1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:08,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff, Lauren Voleebaum. Here. 2 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 1: During World War II, the US military recruited and trained 3 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:18,240 Speaker 1: a secret army of nearly twenty thousand intelligence officers at 4 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:22,480 Speaker 1: a site called Camp Richie in rural Maryland. The Richie Boys, 5 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:26,280 Speaker 1: as they're known today, weren't your average American soldiers. They 6 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: represented seventy different nationalities and spoke many different languages. The 7 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 1: best known Richie Boys were some two eight hundred Jewish 8 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: refugees from Germany and Austria who fled the Holocaust then 9 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: heroically returned to Europe as American soldiers to defeat Hitler. 10 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 1: Their remarkable story was chronicled by Sixty Minutes in twenty 11 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:49,840 Speaker 1: twenty one and in a German documentary from two thousand 12 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: and four. But there were also Black Ritchie Boys, Japanese 13 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: American Richie Boys, and female Richie Girls, all of whom 14 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 1: played a critical and largely unrecognized and the Allied victory 15 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: in World War II. When war broke out in Europe 16 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:09,279 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty one, the US military lagged far behind 17 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: the British when it came to intelligence capabilities. The Americans 18 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:14,960 Speaker 1: knew that if they were going to join the fight, 19 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 1: they couldn't win without soldiers trained in the latest interrogation techniques, counterintelligence, 20 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: that is, spying, and psychological warfare. In April of nineteen 21 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,760 Speaker 1: forty two, the US Army converted a Maryland National Guard 22 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:34,199 Speaker 1: site into Camp Ritchey, a dedicated military intelligence training center. 23 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 1: From the start, the Army sought out recruits with foreign 24 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: language skills, particularly the languages of their enemies. Before the 25 00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:45,399 Speaker 1: article this episode is based on How Stuff Works, spoke 26 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: with Land and Grove, an educator who directed the creation 27 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: and opening of the Richy History Museum in twenty twenty three. 28 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 1: He said, you can teach anybody how to fire a 29 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,200 Speaker 1: rifle in just a few weeks, but you can't teach 30 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 1: them fluent German, Japanese or Italian. Of the nearly twenty 31 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,639 Speaker 1: thousand trainees who passed through Camp Riccie, about sixty percent 32 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 1: were American born, including Native Americans, and the rest included 33 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:16,960 Speaker 1: refugees classified as enemy aliens like Germans and Austrians, plus 34 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: immigrants from everywhere from Morocco to Iceland to India. For 35 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: eight weeks, Camp Richie recruits learned how to extract information 36 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 1: from captured prisoners of war, a right propaganda pamphlets to 37 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:33,920 Speaker 1: drop behind enemy lines, analyze reconnaissance photos, and kill the 38 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 1: enemy in hand to hand combat if necessary, although their 39 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,640 Speaker 1: methods were more based in soft power and cultural know 40 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: how than in violence. To complete their training, Richie Boys 41 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 1: were shipped off to England to learn advanced intelligence techniques. 42 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: It's there that the Americans may have earned the nickname 43 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: Richie Boys from their more experienced British instructors. As newly 44 00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: minted intelligence officers, Ritchie Boys were embedded in every American 45 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,960 Speaker 1: military branch and unit, and they fought in every major 46 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: World War II battle, from the D Day Invasion of 47 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:11,360 Speaker 1: Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge to Euejima. In 48 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:13,960 Speaker 1: fighting the Nazis, one of the Ritchie boys most important 49 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: contributions was something called the Order of Battle of the 50 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: German Army aka the Red Book. Using captured German documents, 51 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,960 Speaker 1: the Ritchie Boys assembled a continuously updated list of every 52 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:29,960 Speaker 1: Nazi unit in Europe, including its leadership, structure, troop numbers, 53 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: battle history, and more. Houstuffworks also spoke with Beverly Eddy, 54 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: author of Richie Boy Secrets, how a force of immigrants 55 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: and refugees helped win World War II. She said the 56 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: order of battle was crucial for interrogation purposes and for 57 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: the Allies to know exactly what they were up against. 58 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: The Richie Boys conducted tens of thousands of interrogations of 59 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:58,400 Speaker 1: both enemy soldiers and civilians. A fluent in the language 60 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: and culture of their Captivesie Boys didn't need to resort 61 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: to violence to get information. Instead, they would offer a 62 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: friendly cigarette and commisserate over local sports rivalries. Grove said 63 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: that then launch into this spiel. Isn't the war awful? 64 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 1: You and I aren't really that different. We're all just 65 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: sick of fighting and want to go home. It'll all 66 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: be over a lot sooner if you tell me where 67 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: the minefield is. And if a Nazi officer was really 68 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:25,960 Speaker 1: tight lipped, they might threaten to hand them over to 69 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:30,800 Speaker 1: the Russians. Grove was using Russians and scare quotes there 70 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,960 Speaker 1: as it'd be another Richie Boy playing the role convincingly 71 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:39,560 Speaker 1: in a Russian officer's uniform. According to a US Army 72 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,640 Speaker 1: report published in nineteen forty six, the Ritchie Boys were 73 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:47,039 Speaker 1: responsible for gathering sixty percent of all actionable battlefield intelligence 74 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: in World War two, though Eddie thinks that number should 75 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:53,280 Speaker 1: probably be lower, since the Americans who wrote the report 76 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:55,479 