how many ritchie boys were there how many ritchie boys were there

Not all the boys were immigrantsfuture banker David Rockefeller and writer J.D. Guy Stern: Yes, even last night. And that's what the key to the success was. 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. The largest set of graduates were 2,000 German-born Jews. Jon Wertheim: All in service of winning the war? Jon Wertheim: Is that when you first realize I'm I'm in a war here? Many of the Ritchie Boys went on to have successful civilian careers, including J.D. And notably, professor Frey says, more than 250 Ritchie Boys continued to work in the field of intelligence after the war, becoming professional spies. Eight Week Classes - Dates & Graduation Numbers. They were all forced to do it. It was wonderful to see these people again. Who helped shape what it meant to be American and who in some cases gave their lives in service to this country. They significantly helped the war effort and saved lives. Training was designed to be as realistic as possible. The SS controlled the German police forces and concentration camps and directed the so-called "Final Solution" to kill all European Jews. Jon Wertheim: Did you ever ask yourself why me? Victor Brombert: Yes, well with a stick. Download our app to find events, locations and programs near you. A mighty onslaught of more than 160,000 men, 13,000 aircraft, and 5,000 vessels. 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. "I would have been killed if I hadn't gone along. Divisions that liberated concentration camps included hundreds of Ritchie Boys, who interviewed survivors. Copyright 2023 Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. Here are five ways Dietrich supported American troops and the USO during World War II. 202.437.1221 Message & data rates may apply. Many of the 15,200 selected were Jewish soldiers who fled Nazi-controlled Germany, which was systematically killing Jews. Right. We worked harder than anyone could have driven us. By the summer of 1944, German troops in Normandy were outnumbered and overpowered. As part of denazification, photos of Nazi atrocities were posted in German shop windows and Ritchie Boys led the country's citizens on tours of the concentration camps to educate the local population about the evil Hitler had perpetrated. David Frey: Some became ambassadors. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Actress. (U.S. Army Signal Corps). Guy Stern: This one was our most effective leaflet and why was that? It is a story of a remarkable synergy between a diverse group of well trained and motivated individuals. Starting in 1942, more than 11,000 soldiers went through the rigorous training at what was the army's first centralized school for intelligence and psychological warfare. Since Stern spoke German he was tasked with the interrogation of prisoners of war and defectors. Victor Brombert: Our interrogations - it had to do with tactical immediate concerns. 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. Besides their language ability, these soldiers were familiar with the culture and thinking of enemy soldiers, which would aid them in their efforts. You sort of swing it around the neck from behind and then pull. 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. Jon Wertheim: Sixty percent of the actionable intelligence? 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. After the war, the Ritchie Boys continued their work. Germany surrendered on May 8th of that year. Divisions that liberated concentration camps included hundreds of Ritchie Boys, who interviewed survivors. I can't recommend this book enough! Another unusual sight: towering over recruits, Frank Leavitt, a World War I veteran and pro wrestling star at the time, was among the instructors. "How many machine guns do you have there?" "How to kill a sentry from behind." 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. 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. 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. You want to give them that feeling that you know who they are, they know who you are. Ritchie Boys Image by Sons and Soldiers. Book Summary: The title of this book is Ritchie Boy Secrets and it was written by Eddy, Beverley Driver. 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. Originally a resort, Camp Ritchie was a curiously idyllic setting to prepare for the harshness and brutality of war. 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. 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: It was very, very hard, very difficult and very rare to have a German denounce another German at that point. What did work Is complicity. It was hard for us not to notice that beyond the stories runs a deep sense of pride. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! And that's why civilians could be useful and soldiers could be useful, "where is the minefield?" 