higher ranks. The Ritchie Boys, as they were known, trained in espionage and frontline interrogation. He project detailed every aspect of the German army's operations during the war, including how they were structured, how they mobilized and how they used intelligence. Personal, of course, but also this country - I was really treated well. Many of the 15,200 selected were Jewish soldiers who fled Nazi-controlled Germany, which was systematically killing Jews. Victor Brombert, now 98 years old, is a former professor of romance languages and literature at Yale and then Princeton. 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. David Frey: A lot of what was learned and the methods used are important to keep secret. Sixty-plus percent of the actionable intelligence gathered on the battlefield was gathered by Ritchie Boys. Walter Midener, an attendee, was awarded the Silver Star. Long-overdue Recognition Comes to the Ritchie Boys. Victor Brombert: Yes of course. What what did that entail? Surviving soldiers were among the attendees. Jon Wertheim: Did you ever ask yourself why me? After the German army's surrender, Guy Stern and the other Ritchie Boys took on a new assignment: hunting down top Nazi officers responsible for the atrocities that killed so many, including many of their loved ones. TTY: 202.488.0406, Guidelines for Teaching About the Holocaust, The Presidents Commission on the Holocaust, United States Holocaust Memorial Council (Board of Trustees), Holocaust Survivors and Victims Resource Center. And, it is thanks to them (their native speaking German skills, knowledge of the German culture, and patriotism), that America and her allies were able to defeat Hitler.
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