Ritchie Boy Programs

Ritchie Boys, a secret U.S. WWII unit bolstered by German-born Jews | 60 Minutes Extended Stories

The Ritchie Boys were responsible for gathering more than half the actionable intelligence on the battlefield during World War II. For the many German-born Jews in their ranks, defeating the Nazis was heartbreakingly personal.

Video by 60 Minutes / Jon Wertheim reports.

On September 14, 2021, Dr. David S. Frey spoke to the Wyckoff-Midland Park Rotary about The Ritchie Boys and Diversity in the Military. He goes though topics on The Immigration Act of 1924, Influence of Antisemitism, The Military Intelligence Division, What the Ritchie Boys studied, Hand-to-hand combat, Prisoner of War Interrogation, the German Order of Battle, and other topics. 

Please note that "The views expressed in the video are expressed sorely by Dr. Frey and the views do not necessarily reflect the official policy or positions the US Military Academy at West Point, Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.”

Video by Wyckoff-Midland Park Rotary / Dr. David Frey

Bernard Lubran joins The National Museum of American Jewish Military History on May 7th, 2020 via Zoom to discuss the soldiers trained in military intelligence at Camp Ritchie, MD during World War II. Many of them were German-speaking immigrants who had fled from the Nazis in Europe. Bernie Lubran, the son of a Ritchie Boy, is the President of the Friends of Camp Ritchie, an educational non-profit whose purpose is to educate the public about the importance of Camp Ritchie and the soldiers who trained there during World War II, "The Ritchie Boys." 

Video by National Museum of American Jewish Military History / Bernie Lubran

Join author Dr. Beverley Driver Eddy for this insider’s look at Camp Ritchie, a World War II military intelligence training center in the mountains of western Maryland. In this program, Dr. Eddy focuses on the 200 “Ritchie Girls” and “Ritchie WACs” who trained and worked in the secret facility. Through intense research and interviews with the veterans’ families, she has gathered colorful stories of the WACs’ work at the camp and in the field. The three women pictured above became close friends during their time at Camp Ritchie, and Dr. Eddy has followed their careers through the war and their civilian lives after service. 

Video by Adams County Historical Society at Gettysburg / Dr. Beverley Driver Eddy

Beverley Driver Eddy, author of Ritchie Boy Secrets: How a Force of Immigrants and Refugees Helped Win World War II joins us to discuss the experiences connected to internment for the men and women trained in military intelligence at Camp Ritchie. In June 1942, the U.S. Army began recruiting immigrants, the children of immigrants, refugees, and others with language skills and knowledge of enemy lands and cultures for a special military intelligence group being trained in the mountains of northern Maryland and sent into Europe and the Pacific. Ultimately, 15,000 men and some women received this specialized training and went on to make vital contributions to victory in World War II. 

Video by National Museum of American Jewish Military History / Dr. Beverley Driver Eddy

It was the perfect revenge. They fled Nazi persecution and came to America, where they entered the U.S. Army during World War II. Because they knew the language and culture of the enemy better than anyone, they were sent to a Maryland military intelligence training center called Camp Ritchie (now Fort Ritchie) and taught to interrogate or wage psychological warfare against the Nazis. History knows them as the Ritchie Boys. 

Bernard Lubran, an authority on The Ritchie Boys and the son of a Ritchie Boy, will give us an extraordinary insight into this important part of WWII history with roots in Maryland. He is the President of the Friends of Camp Ritchie, an educational non-profit organization whose purpose is to educate the public about the importance of Camp Ritchie, MD, and the soldiers who trained there during World War II, and helps Ritchie Boy family members share stories, photos, and memories. 

Video by Army Heritage Center Foundation / Bernie Lubran

The Generations After held the program "Becoming a Ritchie Boy" on July 24, 2024. 

Learn more about the history of this unique group of soldiers from Beverley Driver Eddy, Professor Emerita of German at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, whose book 'Ritchie Boy Secrets: How a Force of Immigrants and Refugees Helped Win World War II' was published in 2021. 

She will discuss her book with Todd DePastino, author, historian, and founding director of the Veterans Breakfast Club, who will serve as moderator of the program. Also participating will be Dan Gross, who is known as the Ritchie Boys’ archivist and has amassed information on thousands of Ritchie Boys. Gen After members Bernie Lubran and Jill Gay, children of two Ritchie boys, will share their fathers' stories and the effects those stories had on their own lives.

Video by Generations After DC / Dr. Beverley Driver Eddy, Todd DePastino, Dan Gross, Bernie Lubran and Jill Gay

At the 2022 Pfeffer Family Forum, Dr. David Frey, Founding Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the United States Military Academy, discussed the history and function of the Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie, its graduates, and how their innovations are relevant to us today. 

The Military Intelligence Division was once part of the Army with a history of antisemitism, racism, and anti-immigrant activity. In spite of this, during World War II, they came to recognize the tactical and strategic value that recent immigrants, Jewish refugees from Nazism, Japanese Americans recruited straight out of internment camps, and other "marginal" soldiers could provide. 

To teach these men and a handful of women how to do battlefield intelligence, the Army created the Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie. Its graduates went on to make exceptional contributions to the war effort, post-war occupation governance, war crime prosecution, and creation of the Cold War era world. 

Video by Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center / Dr. David Frey

Dr. Beverley Eddy of Dickinson College presents a lecture based on her book, Camp Sharpe’s “Psycho Boys”: From Gettysburg to Germany, at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center. She follows five of the German refugees-turned-American Soldiers from the time they joined the Mobile Radio Broadcasting Companies at Camp Sharpe, to D-Day and the fight for Europe, through the liberation of the concentration camps. She explores how the Psycho Boys’ nerve and inventiveness led to the desertion of thousands of German troops, and how the Psycho Boys played a vital role as mediators between the American and German forces as the war ground to an end. 

Video by United States Army Heritage and Education Center / Dr. Beverley Eddy Driver

The Fort Ritchie Community Center and the Ritchie History Museum had the pleasure of hosting Irene Wittig for a lecture on her book Almost Home - The Story of Otto Gruenbaum, Pianist and Ritchie Boy. "A true story of a promising young pianist, who joined fled Vienna, found refuge in the United States, joined the U.S. Army, was selected for secret military intelligence training at Camp Ritchie and served as a wartime interrogator in Europe. He almost made it home. Why he didn't is the mystery that still haunts his family." 

Video by Ritchie History Museum / Irene Wittig