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. But joy turned to horror as Allied soldiers and the world learned the full scale of the Nazi mass extermination. ahollinger@ushmm.org. With World War II, Camp Ritchie had a new, fascinating and mysterious mission. The Ritchie Boys exhibit is at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Mich., July 24, 2011. Many of them about 14% were Jewish refugees like Kantor. Guy Stern returned to Normandy in 2016 to pay his respects to the more than 9,300 men buried in the American cemetery there, on the bluff overlooking the hallowed beach. Just two weeks shy of turning 100, Guy Stern drips with vitality. How German-Jewish refugees who fled the Nazis gathered military intelligence in Europe for the U.S. By Brian Bethune One can readily point to the case of Ritchie Boy, who outwitted Adolf Eichmann and saved an estimated 40,000 lives. They were heroes not necessarily or predominantly based on bravery but on their intelligence and deserving of the name Secret Heroes. Dr. This group became known as The Ritchie Boys, who were the basis of a documentary film of the same name. Jon Wertheim: Do you consider yourself a hero? Your average commander in the field might not. We were delighted to get a chance to do something for the United States. Striecher was later tried and convicted at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, where concentration camp survivors who bore witness to the mass murder faced down their Nazi tormentors. The Ritchie Boys, some of whom landed on the beaches at Normandy, helped to interpret documents and gather intelligence, and conducted enemy warfare. Although members of the Ritchie Boys were awarded more than 65 Silver Stars, their group was not very well known during the war. Many landed on the beaches of Normandy soon after D-Day. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Bill. I wanted, desperately, to do something. David Frey is a professor of history and director of the Center for Holocaust Studies at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. 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. We worked harder than anyone could have driven us. We had to-- we got a lot of German prisoners who were willing to help us catalog all those documents. ", Jon Wertheim: "Unprincipled and dishonorable and I'm sorry?". The Ritchie Boys consisted of approximately 15,200 servicemen who were trained for U.S. Army Intelligence during WWII. David Frey: Right. A website by Dan Gross and Ritchie History Museum. 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. This is Guy Stern 80 years ago. He is still haunted by what he experienced that day. Our country owes them an enormous debt of gratitude for their courage and sacrifices. "Enjoy" is perhaps not the right word. Please enter valid email address to continue. And so I fell back behind because I didn't want to be seen crying to a hardened soldier and then he looked around to look where I was, how I was delayed, and he, this good fellow from middle of Ohio was bawling just as I was. Spy. That changed over the years as the Ritchie Boys began to receive more recognition. But Hitler was determined to continue the war. They crossed into Germany with the Allied armies and witnessed the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. Choose which Defense.gov products you want delivered to your inbox. Nearly 2,000 German-born Jews were trained at Camp Ritchie to interrogate captured German soldiers. Guy Stern: God no. Some never went back to Europe, but one retired to Berlin in 1988 and spent his final years visiting German schools to talk about his childhood under Hitler. It was also in Europe that some of them, like Guy Stern, learned what had happened to the families they left behind. Of the nearly 20,000 Ritchie Boys who served in WWII, around 140 were killed in action, including at the costly Jon Wertheim: What do you remember from that? Sometimes, not even information about their fate: it was the 1990s before Werner Angress could confirm his father perished in Auschwitz. Max Lerner: You know how to tell an SS man? David Frey: A lot of what was learned and the methods used are important to keep secret. The very aspect of these SOBs now being at my command (laugh) gave me also some personal satisfaction. Salinger were among the camp gradsbut 2,000 German-language refugees, almost all Jewish, were the prize pupils. Not just any Nazi party member. Many of the Ritchie Boys went on to have successful civilian careers, including J.D. So many of them were Jewish. Guy Stern: Out of a plane. Paul Fairbrook: They sent us back to Camp Ritchie and they created something that I call the equivalent of the Library of Congress. Jon Wertheim: That's what you called yourself? And only in the early 2000's did we begin to see reunions of the Ritchie Boys. Contact. Another bit of indispensable Ritchie Boy handiwork: the order of battle of the German army. WebOne can readily point to the case of Ritchie Boy William R. Perl who outwitted Adolf Eichmann and saved an estimated 40,000 lives. One can also point to a Ritchie Boy 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.. David Frey is a professor of history and director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. 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. The Ritchie Boys discovered that the Nazis were terrified of ending up in Russian captivity and they used that to great effect. Guy Stern speaks at the opening of the Holocaust Memorial Centers Ritchie Boys exhibit and reunion at Farmington Hills, Michigan in 2011. The knowledge that his adopted country would not let him fight their common enemy was bitterly frustrating. Elie Wiesel, the Museums founding chairman, was the first recipient of the award, which was subsequently named in his honor. As members of the Ritchie Boys, German and Austrian refugees offered language skills and knowledge that proved vital to American military intelligence. 