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Gumpertz, Werner Herbert (42033526): Difference between revisions

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|surname=Gumpertz
|surname=Gumpertz
|first=Werner
|first=Werner
|middle=H.
|middle=Herbert
|class_section=5A
|class_section=5A
|class_rank=Cpl
|class_rank=Corporal
|birth_year=1917
|birth_year=1917
|death_year=2017
|death_year=2017
|nativity=Germany
|nativity=Germany
|religion=Jewish
|religion=Jewish
|enlistment_place=NEW YORK CITY NEW YORK
|state=WASHINGTON
|overseas=Y
|overseas=Y
|certificate=10044
|education=3 years of college
|occupation=Draftsmen
|marital=Single with dependents
|confidence=high
|confidence=high
|class_number=25
|class_number=25
|class_display=25
|class_display=25
|photo=1677027778985803.jpg
|photo=Gumpertz_Werner_Herbert_42033526_army_portrait.jpg
|death_date=1 December 2017
|death_date=1 December 2017
|birth_place=Berlin, Germany
|birth_place=Berlin, Germany
|rank_final=Captain
|rank_final=Captain
|birth_date=26 December 1917
|death_place=West Newton, Massachusetts
|division=Seventh Army
}}
}}


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<div class="soldier-lead">
'''[[Gumpertz, Werner H. (42033526)|Werner H. Gumpertz]]''' (1917 – 1 December 2017) was a Ritchie Boy (from Germany; Jewish) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 25.
'''Werner Herbert Gumpertz''' (26 December 1917&ndash;1 December 2017) was a Berlin-born U.S. Army interrogator and Ritchie Boy who trained at [[Camp Ritchie]] with [[:Category:Class 25|Class 25]], served with Seventh Army in Europe, handled military-government publications in Karlsruhe, and after the war co-founded the engineering firm Simpson Gumpertz and Heger.
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== Biography ==
== Biography ==
Werner Gumpertz passed away on December 1, 2017 at age 99. This information about Werner came from the tribute written by his granddaughter, Beckie Moses, that was part of his obituary. "In 1943, Werner was drafted into the U.S. Werner went on to become an Army Intelligence Officer, serving overseas in Germany. He completed his training at Camp Ritchie’s Military Intelligence Training Center. He was later recruited by the U.S. Military Government and sent to Switzerland to identify and eliminate Nazi ideology from book publications. He led a distinguished military career and took great pride in serving his country."
Werner Herbert Gumpertz was born on 26 December 1917 in Berlin, Germany, the son of Richard and Olga Gumpertz and older brother of Gerard (“Gerry”) Gumpertz. The family ran a boys’ clothing firm; as a child he sometimes modeled for the catalog. He wanted to be an engineer from childhood. In 1936 he went to Zurich to study at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). In the summer of 1939 he was in Amsterdam on volunteer engineering work when the war blocked his return to finish the course. After Kristallnacht his father was sent to Dachau; his mother secured Richard’s release and Richard joined Werner in Holland. The two arrived in New York City on 12 March 1940 on the Red Star Line ship ''Westernland''. Olga and Werner’s younger brother followed in 1941.


<!-- Dan Gross timeline enrichment -->
In the United States he worked as a junior engineer and surveyor in New York and on defense housing in Newport News, Virginia. Drafted on 27 August 1943, he trained at the Engineering Replacement Training Center at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, served in Pennsylvania, and returned to Belvoir as a supervisory noncommissioned officer. On a free day he went to the Pentagon, told an intelligence officer he wanted the work, and within a week was sent to [[Camp Ritchie]].
The timeline research also records 1936-1939 Completed 3 years of college at Swiss Fed Inst of Technology (ETH). 6/1944 Served as Supervisory NCO (Cpl) at Fort Belvoir. 12/1943 Became naturalized citizen (Cert.
 
Gumpertz trained as an interrogator with [[:Category:Class 25|Class 25]] (30 November 1944 – 29 January 1945)—interrogation, intelligence analysis, and document exploitation. He later recalled piecing together German order of battle from unrelated scraps (laundry tickets, speeding citations, and the like), a night drop near Gettysburg with a map printed only in Japanese, and other field exercises. He went overseas on a British liner (sleeping under a table rather than in a hammock), to England, then across the Channel and into Germany with Seventh Army. He interrogated German prisoners in a former Nazi girls’ camp and was assigned to MFIU-5 at Jugenheim, attached to Seventh Army; the unit ended the war in Augsburg. Once, traveling without the daily password, he was nearly shot. He later said he once had a short conversation with Hermann Göring, and that when the small intelligence section needed a doctor it brought in a captured German air-force medical officer whose father-in-law, a Protestant bishop in Heidelberg, had refused to yield to the Nazis; Gumpertz later corresponded with that bishop from Frankfurt.
 
