Neustadt, Hermann (0555150): Difference between revisions

|alias=Newton

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'''Hermann Neustadt''' (1920–1998) was a Ritchie Boy (born Newton; from Germany; Jewish) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 17.

Today, we feature RB Harvey P. Newton, born Hermann Neustadt on October 4 1920, the son of an upper-middle class, assimilated Jewish family in Breslau (now Wrocaw, Poland). His father, a decorated veteran of World War I who had seen combat in the Somme campaign, established a textile factory together with his cousin, and married the daughter of a liberal rabbi in Halle an der Saale. After completing elementary school and a few years of Gymnasium education, Hermann Neustadt chose not to follow in the footsteps of his father due to the rising anti-Semitism in Germany. Instead, he decided to join a group of young Jewish people who opted for agricultural training at the Auswanderer-Lehrsgut Groß Breesen, a farm that prepared young people to seek a new life outside Germany. He completed his training, thereby earning a diploma. Like thousands of other Jews, he was sent to the concentration camp in Buchenwald after "Kristallnacht." With the help of the Jewish Committee in Holland, Hermann Neustadt was permitted to practice his new trade on another training farm, Wieringerwaard. In 1940 he emigrated to the United States, and worked briefly at the Hyde Park training farm in Virginia before enlisting in the U.S. In 1944 Hermann Neustadt changed his name to Harvey P. Newton remained in the army until 1946. In February 1944 he was transferred to the Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie, Maryland, due to his fluency in German. There he was trained in interrogation, and worked as an interrogator of German civilians and officers until he was wounded in France in November 1944. Thereafter he worked at the Enemy Prisoners of War Information Bureau. Harvey Newton was promoted several times during his service; by the time he retired from the army in 1946 he had received the rank of First Lieutenant. Harvey Newton returned to school as a beneficiary of the G.I. Bill, attending Rutgers University. By 1948 he had earned a B.S. in Agronomy and a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology in June 1951. From 1952 to 1956 he held various positions as a soil expert and was then dispatched to a number of underdeveloped countries on behalf of the U.S. Deptartment of Agriculture, working in Venezuala, Costa Rica, Somalia, and Ecuador. Harvey Newton spent his last years in Costa Rica, where he died on April 1, 1998. Attached are some accompanying documents. His honorable discharge, enlistment record, separation record, his name change, a short biography and statement of how he was wounded, which earned him a Purple Heart, his war department ID, a certificate of proficiency, Army ASTP certificadte, and his Camp Ritchie MITC 17th class certificate.

* Also Pfc 33044875 ASTP

* Camp Ritchie class roster (classes 1–31), merged research file