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Page edited by Vlatt Richardsvrww.gastongazette.com [ Hie GazetteSunday, August 28,2011 5BCAROLINASJewish man recalls revenge on NazisUabermannowCHARLOTTE HR — ft vtas the perfect revenge. ■ITicy ivcrc.jews who fled Nazi persecutbn aid came to America, wforc they Joined or were drafted into the US.Army during World war ll Because I they knew die lanjpage and culture of the enemy better Qian anyone, they were salt to a Maryland mEtaiy intefli-geuce training center cafled Camp Ritchie {notv Fqrt Hitch*} and fcwjjH to interrogate or wags Ueberman In psy^ofogicalWorld War II y^W^t mel\azl History Imovfs diem aa the Ritchie Boys.Jerry Liehetman of Charlotte was oue. Recently, he and a dozen uther Ritchie Boy^s were reunited and honored at the uilvdlluj. of a traveling exhibit called Secret Heroes: The Ritchie Boys” al (lie Hu-foceiBt Memorial Center in suburban Defeat Raised in Munich. Germany, Liebeunan and his familyI was attte to use my language skills and education In an Interesting way to fight ttie enemy. At the time, we did n't know what whs aappenlng In the ghettos and camps. Ones we did, It struck a great pride to be a Jew and to be bevn a German. -leny LwberrnfinCharlotte resident who trained in mttaty inteligSf» rfcjrelgVfoiH War II99lied in early 1939, before the Wing nfthe Hpfocaua began ineainesL As a Jew, hispartas a Ritchie Boy still stirs enormous pride.“( was able to use my language skills andectocanoti In an interesting way tn fight the enemy, liebemiao, new B?, said. At the rimes wfc dtflnt. Jmrriv what was happening tn the gjdtos and rampt Oner, wr did, jfsmjckagrsitpikte to be a Jew and to be tom a Goman tiis story is bke many Ritchie Roys.Uebetman’s father, Leo, owned a paint and lacquer company in Munich, until the night of Nov. 9, 1938. when life foi his family — lib manyEuropean Jews — dramat-ualychanged That was the lufanuiift Kristafincdit, thenight rtf N’aaviolence that signaled the bc-ginriingcf the. Holncaust.Tnat ni#it and spilling into Nnv. in. Nazi troops tnrrhed 2,000 synagogues, ransacked /,hiKi JewlRh-nwnnd ■ businesses ahd murdered scores of (Jcrmcn and Austrian Jnws. Iheyrouadfid up 70,000 mar? Jews—nosdy men—tor tb; concentration camps.One vvas Leo Ucbcmm sent to Dachau, tbe first concentration camp opened Its Germany BdtLeowftsoneofthefortu-nate ones, He had helped the^netfc®i cortful fa •Mioiidi ■with the body lt;:f an American vdiohadd«3 in Germany. .*•: At the cdftii's urging; die Nazis released Leo bum Dachau after six weeks and the feoiDy was given a visa to I eoveGermany ** first tn Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, ultimately to New York in spring 1939, where the family had relatives including Jerry’s older brother, Rich. They arrived with nothing. Jerry was 15. fn Munich, bed been a student at a Jewish • restaurantschcioL to NewYork an aunt taught him English. She persuaded Jerty to enroll at a Queeashighschool He gtaduatei on lies 18th birthday. Soon tie Army came knocking. Seeing be had experience as a pastry diet; the}' sent him to Voginia to train as a cook and bate.While I was these, a cousin fold his mother who told my mother that thm? was o heed for German-speaking, soldiers to volunteer,’ Ifoberman said. One week late:, I was on. my wav to Camp Ritchie.Oftherougjil? 11,000 Ritchie Boys who came QiroUfjJi Camp Ritchie, tvrii-thrds were sent to Europe Most of those were German and Am (nun Jews who bad fled tbe Nazis, said Guy Stem, liimsetf a. RitchieBoy who is now' tfcectar of the international -Institute of the Righteous or the MldflgHo, Holocaust center.Tbe troops were taught tricks to extract valuable infbr-raatioD from Gennar. POWs atout troop, plane and drollery strength and locations. • We fought an American war. We fought an intensely personal war, said Stem, who didn't know all his family had perished in the Holocaust until alter the war. We fought with weapons of an intelligence soldier with a missionary zeal.Many of the Ritchie Boys dispatched to Europe landed . onor near D-Day in fuoe 1944.Doberman. a sergeant In the 10th class at Camp Ritchie, was sent to war earliei, first to northern Africa as a replacement inrenogator, then Italy vdth the Army's 3rd Infantry Division and eventually southern France.He and the other Boys moved with infantry units. Pram .Anno on the Italian coast, liebetman and another in'.errogator and tvro guards were strafed by a German plane as they drove to Rome.T got under tbe Jeep, and found UiaL I was Weeding, he saxl “I got the Purple Heart ’■As they traveled, they, usedtricks to gnflier intoimattor. ••Once, Ueberman faced down captured members of Hillers private SS army. •“Those guys wotHdn'V'mlkar all, he sad.So after questioning one re-cakibani prisoner, he ordered a guard to take him away.Out ulptalu view, the guard fireda shot,1’ hesaid. The neh guy was very' cooperative.1'Liebetman returned to Nev York In nnrpmhftr lfM5. Tu 149, he started the BG Liebetman Co. with his mother, Bella, e.-eotuaUy supplyirg buttons, zippers, thread, anil sccvingand pressingmachines to tailors and dry deaners.Three Inter, hi; brought the company to Chaiiotte, where be still goes ro the.affire each day as the ex-president” He served for years as a enrr-missioncr and chair of the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation commission.Memories of his days as a ‘Rildiie Boy remain seared. He'd like co get the traveling exhibit to Charlotte, periiaps after it appears at a museum near PnrrRrapgin rhe spring.It is e satisfying leding W know wnhad R big .‘rfake in the defeat of the Nazis he said. 'They took our homeland — tve helped gciicback
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The Gaston Gazette
Gastonia, North Carolina, US
Sun, Aug 28, 2011
Page 33
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USA 12 Oct 2020
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