David Frey: I think they did. Many of the 15,200 selected were Jewish soldiers who fled Nazi-controlled Germany, which was systematically killing Jews. Every day, Americas service members selflessly put their lives on the line to keep us safe and free. Download our app to find events, locations and programs near you. Many of the German and Austrian Jewish refugees reported to Camp Ritchie while still designated as "enemy aliens." They also drafted and dropped leaflets from airplanes behind enemy lines. It was wonderful to see these people again. 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? Although members of the Ritchie Boys were awarded more than 65 Silver Stars, their group was not very well known during the war. Hundreds of Ritchie Boys were attached to divisions that liberated concentration camps and interviewed former prisoners to document the atrocities that took place. When Hitler took power in 1933, Stern says the climate grew increasingly hostile. The Ritchie Boys exhibit is at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Mich., July 24, 2011. 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.. Jon Wertheim: So there's a real element of - costumes and deception and accents. 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. HistoryNet 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. Paul Fairbrook: I was proud to be in the American Army and we were able to do what we had to do. Never. So little was known about the Ritchie Boys until the excellent documentary film The Ritchie Boys came upon the scene in 2004. A few years ago, says the Menlo Park, Calif., author of Sons and Soldiers, I was reading an obit in the paper about a local man, a ninetysomething Jewish guy who had left Germany on the Kindertransporthis parents didnt survivemade it to America and become a Ritchie Boy. A what? Ritchie Boy Dr. Jon Wertheim: This was really a broad range of intelligence activities. We believe it will also recognize the value of a group as large as 20,000. Washington County's Ritchie Boys focus of 60 Minutes segment But within a few months the government realized these so-called enemy aliens could be a valuable resource in the war. (U.S. Army Signal Corps). Many had fled Nazi Germany but returned as American soldiers, deploying their knowledge of German language and culture to great advantage. 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. Guy Stern: Defeating the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS and all the fancy troops they had was a satisfaction both as a team member and as a personal satisfaction. told the story of his fathers motivation and bravery in the book Unavoidable Hope. 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. 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. Guy Stern: Yes, doing my job interrogating. 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). July 20, 2017, Martin Selling questions German prisoners near the front in France, 1944. Divisions that liberated concentration camps included hundreds of Ritchie Boys, who interviewed survivors. 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. The Department of Defense provides the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security. The group also included large numbers of first- or second-generation Americans who still spoke German or other languages at home, Frey says. Because they served in so many different capacities. The Ritchie Boys exhibit at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Mich., July 24, 2011. Max Lerner: Because I remembered my parents. 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. Max Lerner: He spent several days in my jail. Jon Wertheim: 60% of the actionable intelligence? 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. The Ritchie Boys were members of a secret American intelligence unit that fought in World War II. / CBS News. The Ritchie Boys | The Story David Frey: But they also did terrain analysis, they also did photo analysis, and aerial reconnaissance analysis. To Allied investigators it became a sort of Nazi hunter's bible. Nina Wolff Feld told her fathers story in Someday You Will Understand: My Fathers Private World War 2. Some Ritchie Boys were recruited to go on secret missions during the war. Jon Wertheim: Because you were Jewish you were ostracized? Associate producer, Jennifer Dozor. And they were motivated like few other American soldiers. Guy Stern: I preferred not having it. Victor Brombert: There were long and demanding exercises and close combat training. Here are five ways Dietrich supported American troops and the USO during World War II. 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. 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 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. Not just any Nazi party member. Ritchie Boys of He responded with just the information I needed. And to take those heights against heavy firing, going up those steep cliffs, and of course, it had been done. a Clandestine WWII Intelligence Unit: The Ritchie Jon Wertheim: You work 6 days a week, you swim every morning, you lecture, any signs of slowing down? Edited by Stephanie Palewski Brumbach and Robert Zimet. They fought with the American military in the lands they had recently escaped, helping to turn the course of the war. Guy Stern: They were killed either in Warsaw or in Auschwitz. But the Sterns could only send one of their own to the U.S. Guy Stern: I had my whole uniform with medals, Russian medals. Camp Ritchie served the Maryland National Guard until 1942. Jon Wertheim: Was it your knowledge of the language or your knowledge of the psychology and the German culture? Jon Wertheim: I understand there are some Ritchie Boys [that] became fairly prominent figures. 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.. 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. We hope you find the data, stories, and images here of interest. Following the war, some of the Ritchie Boys were used as interrogators during the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals. Guy Stern speaks at the opening of the Holocaust Memorial Centers Ritchie Boys exhibit and reunion at Farmington Hills, Michigan in 2011. The U.S. Army had evidently decided that Martin Selling was a useful asset after all. You had people coming from all over uniting for a particular cause. 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. Fort Ritchie, as it later became known, closed in 1998. Ritchie Boys Victor Brombert: And at great effort we found people, we arrested them, we were proud of doing that. And I needed to get my own back. 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. The U.S. Army leased the post for $5 a year and established The Military Intelligence Training Center. Dead people. There were two who were actually captured at David Frey: Some became ambassadors. Sensing danger, Stern's father tried to get the family out. Approximately 20,000 menmany of whom were immigrants and refugees from more than 70 countries, including 2,800 German and Austrian refugees who fled Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Esc The USO is a not-for-profit organization and not part of the Department of Defense (DoD). 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. Text STOP to opt out, HELP for help. This was because he could speak fluent German; and indeed many of the interrogators at Nuremberg were German or Austrian Jews who had emigrated to America before WWII and were known as the Ritchie Boys. Jon Wertheim: That's what you called yourself? Did it give you any satisfaction? Aren't we all sort of, tired of it?". They all rose to the top of their fields, as did a number of other Ritchie Boys. There were Ritchie Boys who were in virtually every battle that you can think of and some actually suffered the worst fate. 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. 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. . A website by Dan Gross and Ritchie History Museum. St. Joseph Communications uses cookies for personalization, to customize its online advertisements, and for other purposes. Holocaust refugee turned American Soldier never forgot
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