Speaker 1: didn't know at that time the full extent of the 77 00:04:55,560 --> 00:05:01,240 Speaker 1: secret British program that cracked the Enigma code. Several famous 78 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 1: people were members of their ranks, including author J. D. Salinger, 79 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:08,479 Speaker 1: one of the founders of Wafflehouse, Tom Faulkner, financial magnate 80 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: David Rockefeller, and politicians like Frank Church. But some of 81 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:17,600 Speaker 1: the most inspiring stories about the Richie Boys concerned those 82 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,279 Speaker 1: Jewish refugees who fled Nazi atrocities in Europe and returned 83 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: to fight for the family members and communities that had 84 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 1: lost to Hitler's genocide. Ediside's examples like Ernest Kramer, a 85 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:31,880 Speaker 1: German Jew who, at eighteen years old, was imprisoned at 86 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:36,039 Speaker 1: the notorious Bukenwald concentration camp. Kramer was one of the 87 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:38,680 Speaker 1: lucky few to get an affidavit for release to America 88 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: the minute he stepped on US soil. Kramer enlisted in 89 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: the Army and was sent to Camp Ritchie to train 90 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: in psychological warfare. During the war, Kramer wrote pamphlets urging 91 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: German soldiers to surrender, and when the war was finally over, 92 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:59,799 Speaker 1: he helped establish independent newspapers and destroyed German cities. Another 93 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,039 Speaker 1: sample is Albert Rosenberg, who was a university student in 94 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:06,040 Speaker 1: Germany in nineteen thirty seven when he was brutally attacked 95 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:10,120 Speaker 1: by an antisemitic mob. He escaped to America, joined the army, 96 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 1: and became the leader of a richie boy interrogation team 97 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 1: responsible for extracting information from high value Nazi targets Alike Kramer, 98 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 1: Rosenberg lost his entire family in Hitler's death camps, and 99 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:26,560 Speaker 1: he was determined to see Nazi war criminals brought to justice. 100 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: Eddie said. At the end of the war, Rosenberg and 101 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:33,719 Speaker 1: his team were assigned by General Eisenhower to investigate book involved. 102 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: They interviewed prisoners to learn exactly how the camp was 103 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:40,680 Speaker 1: organized and who was in charge. Those materials were used 104 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:46,279 Speaker 1: at the Nuremberg Trials. During World War two, black soldiers 105 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:49,760 Speaker 1: in the US military often faced Jim crow eras segregation. 106 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: Even at Camp Ritchie, black trainees graduated with impressive credentials, 107 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:57,159 Speaker 1: but had to navigate a military culture that treated them 108 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:01,799 Speaker 1: as second class soldiers. Take one Daniel Skinner, a professor 109 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 1: at a black college who came to Camp Richie with 110 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: a Harvard degree influency in French, German, Italian, and Spanish. 111 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:13,080 Speaker 1: Eddie said at Camp Richie, Daniel Skinner was as good 112 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 1: or better than any of the other trainees, but when 113 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:19,560 Speaker 1: he was posted abroad, he couldn't serve over white soldiers. 114 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: What they did was make him the driver of the 115 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 1: interrogation team so he could still participate as a translator 116 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:31,119 Speaker 1: and interrogator. The Richie Boys also included Japanese Americans among 117 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 1: their ranks. Take David Akira Atami, who was born an 118 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:37,960 Speaker 1: American citizen, but was imprisoned along with his family in 119 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: an internment camp after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. 120 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: A year later, Atami volunteered for the army. As Atami's 121 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: daughter wrote, the US government would not recognize your citizenship rights, 122 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:53,120 Speaker 1: but they would let you volunteer to serve the same 123 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 1: country who had deprived you of those rights. Atammi trained 124 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 1: at Camp Richie and later served as the lead interpreter 125 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:05,720 Speaker 1: at the Japanese War crimes trials in Tokyo. And around 126 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 1: two hundred Richie girls trained or worked at Camp Ritchie, 127 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 1: including twenty two women instructors. The Women's Auxiliary Corps was 128 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: an active duty branch of the Army for women, but 129 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:19,200 Speaker 1: they often struggled to earn the respect of the male 130 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:25,000 Speaker 1: dominated military. A Two high profile Richie Girls were Sally Davis, 131 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: who trained in the Order of Battle and served with 132 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 1: General MacArthur in Australia, and Lillian Tombacher, who served as 133 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 1: General Eisenhower's personal Polish interpreter in Europe and received the 134 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:40,319 Speaker 1: Bronze Star. Of the nearly twenty thousand Richie Boys who 135 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:43,000 Speaker 1: served in World War II, around one hundred and forty 136 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 1: were killed in action, including at the costly landings at 137 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 1: Normandy and Euejima. Richie Boys earned more than sixty five 138 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:54,199 Speaker 1: Silver Star medals and countless Bronze Star medals for their service. 139 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: In twenty twenty two, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum present 140 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 1: the Richie Boys with its highest honor, the Elie Weisell Award, 141 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:07,400 Speaker 1: and legislation has been submitted to Congress to award the 142 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 1: Richie Boys with the Congressional Gold Medal. Eddie and Grove 143 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:16,959 Speaker 1: estimate that over one hundred Richie Boys are still alive today. 144 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article how the Richie 145 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 1: Boys Secret refugee infiltrators took on the Nazis on HowStuffWorks 146 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:29,560 Speaker 1: dot Com, written by Dave Brus. Brain Stuff is production 147 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:32,319 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is 148 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:35,640 Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, 149 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:39,120 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 150 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:41,640 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.