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Guy Stern, WWII ‘Ritchie Boy’ who became renowned Holocaust scholar, dies at 101
(JTA) — Guy Stern, a German Jewish refugee who was one of the last known surviving members of the celebrated World War II military intelligence unit known as the “Ritchie Boys” and who became an accomplished Holocaust scholar after the war, died Dec. 7, a little over a month shy of his 102nd birthday.
Sent to live in St. Louis by his family as a teenager, Stern became a U.S. citizen and was drafted into the Army in 1943, joining a select group of Jewish refugee soldiers-turned-intelligence operatives who trained at Fort Ritchie in Maryland. As a native German speaker, his skillset was especially valuable for interrogating Nazi prisoners of war.
The so-called Ritchie Boys, who included around 2,000 Jewish refugees, would come to be responsible for what was later estimated as around 60% of the U.S.’ usable intelligence during the war. Their work was classified as top-secret and largely remained under wraps for decades; many veterans, unlike Stern, died without fully telling their stories.
Stern most recently was a central figure in the 2022 PBS documentary “The U.S. And The Holocaust,” directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and Lynn Novick, and he also appeared in a “60 Minutes” special earlier that year. In 2021, the U.S. Senate honored the Ritchie Boys’ service with a bipartisan resolution.
After the war, Stern further explored his bilingual identity and became a comparative literature scholar and university administrator. He served several top roles at Detroit’s Wayne State University, including provost, and at the University of Cincinnati, along the way receiving various honors for his service, including the French Knight of the Legion of Honor in 2017. His widow, the Polish-born German writer Susanna Piontek, is also a frequent explorer of Holocaust memory and translated her husband’s memoir into German.
Stern was memorialized by many Jewish institutions both in and out of his adopted home of Detroit, including the Zekelman Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan, where Stern was the director of its International Institute of the Righteous.
“Guy was such an important part of not just The HC but of the entire understanding we have of the war, what was done to win, its significance, and the importance of education to prevent recurrence,” said Alan Zekelman, executive member of the museum’s board, in a statement. “There is no question that his work in this world was important, will be remembered, and that we are all blessed because of him. He will be incredibly missed.”
Stern was born Günther Stern in 1922, in Hildesheim, Germany. Throughout his life he would retain vivid memories of seeing former friends sign up for the Hitler Youth. At 15, he became the only member of his family to escape death at the hands of the Nazis when his parents pooled their resources and sent him to stay with a relative in St. Louis.
In a story Stern would later tell many times, including in his 2020 memoir “Invisible Ink,” he tried in vain to secure a stateside sponsorship for his parents and siblings. Owing to what he said was largely the fault of a duplicitous lawyer, he was unable to find a sponsor who would grant them secure passage, and the rest of his family was later murdered in the Holocaust.
Staying with his aunt and uncle in St. Louis, Stern would often tune into the broadcasts of the fascist American priest Father Coughlin on the radio, who had embraced the same poisonous ideology as the Nazis Stern had fled.
“I was taken aback when I heard Father Coughlin and I thought, ‘Well, I parted with all that when I left Germany,’” Stern told this author in 2019. “I did not project that America would be misled in the same way by demagogic slogans and propaganda the way it had happened in Germany.”
After the war, Stern studied Romance languages at Hofstra University on Long Island, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1948. He received a master’s degree and later a Ph.D in German at Columbia University.
Stern spoke frequently about his experiences as a refugee, sitting for various survivor testimonies and being interviewed in a number of documentaries and TV programs.
Stern remained spry and gregarious into his years as a centenarian, with near-total recall of his life experiences, and would gamely sit down with most anyone who asked for his story. Throughout his life, he maintained a sharp wit.
“If you live long enough,” he told “60 Minutes,” “honors are being showered upon you.”
Stern is survived by Susanna Piontek of West Bloomfield. His first marriage, to Margith Langweiler, ended in divorce. His second wife, Judith Edelstein Owens, died in 2003. A son, Mark Stern, died in 2006.
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The post Guy Stern, WWII ‘Ritchie Boy’ who became renowned Holocaust scholar, dies at 101 appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.