After the fighting he joined United States military government in Karlsruhe as agent in charge of publications, covering periodicals and books. Discharged in early 1946, he spent a year as an engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers in Frankfurt doing design work, then used the GI Bill at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning bachelor’s, master’s, and advanced engineering degrees and teaching in the Department of Building Engineering and Construction. With Howard Simpson and Frank Heger—colleagues from MIT—he formed Simpson Gumpertz and Heger (SGH). He married Elizabeth (“Betty”) Lewit in 1949; they bought a two-family house in West Newton in 1951 that remained his home for the rest of his life, and they had two children, Richard and Ruth. Betty died in 1999. In 2000 he married Susan Connors. He supported local history work in Newton, including Historic Newton’s Durant-Kenrick House project. He died in West Newton on 1 December 2017, at 99, and was buried at Newton Cemetery.


== Research notes ==
== Research notes ==
* Joint NPS Fort Hunt oral history with [[Gans, Werner Joachim (31457356)|Werner Gans]] and [[Schwab, Henry (32681038)|Henry Schwab]].
* MFIU-5
* MFIU-5
* see CR notes
* see CR notes
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== Gallery ==
<div class="soldier-gallery">
<gallery mode="packed" heights="220px">
Gumpertz_Werner_Herbert_42033526_obituary.jpg|Werner Herbert Gumpertz, from his 2017 Brezniak Funeral Directors obituary
Gumpertz_Werner_Herbert_42033526_bio_card.png|Biographical card with wartime portrait and service summary (source of graphic unknown)
</gallery>
</div>


== Timeline ==
== Timeline ==
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed soldier-timeline">
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* 12/26/1917 Born in Berlin, Germany (Jewish).
* 26 December 1917 — Born in Berlin, Germany.
* 11/30/44 Entered Class 25 (IPW Ge).
* 1936 — Began engineering studies at ETH Zurich.
* 2/1944 Assigned as replacement with 4th Regt at Camp Reynolds, PA.
* Summer 1939 — Stranded in Amsterdam by the outbreak of war; father later joined him after Dachau release.
* 6/1944 Served as Supervisory NCO (Cpl) at Fort Belvoir.
* 12 March 1940 — Arrived New York on ''Westernland'' with his father; mother and brother followed in 1941.
* 9/1943 Basic training as Pvt at ERTC, Fort Belvoir.
* 27 August 1943 — Drafted; Fort Belvoir engineer training; sought transfer at the Pentagon; sent to Camp Ritchie.
* Assigned to MFIU-5 at Jugenheim (POW camp) Weinstrasse to S. of.
* 30 November 1944 – 29 January 1945 — Class 25 interrogator training (document OB exercises; Japanese-map / Gettysburg night work).
* Hand-to-hand combat (Captain said “if you are unarmed, run like hell”).
* 1945 — England, then Seventh Army in France/Germany (MFIU-5, Jugenheim; Augsburg); interrogations including at a former Nazi girls’ camp; Karlsruhe military-government publications.
* Served with MFIU-5 attached to the 7th Army.
* Early 1946 — Discharged; Corps of Engineers design work in Frankfurt; then MIT and Simpson Gumpertz and Heger.
* 1 December 2017 — Died in West Newton, Massachusetts.
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== Sources ==
== Sources ==
* [https://www.brezniakrodman.com/obituary-archive/werner-gumpertz/ Brezniak Funeral Directors — Werner Gumpertz full obituary archive]
* [https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/werner-gumpertz-obituary?id=31532087 Boston Globe / Legacy — Werner H. Gumpertz obituary (published 3–4 December 2017)]
* [[:File:FOHU_POBox1142_Gans_Gumpertz_Schwab.pdf|NPS Fort Hunt Oral History — joint interview with Werner Gans, Werner Gumpertz, and Henry Schwab]] (formerly published on the NPS Fort Hunt oral-history exhibit)
* [[:File:Gumpertz_Werner_Herbert_42033526_obituary.jpg|Obituary portrait used as profile photo]]
* [https://newton.minlib.net/Record/.b36239951 Newton Talks oral history with Werner Gumpertz — original catalog record (Newton Free Library / Minuteman Library Network)]
* [[Ritchie Boy Interviews#Werner Gumpertz|Newton Talks interview (watchlist card)]]
* [https://brezniakfuneraldirectors.com/obituary-archive/werner-gumpertz/ Brezniak Funeral Directors obituary for Werner H. Gumpertz (granddaughter Beckie Moses)]
* [https://newtonfreelibrary.net/collections/local-history-genealogy/newton-talks/ Newton Talks oral history project (Newton Free Library)]
* [https://archive.org/details/NT_GUMPW Newton Talks oral history with Werner Gumpertz (7 July 2016) — transcript on Internet Archive]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVPhZkaVQLs Newton Free Library interview with Werner Gumpertz on YouTube]
* Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
* Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
* Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
* Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
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