Kraemer, Fritz Gustav Anton (33741993)

Fritz Gustav Anton Kraemer
Personal details
Born	3 July 1908 Essen, Germany
Died	8 September 2003 Washington, D.C.
Nativity	Germany
Religion	Protestant
Awards	Bronze Star Medal
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	33741993
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Camp Ritchie	Class 10 (23 July – 20 September 1943)
Enlisted	Ft Myer, Virginia
Specialty	Military intelligence; military education
Unit / division	84th Infantry Division

Awards and honors

Bronze Star Medal

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Fritz Gustav Anton Kraemer (3 July 1908 – 8 September 2003) was a German-born American military-intelligence officer and educator who trained at Camp Ritchie in Class 10, served with the 84th Infantry Division, and later was Senior Civilian Advisor to the Army Chief of Staff.

Biography

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 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

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Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	95
Nara ASN	33741993
Nara Name	KRAEMER FRITZ A
Nara State	4
Nara County	1
Nara POE	3347
Nara DOE	210543
Nara Grade Alpha	PVT
Nara Grade Code	8
Nara Branch Alpha	NO
Nara Branch Code	2
Branch	No branch assignment
Nara Term or Enlistment	5
Term of enlistment	Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Defer. Date	0
Nara Source	0
Nara Nativity	N1
Nara Year of Birth	8
Nara Race	1
Nara Race Description	White citizen
Nara Education	3
Nara Civilian Occupation	6
Nara Marital Status	2
Nara Height (inches)	45
Nara Weight (lbs)	108
row_source	demographics

Timeline

• 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”.
• 1944–1945 — 84th Infantry Division; battlefield commission (2nd Lt.) and Bronze Star Medal.
• 1948 — Left active duty.
• 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.

Sources

• Fritz Kraemer | US news | The Guardian (theguardian.com)
• Wikipedia: Fritz G. A. Kraemer
• 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)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Fritz G. A. Kraemer for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 2 source documents reviewed)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Kraemer, Fritz G. A. for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: FRITZ G. A. KRAEMER.doc)