Guy Stern was a German refugee who fled the Nazis in the 1930s and became a military intelligence operative for the U.S. during World War II as part of the elite group known as the Ritchie Boys.
- Died: December 7, 2023 (Who else died on December 7?)
- Details of death: Died in Detroit at the age of 101.
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Guy Stern’s legacy
Stern’s parents recognized the trouble brewing in Germany and got him out of the country in 1937. He settled in St. Louis, where he attended Saint Louis University before volunteering for naval intelligence in 1942. He was rejected because he hadn’t been born in the United States, but was drafted the following year. Stern was among the “Ritchie Boys,” a group of German, Austrian, and Czech refugees who trained at Camp Ritchie in Maryland.
Stern studied military intelligence and interrogation, and on June 6, 1944, he returned to Europe for the first time since fleeing the Nazis. There, he interrogated military prisoners and earned a Bronze Star for his efforts. After the end of the war, he finally learned the fate of his family, who had stayed behind: they died in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Stern returned to the U.S. and became a Holocaust scholar, earning his masters and doctorate degrees from Columbia University. He taught at Columbia and several other schools, including the University of Cincinnati, where he was head of the department for German language and literature, and the University of Maryland, where he was head of the German and Slavic studies department. He was also director of the Harry and Wanda Zekelman International Institute of the Righteous at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills.
Stern was granted many such honors as the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Goethe Medal, was a Knight of the Legion of Honor, and received several honorary doctorates.
Notable quote
“If you were saved, you got to show that you were worthy of it. And that has been the driving force in my life.”—from a 2021 interview for 60 Minutes interview
Tributes to Guy Stern
Full obituary: The Times of Israel
