Singer. They all became American success stories, businessmen or academics. We worked harder than anyone could have driven us. Essentially they were intellectuals. Paul Fairbrook: You can learn to shoot a rifle in six months but you can't learn fluent German in six months. Sensing danger, Stern's father tried to get the family out. Ritchie Boys of By 1937, violence against Jews was escalating. 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? Jon Wertheim: Why were the Ritchie Boys so successful? Bill. I thought, "I'm never going to do that," but I was shown how to do it. David Frey: Much of it originated at Camp Ritchie because it had never it hadn't been done before. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, Stern, by then a college student, raced to enlist. He is still haunted by what he experienced that day. But joy turned to horror as Allied soldiers and the world learned the full scale of the Nazi mass extermination. Of the nearly 20,000 Ritchie Boys who served in WWII, around 140 were killed in action, including at the costly Harmony Jones, a military child, shares how being raised in a military family helped shape her future for success. Many of them were Jewish refugees from Europe, who fled their homeland, came to America and joined the U.S. Army. Guy Stern: My fellow students it was an all-male school withdrew from you. 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. and he said "no, military secret.". Jon Wertheim: Because you were Jewish you were ostracized? I don't think we're heroes. Jon Wertheim: SS men, you're saying, have a tattoo under their left arm with their blood type? Sixty-plus percent of the actionable intelligence gathered on the battlefield was gathered by Ritchie Boys. The Ritchie Boys, a group of more than 19,000 refugees trained in Maryland to be U.S. intelligence specialists during World War II, are being honored in a Many had fled Nazi Germany but returned as American soldiers, deploying their knowledge of German language and culture to great advantage. The very aspect of these SOBs now being at my command (laugh) gave me also some personal satisfaction. Martin Selling, 24, was undergoing training as a U.S. Army medical orderly in February 1943 and chafing under a Pentagon policy that kept hima Jewish refugee from Germany and hence an enemy alienaway from any combat unit. 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. All were convicted for their crimes and many were executed. 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. Guy Stern: Yes, that's my interrogation tent. Mothers Day.. Paul Fairbrook: Look I'm a German Jew. 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. All SS members were subject to automatic arrest. Approximately 20,000 menmany of whom were immigrants and refugees from more than 70 countries, including 2,800 German and Austrian refugees who fled 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. Approximately 14%, or 2,200, of them The Ritchie Boys exhibit at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Mich., July 24, 2011. 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 Jon Wertheim: Did you ever worry your accent might get you killed? It is a story of a remarkable synergy between a diverse group of well trained and motivated individuals. 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. Their job: to provide battlefield intelligence. Guy Stern became a professor and taught for almost 50 years. Jon Wertheim: How effective were they at gathering intelligence? Victor Brombert: Yes of course. The unit got its name from where they did their training, Camp Ritchie, Maryl Cast & Crew Read More Christian Bauer Director Their subjects ranged from low-level German soldiers to high-ranking Nazi officers including Hans Goebbels, brother of Hitler's chief propogandist, Joseph Goebbels. (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. Jon Wertheim: I imagine all of a sudden no one wants to admit to being a Nazi. Gross wrote to me saying, My Walter Midener, an attendee, was awarded the Silver Star. 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. The evidence was before us. In trucks equipped with loudspeakers, Ritchie Boys went to the front lines under heavy fire, and tried, in German, to persuade their Nazi counterparts to surrender. David Frey: All in service of winning the war. Message & data rates may apply. 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. And notably, professor Frey says, more than 250 Ritchie Boys continued to work in the field of intelligence after the war, becoming professional spies. Long-overdue Recognition Comes to the Ritchie Boys. Guy Stern: I had my whole uniform with medals, Russian medals. One can also point to a Ritchie Boy 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 The Ritchie Boys exhibit at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Mich., July 24, 2011. You really have to understand it helps to have been born in Germany in order to in order to do a good job. Guy Stern: Yes, that carried weight and the belief in the printed matter was very great. That information is of critical importance because it tells you where certain units are, and if you know where certain units are, you know where the weak spots are. 