Alter, Henry Karl (0552538)

Record status: unconfirmed. Class-roster match confidence is medium. Correct the infobox if you have a source, and note it on talk.

Henry Karl Alter
Henry C. Alter, 1944. Photo credit: (c) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Henry Alter papers
Personal details
Birth name	Heinrich Andreas Karl Alter
Born	14 June 1918 Vienna, Austria
Died	13 May 1999 Dobbs Ferry, New York
Nativity	Austria
Religion	Catholic
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	0552538
Rank	Second Lieutenant
Rank at Ritchie	Private
Camp Ritchie	Class 16 (6 February – 5 April 1944)
Section	5A

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Henry Karl Alter (born Heinrich Andreas Karl Alter; 14 June 1918 – 13 May 1999) was a Vienna-born Ritchie Boy who graduated from Camp Ritchie with Class 16 as a German-language prisoner-of-war interrogator, was commissioned a second lieutenant, and served in psychological warfare in Europe and, after the war, as a theater and culture control officer in Germany and Austria.

Biography

Henry Karl Alter was born Heinrich Andreas Karl "Heiner" Alter in Vienna on 14 June 1918, into a Catholic family with Jewish roots. He passed his Matura at the Gymnasium of the Theresianum and was studying music and art at the State Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, training as a dramaturge, stage designer, and assistant director, when the Anschluss cut his studies short. In the summer of 1939 he fled through France to the United States. He resumed his studies at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where he completed a bachelor's degree in dramatic literature in 1941, and from 1942 worked as secretary to the film actor Paul Henreid.

Alter volunteered for the Army in September 1943 (enlisted ASN 39709940) and took field artillery basic training at the Field Artillery Replacement Training Center at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. In January 1944 he was transferred to the Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie, where he graduated with Class 16 (section 5A, IPW German; certificate 5850) as a prisoner-of-war interrogator and was commissioned directly as a second lieutenant (officer ASN O552538). From June 1944 he belonged to the 4th Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company and served as a propaganda interrogation officer and intelligence officer, among other assignments for the headquarters of the Psychological Warfare Division of SHAEF in Britain, the Publicity and Psychological Warfare Section of the 12th Army Group, and the Psychological Warfare Branch of the Ninth U.S. Army in France, Belgium, Luxembourg (possibly at Radio Luxembourg), and Germany.

From April 1945 Alter served with the 6871st District Information Services Control Command of what became the Information Control Division of the American occupation, and after the war he worked as a film, theater, and culture control officer in Germany and Austria. He was probably discharged as a second lieutenant in 1950. He died in Dobbs Ferry, New York, on 13 May 1999.

Gallery

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Timeline

• 14 June 1918 — Born in Vienna, Austria.
• Summer 1939 — Fled through France to the United States.
• 1941 — BA in dramatic literature, University of California, Berkeley.
• 1942 — Secretary to the actor Paul Henreid.
• September 1943 — Volunteered for the Army (ASN 39709940); field artillery basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
• January 1944 — Transferred to Camp Ritchie; graduated with Class 16 (IPW German); commissioned second lieutenant (O552538).
• June 1944 — Joined the 4th Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company.
• April 1945 — 6871st District Information Services Control Command.
• c. 1950 — Discharged as a second lieutenant.
• 13 May 1999 — Died in Dobbs Ferry, New York.

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	81
Class_ASN	39709940
Class_Name	ALTER, Henry C.
match_method	pass2_unique_name
row_source	both

Research notes

• Ushmm
• Also held enlisted ASN 39709940 (Class 16 roster ASN; Austriansoldiers biography). The page title uses his officer ASN O552538.

Sources

• 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)
• Austriansoldiers biography: Henry C. Alter, Austriansoldiers / Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on Consequences of War (in German; accessed 25 September 2026)