Neustadt, Hermann (0555150)

Record status: unconfirmed. Class-roster match confidence is medium. Correct the infobox if you have a source, and note it on talk.

Hermann Neustadt
Personal details
Birth name	Harvey P. Newton
Born	4 October 1920 Breslau, Germany
Died	1 April 1998 Costa Rica
Nativity	Germany
Religion	Jewish
Awards	Purple Heart
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	0555150
Rank	First Lieutenant
Rank at Ritchie	Private First Class
Camp Ritchie	Class 17 (11 March – 8 May 1944)
Section	5B
Specialty	Prisoner of War Interrogation Officer
Battles / wars	Normandy Northern France Rhineland

Awards and honors

Purple Heart

Research notes on this page are compiled from the source file and later edits. They may be unverified, incomplete, or incorrect, and should not be treated as established fact. Please correct the article or add sources on the talk page. For class-roster terms, see About the data.

Sources & confidence: Treat Research notes as leads, not settled fact. Prefer NARA, the class roster, newspapers, Find a Grave, or published histories for contested claims. Mark unsourced claims with {{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.

Hermann Neustadt (4 October 1920 – 1 April 1998), later Harvey P. Newton, was a Breslau-born Ritchie Boy (Class 17) who interrogated in France, earned a Purple Heart, and became a soil scientist.

Biography

Hermann Neustadt was born on 4 October 1920 in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) to an assimilated Jewish family. After Kristallnacht he was imprisoned at Buchenwald, then trained in agriculture at Auswanderer-Lehrsgut Groß Breesen and at Wieringerwaard in the Netherlands. He emigrated to the United States in 1940, worked briefly at the Hyde Park training farm in Virginia, and enlisted in the Army.

In February 1944 he transferred to Camp Ritchie (Class 17) as a German-language interrogator. He questioned German civilians and officers until he was wounded in France in November 1944, earning the Purple Heart, then served at the Enemy Prisoners of War Information Bureau. In 1944 he legally changed his name to Harvey P. Newton; he left the Army in 1946 as a first lieutenant. Enlisted records also list ASN 33044875 before his officer ASN 0555150.

Under the G.I. Bill he earned a B.S. in agronomy at Rutgers (1948) and a Ph.D. in plant physiology (1951), then worked as a soil expert for U.S. agricultural programs in Venezuela, Costa Rica, Somalia, and Ecuador. He died in Costa Rica on 1 April 1998.

Research notes

• Enlisted records identify Hermann Neustadt as ASN 33044875; later officer records identify Harvey P. Newton/Hermann Neustadt as ASN 0555150.
• The name-change record connects Hermann Neustadt with Harvey P. Newton.
• Public profile remains under roster title Neustadt, Hermann (0555150); Harvey P. Newton is the postwar legal name (alias).

Gallery

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Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	78
Class_ASN	33044875
Class_Name	NEUSTADT, Hermann
match_method	pass2_unique_name
row_source	both

Timeline

• 4 October 1920 — Born Hermann Neustadt in Breslau.
• 1938–1940 — Buchenwald after Kristallnacht; Groß Breesen / Wieringerwaard training; to U.S. 1940.
• 24 May 1941 onward — U.S. Army service (enlisted ASN 33044875).
• February 1944 — Camp Ritchie Class 17; name change to Harvey P. Newton (1944).
• November 1944 — Wounded in France; Purple Heart; EPW Information Bureau.
• 1946 — Left Army as first lieutenant (officer ASN 0555150).
• 1948 / 1951 — Rutgers B.S. agronomy; Ph.D. plant physiology.
• 1952 onward — USDA / AID soil work in Latin America and Africa.
• 1 April 1998 — Died in Costa Rica.

Sources

• Prabook — Harvey P. Newton vital / service dates
• CJH / LBI catalog — Harvey P. Newton Collection
• Leo Baeck Institute / CJH finding aid — Harvey P. Newton Collection (born Hermann Neustadt)
• 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
• NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
• 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2022-10-19 (1 post)
• OCR-reviewed Facebook gallery document: 5784574961564377.jpg
• OCR-reviewed Facebook gallery document: 5784574941564379.jpg
• OCR-reviewed Facebook gallery document: 5784574968231043.jpg
• OCR-reviewed Facebook gallery document: 5784574964897710.jpg
• Neustadt enlisted record
• Neustadt honorable-discharge certificate
• Newton Separation Qualification Record
• Neustadt Camp Ritchie certificate
• Neustadt name-change court order
• Newton clinical summary
• Newton record of award of decoration
• Newton military education record
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Hermann Neustadt for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Neustadt, Hermann for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: HERMANN NEUSTADT.doc)