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Stern Talks About His Experience as a 'Ritchie Boy' in WWII at Dallas Holocaust Museum

Guy Stern, a 90-year-old Jewish immigrant who came to America from Germany during World War II, captivated a crowd on Thursday night at the Dallas Holocaust Museum with stories about his past and his involvement with the Ritchie Boys.

Having received training at Camp Ritchie, the Military Intelligence Training Center, in Maryland, the Ritchie Boys were a group of Jewish boys from primarily Germany and Austria, who came to America and then served in the war. Because they had better knowledge about the German language and culture than a majority of soldiers born in America, the Ritchie Boys became a source of intelligence for the Allies, finding out information about German troops, strategic plans and more.

During his speech at the Holocaust Museum, Stern talked about how he came to the United States in 1937, joined the army in 1942 and received his American citizenship on Texas soil, while participating in an army training camp around Abilene before he went to Camp Ritchie. At Camp Ritchie, Stern learned interrogation skills, which he later used while serving as a prisoner of war interrogator for the Allies.

"We used our knowledge of the German psychology, we used our knowledge of the human psychology, and we succeeded," Stern said.

Stern received a Bronze Star award for his "method of mass interrogation" in the war, according to the Dallas Holocaust Museum. Currently, Stern is working at Wayne State University in Detroit as a Distinguished Professor in German.

For those who would like an opportunity to learn more about the Ritchie Boys, an exhibit titled "The Ritchie Boys: Secret Heroes" is going on now through Aug. 27 at the Dallas Holocaust Museum.

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Saturday, 11 August 2012