They did counterintelligence training. The Ritchie Boys were one of World War IIs greatest secret weapons for US Army intelligence, said incoming Museum Chairman Stuart E. Eizenstat. David Frey: The purpose of the facility was to train interrogators. And I made sure he knew that it was a Jew who controlled him. 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. Gross wrote to me saying, My 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. I gave myself all the accouterments of looking like a fierce Russian commissar. We were all on the same wavelength. 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. Who helped shape what it meant to be American and who in some cases gave their lives in service to this country. All Rights Reserved. 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. David Frey: Right. 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.. You know where the strong points are, and you know you what to avoid and what to attack. 4.39. Spy. The story of Camp Ritchie and the men (and women) who came there is a story that needs to be broadcast more widely. Bill. Elie Wiesel, the Museums founding chairman, was the first recipient of the award, which was subsequently named in his honor. 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. Divided into 6-man teams the Ritchie Boys were attached to different Army units. By the summer of 1944, German troops in Normandy were outnumbered and overpowered. David Frey: If we take Camp Ritchie in microcosm, it was almost the ideal of an American melting pot. Jon Wertheim: Was it your knowledge of the language or your knowledge of the psychology and the German culture? The Ritchie Boys | The Story And only in the early 2000's did we begin to see reunions of the Ritchie Boys. 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. 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. They were asked, in some cases, to memorize battle books, which told soldiers about the enemys organization, structure, capacity, leadership and experience. Guy Stern: I preferred not having it. Jon Wertheim: And you think because it had that signature, somehow that certified it. 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. Fort Ritchie, as it later became known, closed in 1998. WebThe Ritchie Boys were a secret unit of the US Army during the Second World War. 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. Choose which Defense.gov products you want delivered to your inbox. Nina Wolff Feld told her fathers story in Someday You Will Understand: My Fathers Private World War 2. How The Ritchie Boys Helped Win World War II For America. Jon Wertheim: Did the Ritchie Boys redefine what it means to be a soldier and contribute to a military? There were roughly 9000 of these Jews in America and they specialized in the interrogation of German prisoners. The Ritchie Boys exhibit is at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Mich., July 24, 2011. By the spring of 1944, the Ritchie Boys were ready to return to Western Europe this time as naturalized Americans in American uniforms. Most chose the eldest son, to carry on the family name. Jon Wertheim: This is going behind enemy lines. Guy Stern: I was a soldier doing my job and that precluded any concern that I was going back to a country I once was very attached to. Paul Fairbrook: Look I'm a German Jew. Right. Guy Stern: I had my whole uniform with medals, Russian medals. Jon Wertheim: All in service of winning the war? In 1943, he was drafted into the Army and in 1944 landed in Normandy after D-day as a "Ritchie Boy." Paul Fairbrook: You can learn to shoot a rifle in six months but you can't learn fluent German in six months. Following the war, some of the Ritchie Boys were used as interrogators during the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals. 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. Jon Wertheim: SS men, you're saying, have a tattoo under their left arm with their blood type? He responded with just the information I needed. What did work Is complicity. You sort of swing it around the neck from behind and then pull. When they landed on the beaches of Normandy, Wehrmacht troops were waiting for them well armed and well prepared. Paul Fairbrook: Oh that is a very good question. Many landed on the beaches of Normandy soon after D-Day. 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. Dan Gross and several invited guests joined the Ritchie Boys for the photo. In 2011, the Holocaust Memorial Center, in Farmington Hills, Michigan, hosted an exhibit of the Ritchie Boys' exploits. The SS controlled the German police forces and concentration camps and directed the so-called "Final Solution" to kill all European Jews. One can readily point to the case of Ritchie Boy William R. Perl who outwitted Adolf Eichmann and saved an estimated 40,000 lives. "It was a terrible situation. Washington, DC 20024-2126 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. So was Archibald Roosevelt, grandson of Theodore Roosevelt. Victor Brombert: Yes of course. Others were actually really important in American science. On a cold November morning in 1938, Herman watches in horror as his (See Im a military history writer and Id never heard of them.. Surviving soldiers were among the attendees. In 1944, the Ritchie Boys headed to Europe to fight in a war that was, for them, intensely personal. 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. Many of the Ritchie Boys went on to have successful civilian careers, including J.D. The Ritchie Boys practiced street fighting in life-size replicas of German villages and questioned mock civilians in full scale German homes. Then shaping the cold war era, they really played a significant role. 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.
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