Land, Hans Alan (31316107): Difference between revisions
Add short summary linking to The Stories/Hans A. Land |
Add 20 July 1943 Camp Ritchie naturalization (Washington Post 21 Jul 1943) |
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|first=Hans | |first=Hans | ||
|middle=Alan | |middle=Alan | ||
|class_section=5A | |class_section=5A | ||
|class_rank=Pvt | |class_rank=Pvt | ||
|birth_year=1922 | |birth_year=1922 | ||
|nativity= | |nativity=Germany | ||
|religion= | |religion=Jewish | ||
|enlistment_place= | |enlistment_place=Hartford, Connecticut | ||
|state= | |state=Connecticut | ||
|ipw_ge=2 | |ipw_ge=2 | ||
|overseas=Y | |overseas=Y | ||
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|class_number=8 | |class_number=8 | ||
|class_display=8 | |class_display=8 | ||
|death_year=2021 | |||
|specialty=IPW (interrogation of prisoners of war) | |||
|photo=Hans A. Land 2.png | |||
|division=5th Infantry Division | |||
|birth_place=Berlin, Germany | |||
|rank_final=1st Lt | |||
|death_date=29 May 2021 | |||
|birth_date=9 June 1922 | |||
|story=The Stories/Hans A. Land | |||
|teams=MII 430-G | |||
|alias=Deutschland; Hans Alexander Land | |||
}} | }} | ||
<div class="soldier-lead"> | <div class="soldier-lead"> | ||
'''Hans | '''Hans A. Land''' (9 June 1922–29 May 2021), born Hans Alexander Deutschland in Berlin, was a Camp Ritchie graduate ([[Class 8]]) who served with MII Team 430-G and the 5th Infantry Division. After the war he became an attorney in Washington, D.C. | ||
</div> | </div> | ||
== Biography == | == Biography == | ||
9 June 1922 - | Hans Alan Land was born Hans Alexander Deutschland in Berlin on 9 June 1922, to Gustav and Martha (née Bud) Deutschland. Gustav, a Danzig-born astronomer and decorated First World War officer, worked in Germany through the interwar years. As Nazi persecution closed in, his parents sent him to England; from 1937 to 1939 he attended Ackworth School, a Quaker boarding school in Yorkshire, where he learned English and finished secondary school. | ||
After Kristallnacht, Gustav—already looking for work in England—was warned not to return to Berlin. Martha joined him in London in early 1939, and the family reached the United States that September, aided by Danzig’s separate immigration quota. They adopted the surname Land. Hans studied at Swarthmore College, then transferred to Yale when his father took a post at the Yale Observatory. | |||
Though a refugee from Nazi Germany, he was still a technical “enemy alien” when the FBI questioned him at Yale in early 1942. He enlisted at Hartford, Connecticut, on 13 February 1943 (ASN 31316107), trained as a medic at Camp Pickett, Virginia, and arrived at Camp Ritchie on 5 May 1943. He graduated with [[Class 8]] on 16 July 1943 as an assistant interrogator (IPW Ge), became a naturalized U.S. citizen on 20 July 1943 under the name Land, and was promoted to master sergeant in August before shipping to Britain for work with British military intelligence. | |||
After the Normandy invasion he served with MII Team 430-G attached to the 5th Infantry Division through the drive from Luxembourg into Germany, including the Rhine crossing and Frankfurt. He later recalled using German school textbooks for terrain intelligence when aerial reconnaissance was thin, and—after hostilities ended—finding ADAC application files in Bavaria that identified SS and Nazi officials, which he turned over to U.S. counterintelligence. | |||
Back at Yale in September 1945, he finished a B.A. in international relations, then graduated from Harvard Law School in 1949 and was admitted to the District of Columbia bar in 1950. He worked in the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser, entered private practice in Washington in the mid-1950s (later Land & Lemle), and married Erika Feldmann in 1958. He died on 29 May 2021, nine days before his ninety-ninth birthday. | |||