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. Jon Wertheim: How do you think we should be recalling the Ritchie Boys? What what did that entail? 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. 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. Some faced antisemitism from their fellow soldiers. It was an impact on war crimes. Ritchie Boys also collected evidence which led to the prosecution of many high ranking Nazis including Hermann Goering, head of the Luftwaffe; Rudolph Hess, deputy furher to Adolf Hitler; and Wilhelm Keitel, chief of the Wehrmacht, Germany's armed forces. 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. Guy Stern: My fellow students it was an all-male school withdrew from you. 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. 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. Essentially they were intellectuals. The USO is a not-for-profit organization and not part of the Department of Defense (DoD). 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. They all rose to the top of their fields, as did a number of other Ritchie Boys. I never calculated that there is such a thing as terror, fear. 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. and he said "no, military secret.". 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. Jon Wertheim: SS men, you're saying, have a tattoo under their left arm with their blood type? And I needed to get my own back. Jon Wertheim: What is it like when you get together and reflect on this experience going on 80 years ago? Still, if they were captured, they knew what the Nazis would do to them. And to take those heights against heavy firing, going up those steep cliffs, and of course, it had been done. 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. 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. They also drafted and dropped leaflets from airplanes behind enemy lines. Victor Brombert, now 98 years old, is a former professor of romance languages and literature at Yale and then Princeton. And we all were scared. Please take a moment to let our troops know how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice. Some didn't even go over to to Europe. David Frey: All in service of winning the war. 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. Victor Brombert: We were supposed to arrest important Nazi officials. Jon Wertheim: You let him know you were Jewish? All had experienced harrowing escapes from Europe and dangerous but productive returns. 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. 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. 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. 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. Ritchie Boy Dr. In 2011, the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan, hosted an exhibit of the Ritchie Boys exploits. First published on January 2, 2022 / 6:52 PM. Jon Wertheim: And you're saying that some of that originated at Camp Ritchie? Victor Brombert: And at great effort we found people, we arrested them, we were proud of doing that. Ritchie Boys were heroes who used their innate skills to gather information from all sources A contribution made by a single individual, especially if one or more lives are saved, is generally recognized as truly heroic. The Ritchie Boys were one of World War IIs greatest secret weapons for US Army intelligence, said incoming Museum Chairman Stuart E. Eizenstat. All were convicted for their crimes and many were executed. Guy Stern: We always find another anecdote to tell. 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. Follow him at @ffrommer. You really have to understand it helps to have been born in Germany in order to in order to do a good job. Salinger was a Ritchie Boy. Making such a distinction in this case is very difficult. Guy Stern: I had a war to fight and I did it. Or is it just a habit or habit of obedience or dignity? Although Ritchie Boy. We hope you find the data, stories, and images here of interest. 98-year-old Victor Brombert says they relied on their Camp Ritchie training to get people to open up. 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. 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. They chose their eldest son. "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. They never met for reunions, they did not join veteran associations. 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. Never. WebThe surviving Ritchie Boys are in their eighties now. Individual Ritchie Boys were cited for their contributions by being awarded over 60 Silver Star Medals for bravery. | They did counterintelligence training. 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. But certainly what did not work was violence or threat of violence. Individual Ritchie Boys were cited for their contributions by being awarded over 60 Silver Star Medals for bravery. Jon Wertheim: That's how you looked at it. We hope you find the data, stories, and images here of interest. 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. It is a story of a remarkable synergy between a diverse group of well trained and motivated individuals. But there were the odd grace notes among the wreckage of a continent. We believe it will also recognize the value of a group as large as 20,000. Main telephone: 202.488.0400 Edited by Stephanie Palewski Brumbach and Robert Zimet. