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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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United Nations ‘Condemns’ Israel for Responding to Houthi Attacks, Decries ‘Escalation’ of Violence
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks to members of the Security Council during a meeting to address the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, at UN headquarters in New York City, New York, US, April 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
In its latest salvo against the Jewish state, the United Nations (UN) condemned Israel for executing retaliatory strikes against the Houthi terror group in Yemen.
“The Secretary-General condemns escalation between Yemen and Israel,” Stéphanie Tremblay, a UN spokesperson, said in Thursday statements on behalf of UN Secretary General António Guterres.
“The Secretary-General is gravely concerned about intensified escalation in Yemen and Israel. Israeli airstrikes today on Sana’a International Airport, the Red Sea ports and power stations in Yemen are especially alarming. The airstrikes reportedly resulted in numerous casualties including at least three killed and dozens more injured” Tremblay added.
On Thursday, Israel launched a barrage of missile attacks on Houthi bases in Yemen, provoking international outrage. Israel targeted a major airport in Sanaa and ports in Hodeida, Al-Salif and Ras Qantib, and power stations, locations the Jewish state claims were used by the terror group to sneak in both Iranian weapons and high-ranking Iranian officials.
On Friday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for an airstrike aimed at Ben Gurion airport, claiming that the attacks were carried out in retaliation against Israel’s targeting of Sana’a International airport.
The Israeli strikes followed days of Houthi missile and drone launches towards the Jewish state’s airspace. The Houthis have repeatedly attacked the Jewish state in the year following the Oct. 7 slaughters in Israel. Officials associated with terrorist organization claims that it will continue to attack Israel until the so-called “genocide” in Gaza ceases.
In reference to the strikes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas and Hezbollah and Assad’s regime and others learned.”
Israeli officials have long accused the UN of having a bias against the Jewish state. Last year, the UN General Assembly condemned Israel twice as often as it did all other countries. Meanwhile, of all the country-specific resolutions passed by the UNHRC, nearly half have condemned Israel, a seemingly disproportionate focus on the lone democracy in the Middle East.
Weeks following the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, the UN adopted a resolution calling for a “ceasefire” between Israel and the terrorist group. The UN failed to pass a measure condemning the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.
In June, the UN put Israel on its so-called “list of shame” of countries that kill children in armed conflict. Israel is considered to be the only democracy on the list.
The post United Nations ‘Condemns’ Israel for Responding to Houthi Attacks, Decries ‘Escalation’ of Violence first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Jets Attack Syria-Lebanon Border Crossings to Stop Arms Amuggling
Smoke billows after an Israeli Air Force air strike in southern Lebanon village, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, as seen from northern Israel, Oct. 3, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jim Urquhar
Israeli jets struck seven crossing points along the Syria-Lebanon border on Friday, aiming to cut the flow of weapons to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in southern Lebanon.
Israeli troops also seized a truck mounted with a 40-barrel rocket launcher in southern Lebanon, part of a haul from various areas that included explosives, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and AK-47 automatic rifles, the military said.
The commander of the Israeli Air Force, Major General Tomer Bar, said Hezbollah was trying to smuggle weapons into Lebanon to test Israel’s ability to stop them.
“This must not be tolerated,” he said in a statement.
Under the terms of a Nov. 27 ceasefire agreement, Israel is supposed to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon in phases while unauthorised Hezbollah military facilities south of the Litani River are to be dismantled.
However, each side has accused the other of violating the agreement, intended to end more than a year of fighting that began with Hezbollah missile strikes on Israel in the aftermath of the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, from Gaza.
On Thursday, the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon called for Israeli forces to withdraw, citing what it said were repeated violations of the deal.
Israel, which destroyed large parts of Hezbollah’s missile stocks during weeks of operations in southern Lebanon, has said it will not permit weapons to be smuggled to Hezbollah through Syria.
Israel has also conducted attacks against the Iranian-backed Houthi movement in Yemen in recent days and pledged to continue its campaign against Iranian-backed militant groups across the region.
The post Israeli Jets Attack Syria-Lebanon Border Crossings to Stop Arms Amuggling first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Mila Kunis Says Husband Ashton Kutcher And Their Children Helped Her Embrace Judaism: ‘I Fell in Love With My Religion’
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis at the 9th Annual Breakthrough Prize Ceremony at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, California, on April 16, 2023. Photo: Cover Media via Reuters Connect
Actress Mila Kunis began embracing and feeling proud of her Jewish heritage when she met her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, and even more so after having children, she told Israeli activist and author Noa Tishby this week.
“For me, it happened when I met my husband,” the “Goodrich” star, 41, said of her former “That ’70s Show” costar, 46, who she has been married to since 2015.
Although Kutcher is not Jewish, he was a follower of Kabbalah and was frequently photographed visiting the Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles when he was married to actress Demi Moore from 2005-2013. Their wedding was also reportedly officiated by a Kabbalah Centre teacher. It remains unclear if he continues to follow Kabbalah. Nevertheless, Kunis joked that Kutcher is Jewish “by choice,” not by lineage, and that his interest in Judaism sparked Kunis to reconnect with her Jewish roots.
“I fell in love with my religion because he explained it to me,” said Kunis, who voices Meg Griffin on the Fox animated series “Family Guy.”
Kunis made the comments while joining Tishby to light candles on Thursday for the second night of Hanukkah. The two joined forces as part of Tishby’s “#BringOnTheLight campaign,” which is an eight-part video series on YouTube dedicated to spreading the message of Jewish resilience, pride and unity throughout the Jewish holiday.
Kunis and Kutcher together have two children — daughter Wyatt, 10, and son Dimitri, 8. The actress was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, and moved to the United States at the age of eight. She told Tishby that she did not adhere to any Jewish traditions while growing up. “I always knew I was Jewish but I was told to never talk about,” she said. “I think because I was in a country that didn’t allow for religion.” The “Bad Moms” star added that her children also helped her tap into the religious side of Judaism.
“I was raised culturally Jewish. So for me, it’s a culture,” she said. “And as I had kids, and my kids very much identity with the religion aspect of it, I was like, ‘Oh, I guess we’re doing Shabbat and the candles. And there are so many beautiful traditions.”
“I never lit Hanukkah candles until I had kids,” she further noted.
When Kunis lit the menorah with Tishby for the second night of Hanukkah, they called Kutcher for some help. Both women were unsure if they needed to light the candles from left to right or from right to left, and asked Kutcher for guidance.
Kunis also talked about being raised with a lot of Jewish guilt and superstition. Listing another things that are culturally Jewish about her, she shared, “I have a fear of not having enough food and my fear of somebody being hungry. The worst thing my kids can say to me is, ‘I’m hungry.’”
“Food fixes everything. You’re tired, eat some food. You’re cranky, eat some food,” she joked. “A health person would say, ‘This is unhealthy and you’re doing something wrong.’ And I understand. I’m working on it. But it’s just something that is embedded in me.”
The post Mila Kunis Says Husband Ashton Kutcher And Their Children Helped Her Embrace Judaism: ‘I Fell in Love With My Religion’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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