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Kraemer, Fritz Gustav Anton (33741993): Difference between revisions

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|surname=Kraemer
|surname=Kraemer
|first=Fritz
|first=Fritz
|middle=G. A.
|middle=Gustav Anton
|birth_year=1908
|birth_year=1908
|death_year=2003
|death_year=2003
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|occupation=Authors editors and reporters
|occupation=Authors editors and reporters
|marital=Married
|marital=Married
|birth_place=Germany
|birth_place=Essen, Germany
|rank_final=Lieutenant colonel
|rank_final=Lieutenant colonel
|class_number=10
|class_number=10
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|awards_ribbons=Ribbon_Bronze_Star_Medal_ribbon.png
|awards_ribbons=Ribbon_Bronze_Star_Medal_ribbon.png
|awards_ribbon_rows=Ribbon_Bronze_Star_Medal_ribbon.png
|awards_ribbon_rows=Ribbon_Bronze_Star_Medal_ribbon.png
|death_place=Washington, D.C.
|death_date=8 September 2003
|birth_date=3 July 1908
}}
}}


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'''Fritz Gustav Anton Kraemer''' (July 3, 1908&ndash;September 8, 2003) was an American military educator, military-intelligence officer, and Senior Civilian Advisor to the Army Chief of Staff.
'''Fritz Gustav Anton Kraemer''' (3 July 1908 &ndash; 8 September 2003) was a German-born American military-intelligence officer and educator who trained at [[Camp Ritchie]] in [[:Category:Class 10|Class 10]], served with the 84th Infantry Division, and later was Senior Civilian Advisor to the Army Chief of Staff.
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== Biography ==
== Biography ==
Fritz Gustav Anton Kraemer (July 3, 1908 &ndash; September 8, 2003) was an American military educator and advisor. Before emigrating to the United States, Kraemer earned a Doctor of Laws degree at Frankfurt University and a PhD in political science in Rome. He also worked as a researcher in international law with the American Philosophical Society. He was Senior Civilian Advisor to the Army Chief of Staff. He is often credited with discovering Henry Kissinger, with whom he maintained a close relationship, and Alexander Haig. Alt=Pentagon Strategist Fritz G.A. He was drafted and became a U.S. Citizen as an inductee and joined the United States Army in April 1943 ("with two PhDs and one monocle") as an infantryman in the 84th Infantry Division (the "Railsplitter"). His time served at Camp Ritchie classifies him as one of the thousands of Ritchie Boys. In 1945 Kraemer was reunited with his wife and son and returned to Washington, DC, in 1947. He left active duty in 1948 and retired from the Army Reserve in 1963 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Kraemer died at the age of 95 on September 8, 2003, in Washington, D.C., and was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery on October 8. He was honored by former Secretary of Defense James R.
Fritz Gustav Anton Kraemer was born on 3 July 1908 in Essen, Germany, the eldest child of Georg Kraemer and Anna Johanna (Jennie) Kraemer, née Goldschmidt, Jewish parents who later converted to the Lutheran faith; his father died at Theresienstadt in 1942. He attended the Arndt Gymnasium in Berlin, the London School of Economics, and the universities of Geneva and Frankfurt, and earned a Doctor of Laws at Frankfurt in 1931 and a PhD in political science in Rome in 1934. During most of the 1930s he was senior legal adviser at the League of Nations' legal institute in Rome, and he also worked as a researcher in international law with the American Philosophical Society. In 1933 he married Britta Bjorkander, a Swedish citizen.
 
Kraemer, a Lutheran opposed to the Nazis, left Germany for the United States in 1939, leaving his wife and son behind. He enlisted as a private at Fort Myer, Virginia, on 21 May 1943, became a U.S. citizen as an inductee, and joined the Army "with two PhDs and one monocle." He arrived at Camp Ritchie as a private in June 1943 with knowledge of German and Italian, trained with [[:Category:Class 10|Class 10]], and was assigned to Company G on 20 July 1943. Serving as an infantryman with the 84th Infantry Division, the "Railsplitters," he recruited the young Henry Kissinger into the division's intelligence work in 1944, and he fought in the Battle of the Bulge and the Rhineland and Ruhr campaigns, earning a battlefield commission as second lieutenant and the Bronze Star Medal. He was reunited with his wife and son in 1945 and returned to Washington, D.C., in 1947.
 
Kraemer left active duty in 1948 and retired from the Army Reserve in 1963 as a lieutenant colonel. A graduate of the National War College, he served from the early 1950s until his retirement from civil service in 1978 as Senior Civilian Advisor to the Army Chief of Staff at the Pentagon, influencing Defense Department thinking during the Cold War, including Secretaries of Defense James R. Schlesinger and Donald Rumsfeld. He is often credited with discovering both Kissinger, whom he persuaded to attend Harvard and with whom he kept a close relationship, and Alexander Haig, whom he recommended in 1969 as military assistant to National Security Advisor Kissinger. He was known for his monocle. Kraemer died in Washington, D.C., on 8 September 2003, aged 95, and was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery on 8 October 2003.
 
== Research notes ==
* Certain information from the NARA enlistment website differs from that found in Kraemer’s Wikipedia article and from the Camp Ritchie personnel cards. According to the official enlistment record for Fritz A. Kraemer (ASN 33741993) on the NARA website, he enlisted on May 21, 1943 (not April 1943) at Fort Myer VA.
* The Personnel card which normally provides information on assignment (Special Order), and on family or friend to be notified was not found (Box 24). OSS File not found at NARA.


== Gallery ==
== Gallery ==
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== Research notes ==
 
* http://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/nov/12/guardianobituaries.usa
* Lt.Col
== Timeline ==
== Timeline ==
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* 3 July 1908 — Born in Essen, Germany (Protestant).
* 1931 — Doctor of Laws, University of Frankfurt.
* 1934 — PhD in political science, University of Rome.
* 1939 — Emigrated to the United States.
* 21 May 1943 — Enlisted as Pvt at Fort Myer, Virginia.
* June 1943 — Arrived as Pvt at Camp Ritchie. Knowledge of German, Italian.
* 20 July 1943 — Assigned to Company “G”.
* 20 July 1943 — Assigned to Company “G”.
* May 21, 1943.
* 1944–1945 — 84th Infantry Division; battlefield commission (2nd Lt.) and Bronze Star Medal.
* Battlefield commission (2nd Lt.) Bronze Star Medal for effecting.
* 1948 — Left active duty.
* The Personnel card which normally provides information on assignment (Special Order), and on family or friend to be notified was not found (Box 24). OSS File not found at NARA.
* 1963 — Retired from the Army Reserve as lieutenant colonel.
* 1978 — Retired as Senior Civilian Advisor to the Army Chief of Staff.
* 8 September 2003 — Died in Washington, D.C.
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== Sources ==
== Sources ==
* [http://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/nov/12/guardianobituaries.usa Fritz Kraemer | US news | The Guardian (theguardian.com)]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_G._A._Kraemer Wikipedia: Fritz G. A. Kraemer]
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_G._A._Kraemer Wikipedia: Fritz G. A. Kraemer]
* 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
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