The Stories/Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945)

Passover at Camp Ritchie (1945) gathers National Jewish Welfare Board (JWB) / USO records for the first-night Seder held for Jewish personnel at the Military Intelligence Training Center in the spring of 1945.

Because the post’s intensive school schedule limited passes and there was no nearby Jewish community able to host a large observance, a single elaborate Seder was arranged at the local USO Club rather than on post. Publicity ran through the official daily camp bulletin, USO notices, and Chapel bulletins. Men registered at the Post Chapel or USO Club and received invitations that served as tickets. Passover food packages went to observant men on the night of the Seder.

Arranging the Seder

On 20 March 1945, Philip Graubart wired USO–JWB representative Lillian Margolin at Camp Ritchie that Rabbi William H. Shapiro of Brooklyn would conduct the first-night Seder and asked her to contact him and complete arrangements.

Guests of honor named in the narrative report included Col. Joseph K. Hoffman (assistant post commandant) and his wife; Lt. Col. Julian Zimmerman (chief adjutant) and his wife; Forrest Cotton (NCCS regional supervisor); Ernest Edinger (USO area executive); and Mildred Winship (USO regional supervisor). Rabbi Shapiro conducted the service under NJWB assignment.

The evening

Attendance reached 411 (about 400 places had been prepared). Tables were borrowed from nearby Camp Louise; silverware was koshered and furnished by the post; most food was served on paper dishes. Army wives and women from the Hagerstown community helped set tables and serve. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of Baltimore supplied much of the menu and the food packages; the JWB Army and Navy Committee of Hagerstown provided fresh vegetables, fruit, and flowers.

A member of the JWB soldiers’ committee served as cantor; singing continued after the formal service. Jewish Navy V-12 students at Mount St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg had been invited, but they received leave to go home just before the holiday. The following day, Col. Walter, post commandant, called the JWB representative in to express appreciation on behalf of the Jewish men under his command.

The reports note that many of those present were refugees from Germany and other Hitler-occupied countries. One man said it was his first Seder in six years and showed a yellow badge lettered JUDE that he had been forced to wear at his last Seder—an evening the report framed as personal freedom and assurance that the “Pharaohs of today” would be defeated.

Program card

A light-green USO–JWB souvenir card carried a blank “Message home” panel, a Passover greeting linking the festival of freedom to the wartime fight against tyranny, and a Seder menu (gefilte fish, borscht, eggs, roast beef and tzimmes, charoset, salad, wine, macaroons, fruit).

Documents

Scans from the Fold3 / National Jewish Welfare Board USO file for Camp Ritchie (Passover 1945). Captions follow the document content.

• 
  Western Union telegram, 20 March 1945 — Rabbi William H. Shapiro to conduct the first-night Seder
• 
  USO narrative report (Lillian Margolin, JWB representative)
• 
  Report on Passover 1945 — page 1
• 
  Passover report — page 2 (fuller copy: attendance, Camp Louise, menu, packages, refugee anecdote)
• 
  Passover report — page 2 (DUPLICATE copy; starts at menu)
• 
  USO–JWB Passover Seder program card, 1945 (cover / message home)
• 
  Passover greetings and menu (program card interior)

Sources

• Fold3 scans from National Jewish Welfare Board / USO Camp Ritchie Passover materials (image set filenames 31684_620303056_0181); archival credit via JWB Army–Navy / USO records. See also the Center for Jewish History finding aid for National Jewish Welfare Board, Army-Navy Division records.
• Telegram arranging Rabbi Shapiro
• USO narrative report
• Report on Passover 1945, page 1
• Passover report, page 2 (fuller copy)
• Passover report, page 2 (DUPLICATE copy)
• Seder program card cover
• Seder greetings and menu

See also

• Camp Ritchie
• Life in Camp Ritchie
• The Stories
• Training materials