Lerner, Maximilian (32908439)

Maximilian Lerner
Personal details
Born	4 September 1924 Vienna, Austria
Died	10 September 2022 Manhattan, New York City
Nativity	Austria
Religion	Jewish
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	32908439
Rank	Private
Camp Ritchie	Class 11 (25 August – 23 October 1943)
Section	5C
Enlisted	New York City, New York

Interviews Watch Maximilian Lerner in 4 recordings on Ritchie Boy Interviews: Veterans Breakfast Club (with Paul Fairbrook) · American Veterans Center · Interview with David S. Frey · Museum of Jewish Heritage.

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.

Maximilian Lerner (4 September 1924–10 September 2022) was a Vienna-born Jewish refugee, Camp Ritchie trainee (Class 11), and OSS/CIC intelligence soldier who later wrote Flight and Return and spoke widely about the Ritchie Boys.

Biography

Maximilian Lerner was born on 4 September 1924 in Vienna, Austria, the son of furrier Isak Lerner and Bertha (Deutscher) Lerner. After the Anschluss in March 1938, Jewish students at his school—including Lerner—were expelled and forced to scrub streets outside the building. Two months later he fled with his parents and sister Susi to Paris, where he learned French in high school; the family later lived in Nice before leaving via Madrid and Lisbon for Manhattan, arriving in April 1941. In New York he attended high school at night while working, then took courses at the City College of New York.

Lerner enlisted in the Army at eighteen and began basic training at Fort Pickett, Virginia. After about three weeks he was sent to Camp Ritchie, Maryland, for intelligence training in Class 11. His European service began in 1944 in Northern Ireland, where he was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services and trained with the British. He served with the OSS and Army Counter Intelligence Corps for more than a year. His French led to brief staff work under Gen. Jacques-Philippe Leclerc after the liberation of Paris, sorting prisoners held by the French Resistance (collaborators, Germans in civilian clothes, Vichy officials). He later recalled interrogating an SS major with deliberate courtesy despite his anger. Combat experience included a few days during the Battle of the Bulge; he also described a behind-the-lines raid near Oppenheim after interrogating captured German frogmen. In the postwar denazification period he worked in Wiesbaden and arrested figures including Julius Streicher, insisting that those he arrested know he was a Jew.

After the war Lerner worked in horticultural wholesale and import businesses, later owning his own firm (sold in 1995). He earned a master’s degree in business education from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1952, wrote spy novels and the memoir Flight and Return, and in later years led tours and spoke for the Museum of Jewish Heritage. He died on 10 September 2022 in Manhattan.

Research notes

• Camp Sharpe (2 mos)
• OSS
• CIC

Gallery

• 
  Wartime portrait of Maximilian Lerner in uniform (full frame).
• 
  Cropped wartime portrait used as profile photo (from File:5689604661061408.jpg).
• 
  Maximilian Lerner wartime and later-life portraits (composite).
• Maximilian Lerner wartime and later-life portraits (composite).
  Maximilian Lerner wartime and later-life portraits (composite).
• 
  Fort Ritchie honor banner for Maximilian Lerner (street view; not a profile portrait).
• 
  Fort Ritchie honor banner for Maximilian Lerner.
• 
  Cover of Lerner’s novel The Improbable Spy.
• 
  National Geographic “Last Voices of World War II” cover montage (Lerner appears among featured veterans).
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• 
• 

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Nara ASN	32908439
Nara Name	LERNER MAXIMILIAN
Nara State	23
Nara County	61
Nara POE	2364
Nara DOE	170543
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	N2
Nara Year of Birth	24
Nara Race	J
Nara Race Description	White not yet a citizen
Nara Education	4
Nara Civilian Occupation	134
Nara Marital Status	1
Nara Height (inches)	48
Nara Weight (lbs)	148
Class_ASN	32908439
Class_Name	LERNER, Maximilian
match_method	asn_exact_name_exact
row_source	both

Timeline

• 4 September 1924 — Born in Vienna, Austria.
• March–May 1938 — Anschluss; family flees to Paris.
• April 1941 — Arrives in Manhattan.
• 1943 — Enlists; Fort Pickett, then Camp Ritchie (Class 11).
• 1944–1945 — OSS/CIC service in Europe (Northern Ireland, Paris, Bulge, denazification).
• 1952 — M.A., Teachers College, Columbia University.
• 10 September 2022 — Died in Manhattan.

Sources

• Cropped wartime portrait (from File:5689604661061408.jpg)
• Fort Ritchie honor banner (kept in Gallery; not used as profile photo)
• HistoryNet — Maximilian Lerner dies at 98
• New York Times obituary — Maximilian Lerner (Richard Sandomir, 19 September 2022)
• Wikipedia: Maximilian Lerner
• 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 2020-02-09 (1 post)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2020-03-23 (1 post)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2020-04-01 (1 post)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2020-05-29 (1 post)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2021-09-24 (1 post)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2021-12-22 (1 post)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2022-09-13 (1 post)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2022-09-18 (1 post)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2022-09-19 (1 post)
• Facebook-linked source: bit.ly
• Facebook-linked source: Veterans interview / article
• Facebook-linked source: legcy.co
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Maximilian Lerner for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Lerner, Maximilian for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: MAXIMILIAN LERNER (2021).doc)