how many ritchie boys were there

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. 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 mission: to use their knowledge of the German language and culture to return to Europe and fight Naziism. David Frey: All in service of winning the war. There were two who were actually captured at The USO relies on your support to help service members and their families. Now is it because they were afraid that the Nazis might come back, that it's not over? He was shot right away and killed. 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.. 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. You know, I don't talk like an Alabama person or a Texan. I don't know. and he said "no, military secret.". Paul Fairbrook: (laugh) You bet your life I'm proud of the Ritchie Boys. 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: This was one of the leaflets that was dropped out--. / CBS News. Jon Wertheim: Because you were Jewish you were ostracized? Spy. After recruiters found out he spoke four languages, they dispatched him to Camp Ritchie, where strenuous classroom instruction was coupled with strenuous field exercises. 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. A childhood friend described to Stern how his parents, younger brother and sister had been forced from their home and deported. Jon Wertheim: Do you remember saying goodbye to your family? "Enjoy" is perhaps not the right word. Another bit of indispensable Ritchie Boy handiwork: the order of battle of the German army. Look, I got a book here and it tells me that you were here and you went there and your boss was this." Guy Stern: I went to my father one day and I said, "classes are becoming a torture chamber". 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. 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 These are people who made massive contributions. But there were the odd grace notes among the wreckage of a continent. They fought with the American military in the lands they had recently escaped, helping to turn the course of the war. Jon Wertheim: As a former German who understood the psychology and the mentality. Ritchie Boys were heroes who used their innate skills to gather information from all sources I can't recommend this book enough! Associate producer, Jennifer Dozor. Jon Wertheim: This had a real material impact on World War II. David Frey: I think they did. "How to kill a sentry from behind." I wanted, desperately, to do something. 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Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Maryland it was away from prying eyes and prying spies but close enough to decision makers at the Pentagon. Eight Week Classes - Dates & Graduation Numbers. Jon Wertheim: I imagine all of a sudden no one wants to admit to being a Nazi. 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 Photo credit DoD/Holocaust Memorial Center, It was an emotional reunion, definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It has been edited for USO.org. This was our kind of war. One of these was Staff Sergeant Stephen (Moose) Mosbacher who was awarded a Silver Star medal posthumously for gallantry beyond the call of duty. Many of the 15,200 selected were Jewish soldiers who fled Nazi-controlled Germany, which was systematically killing Jews. Jon Wertheim: That's the kind of thing you would know. Jon Wertheim: That's what you called yourself? Jon Wertheim: So physical combat training as well as intelligence? Or is it just a habit or habit of obedience or dignity? After the war, Guy Stern, Victor Brombert, Paul Fairbrook and Max Lerner came home, married, and went to Ivy League schools on the G.I. They also drafted and dropped leaflets from airplanes behind enemy lines. Making such a distinction in this case is very difficult. 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. Germany surrendered on May 8th of that year. Ritchie Boys Image by Sons and Soldiers. But ask him about his most formative experience - and he doesn't hesitate. 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. Some Ritchie Boys were recruited to go on secret missions during the war. Because they served in so many different capacities. Jon Wertheim: All in service of winning the war? We now know that this perception needs to be broadened. Eager to fight the Nazis, he, too joined the Army. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, Stern, by then a college student, raced to enlist. 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. On a cold November morning in 1938, Herman watches in horror as his Jon Wertheim: So there's a real element of - costumes and deception and accents. Elie Wiesel, the Museums founding chairman, was the first recipient of the award, which was subsequently named in his honor. It was wonderful to see these people again. Jon Wertheim: Give us a sense of the kinds of courses they took. It turns out that author J.D. But the opportunity to help fight and win the war was a wonderful way. 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. You sort of swing it around the neck from behind and then pull. 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? Background. Download our app to find events, locations and programs near you. After Pearl Harbor brought America into the war, many of those sons were eager to return to Europe and find their families. The Ritchie Boys exhibit at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Mich., July 24, 2011. Salinger were among the camp gradsbut 2,000 German-language refugees, almost all Jewish, were the prize pupils. Guy Stern: Yes, even last night. 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. Mothers Day.. All SS members were subject to automatic arrest. Training was designed to be as realistic as possible. told the story of his fathers motivation and bravery in the book Unavoidable Hope. 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. If a German POW wouldn't talk, he might face Guy Stern dressed up as a Russian officer. 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. Giving out some cigarettes also helps a lot. 