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. Max Lerner: Wear civilian clothes, pass messages, kill. 98-year-old Paul Fairbrook helped set up the German military documents section at Camp Ritchie a vast catalog of more than 20,000 captured German documents. Jon Wertheim: Sixty percent of the actionable intelligence? Sometimes entire German towns were forced to pay respects to the dead. They were asked, in some cases, to memorize battle books, which told soldiers about the enemys organization, structure, capacity, leadership and experience. Dead people. We now know that this perception needs to be broadened. 202.437.1221 Many were foreign-born or had lived abroad for significant amounts of time. In New York, Paul Fairbrook, had a similar impulse. Of the approximately 19,000 Ritchie Boys who served during the war, about 200 are still living, ranging 95 107 years old. Guy Stern, a Bronze Star Medal recipient who attended, said: "It was an emotional reunion, definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Guy Stern: God no. Jon Wertheim: I understand you you had sparring partners. In the Ardennes region of Belgium, the Germans mounted a massive counteroffensive, which became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Jon Wertheim: This had a real material impact on World War II. But there were the odd grace notes among the wreckage of a continent. We had to-- we got a lot of German prisoners who were willing to help us catalog all those documents. Guy Stern: I was called to the company office and told you're shipping out. Jon Wertheim: Give us a sense of the kinds of courses they took. And they were impressed with that. 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. David Frey: Right. They also drafted and dropped leaflets from airplanes behind enemy lines. Spy. Victor Brombert: There were long and demanding exercises and close combat training. History professor David Frey runs the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. This little-known part of American history deserves national acknowledgement. Max Lerner: Or they had an effort to erase it. A mighty onslaught of more than 160,000 men, 13,000 aircraft, and 5,000 vessels. Eight Week Classes - Dates & Graduation Numbers. The USO relies on your support to help service members and their families. 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. Many were German- and Austrian-born Jews who had fled Adolf Hitlers genocidal Nazi regimemaking them most determined enemies of the Third Reich. David Frey: There were Ritchie Boys that were in the first wave on the first day at D-Day. He was born in Berlin to a Russian Jewish family. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! One of these was Staff Sergeant Stephen (Moose) Mosbacher who was awarded a Silver Star medal posthumously for gallantry beyond the call of duty. Dan Gross and several invited guests joined the Ritchie Boys for the photo. So whatever information they're giving you is information that you probably already know. So many of them were Jewish. Guy Stern: It was absolutely, we won kid. Guy Stern: I think it was the continuous flow of reliable information that really helped expedite the end of the war. Many had fled Nazi Germany but returned as American soldiers, deploying their knowledge of German language and culture to great advantage. 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. He added that the military chose intelligent people because they had to process a tremendous amount of information." Another bit of indispensable Ritchie Boy handiwork: the order of battle of the German army. Director, Communications . Max Lerner: Because I remembered my parents. Jon Wertheim: What you describe, it almost sounds like these were precursors to CIA agents. As was philanthropist David Rockefeller and media baron and billionaire John Kluge. Among the unusual sights at Ritchie: a team of U.S. soldiers dressed in German uniforms. What could be more appropriate than to honor them with an award bearing the name of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel.. 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. Nina Wolff Feld told her fathers story in Someday You Will Understand: My Fathers Private World War 2. Jon Wertheim: That's the kind of thing you would know. 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. All Rights Reserved. It was wonderful to be part of them. Hundreds of Ritchie Boys were attached to divisions that liberated concentration camps and interviewed former prisoners to document the atrocities that took place. "where are your reserve units?" Guy Stern: Out of a plane. He is a frequent contributor to The Washington Post, and has also written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Politico Magazine, and CNN.com. 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. His Jewish family left Germany in 1933 when he was 10. In 2011, the Holocaust Memorial Center, in Farmington Hills, Michigan, hosted an exhibit of the Ritchie Boys' exploits. You know where the strong points are, and you know you what to avoid and what to attack. The 10 digit ISBN is 0811769968 and the 13 digit ISBN is 9780811769969. There were Ritchie Boys who were in virtually every battle that you can think of and some actually suffered the worst fate. 