See the [[The Stories/Hans A. Land|full story]] drawn from his 2012 interview with Lorrie Fereday and Vivian Baylor. | |||
== Research notes == | == Research notes == | ||
* | * Birth surname Deutschland; family used Land after immigrating (1939). | ||
* | * Middle name: draft registration shows Alan; naturalization and Yale yearbook use Alexander — page title follows roster/draft Alan. | ||
* | * Roster also lists IPW Ge 2; wartime narrative centers on MII 430-G / 5th Infantry Division. | ||
== Gallery == | == Gallery == | ||
<div class="soldier-gallery"> | |||
<gallery mode="packed" heights="140px"> | |||
Hans A. Land 1.png|Photograph of Martha and Gustav Land (formerly Deutschland), undated | |||
Hans A. Land 3.png|Photograph of Erika Land, undated | |||
Hans A. Land 4.png|Photograph of Vivian Baylor, Hans Land, and Lorrie Fereday, 2 Dec 2012, Maryland | |||
Washington_Post_85_Soldiers_Naturalized_21_Jul_1943.jpg|''Washington Post'', 21 July 1943 — naturalized 20 July 1943 (Camp Ritchie cohort ceremony, District Court, Washington, D.C.) | |||
</gallery> | |||
</div> | |||
== Technical record == | == Technical record == | ||
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== Timeline == | |||
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed soldier-timeline"> | |||
<div class="soldier-timeline-body"> | |||
* 9 June 1922 — Born in Berlin as Hans Alexander Deutschland (Jewish). | |||
* 1937–1939 — Attended and graduated from Ackworth School, Yorkshire, England. | |||
* 1939–1941 — Swarthmore College; transferred to Yale (international relations). | |||
* September 1939 — Arrived in the United States; family surname changed from Deutschland to Land. | |||
* 13 February 1943 — Enlisted at Hartford, Connecticut, as private (ASN 31316107). | |||
* 27 February 1943 — Basic training at Camp Pickett, Virginia (medic). | |||
* 5 May 1943 — Arrived Camp Ritchie (German language); [[Class 8]]. | |||
* 16 July 1943 — Graduated Class 8 (IPW Ge – assistant interrogator). | |||
* 20 July 1943 — Naturalized as a U.S. citizen in District Court, Washington, D.C. (Camp Ritchie soldiers’ ceremony; reported in ''The Washington Post'', 21 July 1943) | |||
* 6 August 1943 — Promoted to master sergeant. | |||
* 1944–1945 — Served with MII Team 430-G attached to the 5th Infantry Division in Northwest Europe. | |||
* September 1945 — Returned to Yale; B.A. in international relations (1946). | |||
* May 1949 — Graduated Harvard Law School. | |||
* 1950 — Admitted to the D.C. bar; later State Department Legal Adviser’s Office, then private practice. | |||
* 1958 — Married Erika Feldmann. | |||
* 29 May 2021 — Died. | |||
</div> | |||
</div><div style="clear: both;"></div> | |||
== Sources == | == Sources == | ||
* Camp Ritchie | * [[:File:Washington_Post_85_Soldiers_Naturalized_21_Jul_1943.pdf|Same clipping (PDF)]] | ||
* [[The Stories/Camp Ritchie naturalization (July 1943)]] | |||
* [[:File:Washington_Post_85_Soldiers_Naturalized_21_Jul_1943.jpg|“85 Soldiers Naturalized In Court Here,” ''The Washington Post'', 21 July 1943, p. B6]] (ceremony '''20 July 1943'''; almost all from Camp Ritchie) | |||
* 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) | * NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present) | ||
* 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present) | * 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present) | ||
* [ | * [[The Stories/Hans A. Land|The Stories essay]] | ||
* Dan Gross, ''Timeline of Hans Alan Land for Camp Ritchie'' (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed) | |||
* Dan Gross, ''Timeline of Land, Hans Alan for Camp Ritchie'' (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: HANS A. LAND.doc) | |||
* U.S. school yearbooks — Hans Alexander Land, Yale University, 1945 (Ancestry.com citation in family research file; descriptive cite only) | |||