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. (U.S. Army Signal Corps). They took their name from the place they trained - Camp Ritchie, Maryland a secret American military intelligence center during the war. We now know that this perception needs to be broadened. Who helped shape what it meant to be American and who in some cases gave their lives in service to this country. The appearance of DoD visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. Victor Brombert: We were supposed to arrest important Nazi officials. Dozens of Ritchie Boys worked at the Nuremberg Trials as prosecutors, interrogators and translators. 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. His Jewish family left Germany in 1933 when he was 10. Jon Wertheim: What do you remember feeling that day? Many of the 15,200 selected were Jewish soldiers who fled Nazi-controlled Germany, which was systematically killing Jews. And there's nothing that forges unity better than having a common enemy.This is Guy Stern 80 years ago. The largest set of graduates were 2,000 German-born Jews. They all became American success stories, businessmen or academics. So little was known about the Ritchie Boys until the excellent documentary film The Ritchie Boys came upon the scene in 2004. Main telephone: 202.488.0400 Follow him at @ffrommer. When U.S. soldiers fought Germany during World War II, there was one group that was particularly motivatedabout 2,000 mostly German and Austrian Jewish refugees who fled the Nazis and then returned to Europe to take on their tormentors as members of American military intelligence. David Frey: They were in fact. Paul Fairbrook: They sent us back to Camp Ritchie and they created something that I call the equivalent of the Library of Congress. David Frey: I think we look at this group and we see true heroes. Guy Stern: Well I think not (laugh) but I don't run as fast, I don't swim as fast but I feel happy with my tasks. Jon Wertheim: SS men, you're saying, have a tattoo under their left arm with their blood type? 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. 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. To Allied investigators it became a sort of Nazi hunter's bible. Jon Wertheim: What do you suspect might have happened? The Ritchie Boys were one of World War IIs greatest secret weapons for US Army intelligence, said incoming Museum Chairman Stuart E. Eizenstat. Jon Wertheim: How did you find out you were going to go to Camp Ritchie? The Department of Defense provides the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security. Guy Stern: The Bronze Star was given to me right at the end of hostilities. Jon Wertheim: As a way to honor your family that perished. When they landed on the beaches of Normandy, Wehrmacht troops were waiting for them well armed and well prepared. But at wars end, almost none found what they were really looking fortheir families. It was here that over 19,000 Ritchie Boys, many of them German-Jewish immigrants from Europe Of the approximately 19,000 Ritchie Boys who served during the war, about 200 are still living, ranging 95 107 years old. and if you don't get it from one prisoner, you might get it from the other. The group also included large numbers of first- or second-generation Americans who still spoke German or other languages at home, Frey says. "I would have been killed if I hadn't gone along. First published on January 2, 2022 / 6:52 PM. A contribution made by a single individual, especially if one or more lives are saved, is generally recognized as truly heroic. About 200 Ritchie Boys are estimated to be alive today. Guy Stern: I preferred not having it. David Frey: They made a massive contribution to essentially every battle that the Americans fought - the entire sets of battles on the Western Front. They never met for reunions, they did not join veteran associations. Jon Wertheim: What you describe, it almost sounds like these were precursors to CIA agents. So I experienced viscerally, fear. 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. 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. The Ritchie Boys earned a reputation for delivering important tactical information fast, making a major contribution to every battle on the Western Front. 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. Then came the surprise transfer to secretive Camp Ritchie in backwoods Maryland, where his first sight was a platoon of soldiers marching byin full-dress Wehrmacht uniforms. 98-year-old Victor Brombert says they relied on their Camp Ritchie training to get people to open up. Max Lerner: They have a tattoo of their blood group under their left arms. Max Lerner: Wear civilian clothes, pass messages, kill. Some didn't even go over to to Europe. Bill. A few days later, Stern returned to the place of his birth, hoping to reunite with his family. Text STOP to opt out, HELP for help. The Ritchie Boys were members of a secret American intelligence unit that fought in World War II. Following the war, some of the Ritchie Boys were used as interrogators during the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals. Copyright 2023 Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. What did work Is complicity. 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. Guy Stern became a professor and taught for almost 50 years. The Ritchie Boys landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and helped liberate Paris. This books publish date is Sep 01, 2021. Some of them were trained as spies and some of them went on to careers as spies. They were members of a secret group whose mastery of the German language and culture helped them provide battlefield intelligence that proved pivotal to the Allies' victory. "I had no choice." Im a military history writer and Id never heard of them.. Max Lerner was assigned to interivew German civilians to help gauge the degree to which they had served the Nazi cause and determine which ones should be punished. Victor Brombert was with the first American armored division to land on Omaha Beach. And they were motivated like few other American soldiers. Produced by Katherine Davis. Victor Brombert: And at great effort we found people, we arrested them, we were proud of doing that. The case of Hans Habe 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. They crossed into Germany with the Allied armies and witnessed the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. did not have the opportunity to serve overseas, he was able to make a significant contribution as an interrogator