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. David Frey: The purpose of the facility was to train interrogators. He still works six days a week. Book Summary: The title of this book is Ritchie Boy Secrets and it was written by Eddy, Beverley Driver. WASHINGTON The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will confer its highest honor, the Elie Wiesel Award, on the Ritchie Boys, a little-known special World War II US military intelligence unit that included many Jewish refugees from Nazism and was instrumental to the Allied victory. Ritchie Boys Image by Sons and Soldiers. So to get that kind of information, particularly from those you capture on the battlefield, you need people who are trained to get that information. The soldiers were sent for training to Camp Ritchie, Maryland, beginning June 19, 1942, where they trained at the Military Intelligence Training Center thus their nickname, the Ritchie Boys. Ritchie Boys were heroes who used their innate skills to gather information from all sources 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. That was the mantra. 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. Paul Fairbrook: When the soldiers said "I'm not going to talk" they could say "wait a minute. WebThe Ritchie Boys were the US special military intelligence officers and enlisted men of World War II who were trained at Camp Ritchie in Maryland. "Enjoy" is perhaps not the right word. July 20, 2017, Martin Selling questions German prisoners near the front in France, 1944. 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. To do so, they learned photo analysis, terrain analysis, aerial reconnaissance, enemy army analysis, interrogation, signals intelligence and much more.. These are people who made massive contributions. Many of the Ritchie Boys went on to have successful civilian careers, including J.D. ", Jon Wertheim: "Unprincipled and dishonorable and I'm sorry?". So I experienced viscerally, fear. Guy Stern: None of my family survived. The SS controlled the German police forces and concentration camps and directed the so-called "Final Solution" to kill all European Jews. Frey noted similarities between the Jewish refugeeswho were considered enemy aliens until mid-1942 because they had come from countries the United States was at war withand Japanese Americans who had been interned. They then typed up their daily reports in the field to be passed up the chain of command. One can also point to a Ritchie Boy who was given the opportunity to shape the critically important program of psychological warfare by training nearly all the 850 members of the Mobile Radio Broadcasting Companies. You want to convince them that you're trustworthy. Jon Wertheim: You let him know you were Jewish? This particular edition is in a Hardcover format. Many of the 15,200 selected were Jewish soldiers who fled Nazi-controlled Germany, which was systematically killing Jews. After the war, the Ritchie Boys continued their work. The Ritchie Boys train at Camp Ritchie, Md., sometime during World War II. After recruiters found out he spoke four languages, they dispatched him to Camp Ritchie, where strenuous classroom instruction was coupled with strenuous field exercises. Salinger, author of the classic book "The Catcher in the Rye.". Then shaping the cold war era, they really played a significant role. 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. It was published by Stackpole Books and has a total of 432 pages in the book. The soldiers were sent for training to Camp Ritchie, Maryland, beginning June 19, 1942, where they trained at the Military Intelligence Training Center thus their nickname, the Ritchie Boys.. Guy Stern: This one was our most effective leaflet and why was that? 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. They knew the psychology and the David Frey: A lot of what was learned and the methods used are important to keep secret. ", Jon Wertheim: Did you ever confront a Nazi who said "this was morally reprehensible? The Ritchie Boys discovered that the Nazis were terrified of ending up in Russian captivity and they used that to great effect. Guy Stern: Yes and it's theatrics in a way yes. The U.S. Army leased the post for $5 a year and established The Military Intelligence Training Center. Some faced antisemitism from their fellow soldiers. And that's why civilians could be useful and soldiers could be useful, "where is the minefield?" Others were actually really important in American science. Making such a distinction in this case is very difficult. And when their identity was discovered, they were summarily executed by the Germans that had captured them. 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. 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. Im a military history writer and Id never heard of them.. Fortunately, some of the Ritchie Boys are still around to tell their tales, and that includes the life force that is Guy Stern, age 99. Guy Stern: We were on a PT boat taking off from Southampton. According to the Holocaust Museum, two Jewish soldiers were taken captive and executed after being identified as German-born Jews, and there were about 200 Ritchie Boys alive as of May 2022. Jon Wertheim: What do you suspect might have happened? Or is it just a habit or habit of obedience or dignity? Martha Cesaro, a military spouse, shares what inspired her to start giving back to the military community through the USO. Did your dog tag identify you as Jewish? 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. We were briefed that the Germans were not going to welcome us greatly. The danger from the German side, of course, was far higher. On the front lines from Normandy onwards, the Ritchie Boys fought in every major battle in Europe, collecting tactical intelligence, interrogating prisoners and civilians, all in service of winning the war. how to reset fortnite settings nintendo switch 2020, east surrey hospital wards,