The Ritchie Boys

Rudi Hockenheimer was born in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1925. It seemed a safe time to his middle-class Jewish parents— Germany was recovering from the devastation of World War I which had ended seven years before—and they were pleased to have a son only a year and a half after the birth of their first baby, a girl named Marianne.  But the quiet safety was deceptive. Hitler, who had recently published Mein Kampf, was beginning to establish his leadership in the National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party and the early 1930s in Germany were increasingly difficult, especially for Jews. By the summer of 1934, the Hockenheimer family was planning to emigrate.  Because of business connections, Rudi’s father decided on France. In September  1935, they were granted the needed French residence permit and moved to Marseille. Rudi and Marianne, now ten and almost twelve years old, were sent to private language schools to [...]

Last November, when I spoke to the Hot Springs Women’s Club about Immigrant Soldier, I was asked two questions regarding the Ritchie Boys I had never fielded before. One of the ladies wanted to know how many, if any, Ritchie Boys were killed in action.  Another lady inquired if any of the Ritchie-trained men were later discovered to have been German spies during the war, given their close ties to Germany and Austria. I did not know the answers to either of these questions but assured the two women that I would find out what I could. Naturally, I turned to Dan Gross, the unofficial archivist for the Ritchie Boys. He responded with just the information I needed. Mr. Gross wrote to me saying, “My records show that thirty-nine Ritchie Boys died during the war. One in 1943 and the remainder in 1944 and 1945.”  He included statistics that showed the [...]

This year, I read two books that reveal the opulent life of many Jewish families living in Vienna, Austria before World War II. Both books are well worth reading for their intimate view of these families, the leaders of Austrian business, thought, and artistic culture in the first four decades of the twentieth century— of how they lived in Vienna and of how they escaped to find new lives flung across the globe. Many of these influential Jewish families lived in large homes known as Palais, or palaces, on the Ringstrasse. In 1857, Emperor Franz Joseph ordered the demolition of the Vienna’s old city walls and moats to make room for an encircling boulevard and the new buildings he wanted built along it. He intended this majestic setting to be a showcase for the grandeur and glory of the Hapsburg Empire. Wealthy families flocked to build palatial homes beside the [...]

On May 8, 1945, the world erupted in celebrations. With the acceptance of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender by the Allies, the fighting in Europe was finally over. In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of victory in Europe, I decided to speak to a few Ritchie Boys and ask them to remember where they were on that day 70 years ago. Surviving Ritchie Boys are now in their 90s and many are no longer in good health, so I am very grateful for those gentlemen who made the effort to get back to me when I posed the question to them via an e-mail blast. In 1945, Wolf Lehmann was in Italy. For the members of the 88th Infantry Division, the war had already ended four days before, at noon on May 2nd when all the German forces in Italy surrendered. “It was a surprise to us, including our division commander, [...]

The Ritchie Boys, brought together by their proficiency in German, Italian or French, were trained in intelligence work by the US Army under whose command they helped defeat the Axis powers in WWII. After their service was completed, like veterans today, they had to find a place for themselves in civilian life. As a group, they did uncommonly well. The list of successful Ritchie Boys is long. You have already heard of some of them in previous posts—William Warfield and General Grombacher. In fact, the hero of Immigrant Soldier, Herman Lang, later earned 6 Emmys for his excellent camera work with CBS. As the publication of Immigrant Soldier approaches, I’d like to honor eight notable Ritchie Boys from a variety of fields. These men are only a few of the many. Ralph Baer, inventor—Known as the father of the video game, Baer was born in Germany in 1922 and arrived in America at [...]