at Fort Hunt and as the principal facilitator in the integration of German Paperclip scientists and engineers such as Wernher von Braun into our society. It was not only that short term impact on the battlefield. Jon Wertheim: Sixty percent of the actionable intelligence? One of these was. Mr. We had to-- we got a lot of German prisoners who were willing to help us catalog all those documents. In 1943, he was drafted into the Army and in 1944 landed in Normandy after D-day as a "Ritchie Boy." Because they would know this information. WebThe army recruited not just those fluent in German, French, Italian, and Polish (approximately a fifth were Jewish refugees from Europe), but also Arabic, Japanese, Dutch, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Turkish, and other languages as well as some 200 Native Americans and 200 WACs. Walter Midener, an attendee, was awarded the Silver Star. We believe it will also recognize the value of a group as large as 20,000. Guy Stern: I had my whole uniform with medals, Russian medals. 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 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. As a Jew, I knew I might not be treated exactly by the Geneva rules. The U.S. Army had evidently decided that Martin Selling was a useful asset after all. Jon Wertheim: What were you trained to do? As the world observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day, some may remember the so-called "Ritchie Boys," who greatly aided allied forces in their fight against Germany and other Axis nations in World War II. 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. Jon Wertheim: And you're saying that some of that originated at Camp Ritchie? As Nazi persecution of Jews intensified in the late 1930s, desperate families often found they could get only a single child out of Germany via the efforts of Jewish relief agencies. Our country owes them an enormous debt of gratitude for their courage and sacrifices. Among the unusual sights at Ritchie: a team of U.S. soldiers dressed in German uniforms. Facing significant intelligence deficiencies, in April 1942, the US Army activated a plan to convert Fort Ritchie, a Maryland National Guard Camp, into an intelligence training center. Jon Wertheim: You have a smile on your face when you think back. Many of the Ritchie Boys went on to have successful civilian careers, including J.D. 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. But Hitler was determined to continue the war. This is Guy Stern 80 years ago. 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. Web34K views 1 year ago. 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. Victor Brombert: One had to playact with some of the people were acting as prisoners and some of them were real prisoners. | 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. Jon Wertheim: I see a tent in the background of that photo right in front of you. 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. Now in their late 90s, these humble warriors still keep in touch, swapping stories about a chapter in American history now finally being told. Many had fled Nazi Germany but returned as American soldiers, deploying their knowledge of German language and culture to great advantage. The Ritchie Boys were one of World War IIs greatest secret weapons for U.S. Army intelligence, said Stuart E. Eizenstat, shortly before becoming chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2022, when the museum bestowed the Ritchie Boys with the Elie Wiesel Award, its highest honor. There were roughly 9000 of these Jews in America and they specialized in the interrogation of German prisoners. 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. Some of the prisoners were actual German POWs brought to Camp Ritchie so the Ritchie Boys could practice their interrogation techniques. Knowing how to shape that appeal was pretty critical to the success of the mobile broadcast units. Fred is a former longtime Associated Press journalist, where he worked as a reporter and editor. Angress followed up leads that took him to an Amsterdam address just five days after VE Day. 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. There were Ritchie Boys who were in POW camps embedded and gathering information in the United States. I was the only one to get out. The SS controlled the German police forces and concentration camps and directed the so-called "Final Solution" to kill all European Jews. They were asked, in some cases, to memorize battle books, which told soldiers about the enemys organization, structure, capacity, leadership and experience. I'm denouncing this and I was forced to do it. 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. David Frey: Part of what the Ritchie Boys did was to convince German units to surrender without fighting. 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. 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. They knew the psychology and the 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. Actress. Although Ritchie Boy. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. They then typed up their daily reports in the field to be passed up the chain of command. Guy Stern: Out of a plane. This little-known part of American history deserves national acknowledgement. There were two who were actually captured at the Battle of the Bulge. They significantly helped the war effort and saved lives. But certainly what did not work was violence or threat of violence. Max Lerner: It was my war. Divisions that liberated concentration camps included hundreds of Ritchie Boys, who interviewed survivors. Jon Wertheim: Did you enjoy hunting Nazis? Jon Wertheim: And you think because it had that signature, somehow that certified it. After their training, the Ritchie Boys were dispersed in different Army units. And it was not until a few years ago that the son of Italian-Jewish Ritchie Boy Alessandro Sabbadini told the story of his fathers motivation and bravery in the book Unavoidable Hope. We worked harder than anyone could have driven us. It took dedicationthe course at Camp Ritchie required polishing the English needed to communicate with their own side, combat training and intensive study of the German armyas well as courage and the thick skins they had already developed.
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