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, Stern, by then a college student, raced to enlist. In the Ardennes region of Belgium, the Germans mounted a massive counteroffensive, which became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Because Eisenhower had signed it and the Germans had an incredibly nave approach to everything that was signed and sealed. Ritchie History Museum Links. The Allies liberated Paris in August and drove Nazi troops out of France. Jon Wertheim: So physical combat training as well as intelligence? Sometimes entire German towns were forced to pay respects to the dead. Personal, of course, but also this country - I was really treated well. Did it give you any satisfaction? Many of the 15,200 selected were Jewish soldiers who fled Nazi-controlled Germany, which was systematically killing Jews. Jon Wertheim: This had a real material impact on World War II. 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 They significantly helped the war effort and saved lives.. After the war, a number served as translators and interrogatorsespecially during the Nuremberg Trials. 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. After their training, the Ritchie Boys were dispersed in different Army units. 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: And those are your those are your comrades. David Frey: The purpose of the facility was to train interrogators. Guy Stern, a Bronze Star Medal recipient who attended, said: Ritchie Boy Dr. Victor Brombert: There were long and demanding exercises and close combat training. He still works six days a week. Max Lerner: They were all justifying themselves. I tell you when we landed on Omaha beach, there were-- the whole heights had been occupied by the German artillery and I looked up on those heights and there were our American soldiers in full occupation on the day D plus 3 and I said to myself, "that can't be done." There's no fee to visit the local community Early on in the war, 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. Victor Brombert was with the first American armored division to land on Omaha Beach. 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Jon Wertheim: I see a tent in the background of that photo right in front of you. The appearance of DoD visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. Their mission: to use their knowledge of the German language and culture to return to Europe and fight Naziism. 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. Photo credit DoD/Holocaust Memorial Center, It was an emotional reunion, definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We were crusaders.". Paul Fairbrook: You can learn to shoot a rifle in six months but you can't learn fluent German in six months. The Ritchie Boys were members of a secret American intelligence unit that fought in World War II. 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. David Frey: Well the most important part of the training was that they learned to do interrogation, and in particular of prisoners of war. The largest set of graduates were 2,000 German-born Jews. -This story was originally published on defense.gov. They spoke the same German as the Wehrmacht soldiers they were up against, they shared experiences, education and culture with them, explains Henderson. Following the war, some of the Ritchie Boys were interrogators during the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals. Jon Wertheim: What you describe, it almost sounds like these were precursors to CIA agents. 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. So little was known about the Ritchie Boys until the excellent documentary film The Ritchie Boys came upon the scene in 2004. (See Paul Fairbrook: When the soldiers said "I'm not going to talk" they could say "wait a minute. It was Sunday, May 13, 1945, Henderson marvels. 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. 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. He was born in Berlin to a Russian Jewish family. I don't know. David Frey: If we take Camp Ritchie in microcosm, it was almost the ideal of an American melting pot. Jon Wertheim: What were you trained to do? Paul Fairbrook helped write this compact manual, known as the red book, which outlined in great detail the makeup of virtually every Nazi unit, information every Ritchie Boy committed to memory. Max Lerner: They have a tattoo of their blood group under their left arms. You playacted. 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. For 99-year-old Guy Stern, a German Jew whose entire family was killed by the Nazis, the Allies' victory over Hitler was the culmination of a public crusade and a private one as well. 60-plus percent of the actionable intelligence gathered on the battlefield was gathered by Ritchie Boys. We now know that this perception needs to be broadened. Guy Stern: The Bronze Star was given to me right at the end of hostilities. 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. Max Lerner: Because I remembered my parents. One of these was Staff Sergeant Stephen (Moose) Mosbacher who was awarded a Silver Star medal posthumously for gallantry beyond the call of duty. All Rights Reserved. Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Courtesy of the Holocaust Memorial Center, Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil, https://www.defense.gov/Explore/Spotlight/WWII/. There were two who were actually captured at