Frenkel, George L. (0552533): Difference between revisions

'''George L. Frenkel''' (13 February 1919–2014) was a Berlin-born United States Army interrogator who trained at Camp Bullis and [[Camp Ritchie]] ([[:Category:Class 11|Class 11]]), served at [[P.O. Box 1142]], returned as a Ritchie instructor, and later worked at the Berlin District Interrogation Center.

George L. Frenkel was born on 13 February 1919 in Berlin, at the end of World War I. As an infant his family moved to Zurich for several years, then returned to Germany during the Weimar period. His father worked in high-level retail management; the household was culturally assimilated, educated, and middle-class. Inflation and rising antisemitism convinced his father that Germany was becoming dangerous. The family was close to Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal Pictures, who had already sponsored many refugees and feared another affidavit would be refused; Frenkel’s U.S. Affidavit ultimately came from American relatives who reluctantly agreed to sponsor him.

Frenkel left Germany in 1937, before Kristallnacht. Relatives arrested in the pogrom were released under early-period policies and, in one uncle’s case, World War I service; most of the family ultimately escaped, though one aunt died en route to Theresienstadt. He arrived in the United States with little money, lived at the YMHA, and took low-wage commercial jobs (delivery boy, stock and order clerk) while attending night school. He already spoke excellent English from years of study in Germany. A younger brother, born in Switzerland, immigrated faster under the Swiss quota.

Drafted in May 1941 and inducted at Camp Upton, New York, Frenkel injured an ankle on the first day running to chow and spent about a month in hospital. He was assigned to Fort Riley, Kansas, for cavalry training, then to Fort Bliss, Texas, with a horse cavalry division that soon mechanized. He learned of Pearl Harbor while at Bliss and understood U.S. Entry into the war was inevitable. When the Army sought German linguists he applied but was rejected until he became a United States citizen in 1943 in Alexandria, Virginia; a second linguist call then brought him into intelligence training.

He attended Interrogation of Prisoners of War (IPW) training at Camp Bullis near San Antonio under Colonel Charles R. Warndof, whom he remembered as one of the finest officers he met—learning interrogation technique, Geneva Convention standards, and intelligence procedure. Frenkel served as an interrogation officer at the secret Fort Hunt installation known as [[P.O. Box 1142]]. He stressed humane treatment and Geneva rules: interrogations were “a battle of wits,” not coercion, and late-war prisoners often cooperated once Germany’s defeat was clear. He refused to mistreat any prisoner. Roster and site notes also place him in [[:Category:Class 11|Class 11]] at [[Camp Ritchie]] and, by October 1943, back teaching there after Fort Hunt—matching the Camp Bullis → 1142 → Ritchie instructor path later summarized in [[The Stories/Camp Ritchie Background|Camp Ritchie Background]].

After 1142, Frenkel was assigned to the Berlin District Interrogation Center. There he saw ethnic Germans expelled from Eastern Europe—women barefoot pushing carts—and said those scenes reinforced his refusal to harm any detainee. After the war he completed degrees in English literature and Germanic languages and a master’s degree, and later wrote scenarios for Voice of America. He died in 2014.

* 13 February 1919 — Born in Berlin, Germany; infancy in Zurich, then return to Weimar Germany.

* 1937 — Emigrated to the United States (before Kristallnacht); lived at the YMHA; commercial jobs and night school.

* May 1941 — Drafted; induction at Camp Upton, New York (ankle injury / hospital); cavalry training at Fort Riley, Kansas.

* 1941–1942 — Fort Bliss, Texas (cavalry → mechanized); learned of Pearl Harbor there.

* 11 August 1942 — Arrived Fort Hunt / P.O. Box 1142 (roster research note; interrogation / monitoring work).

* 1943 — Naturalized as a U.S. citizen in Alexandria, Virginia; IPW training at Camp Bullis (Col. Charles R. Warndof).

* October 1943 — Returned to teaching at Camp Ritchie.

* Postwar — Degrees in English literature and Germanic languages; master’s; later Voice of America scenario writing.