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| == Biography == | | == Biography == |
| [[Baer, Ralph H. (32887607)|Ralph H. Baer]] was born Rudolph Baer in Pirmasens, Germany, in 1922. His Jewish family escaped Nazi Germany and settled in New York City. Interested in electronics, he learned radio repair and worked in that trade before entering the Army. | | [[Baer, Ralph H. (32887607)|Ralph H. Baer]] was born Rudolph Baer in Pirmasens, Germany, in 1922. Baer's technical aptitude, German fluency, and knowledge of the country led to his selection for Camp Ritchie. |
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| Baer's technical aptitude, German fluency, and knowledge of the country led to his selection for Camp Ritchie. He trained as an order-of-battle specialist, learning to identify German formations, weapons, commanders, and deployment patterns so that scattered information could be assembled into a useful picture of enemy strength. | | In England, Baer was assigned to a military intelligence group at Tidworth. Baer later served in Normandy, where his knowledge of enemy equipment and organization supported the Allied campaign. After the war Baer built a career as an electronics engineer and inventor. |
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| In England, Baer was assigned to a military intelligence group at Tidworth. Working with fellow Ritchie Boy Mauksch, he helped establish a weapons museum and instructional collection. The displays gave American soldiers hands-on familiarity with German weapons they might encounter in combat.
| | Baer received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2006 for his pioneering achievements. |
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| Baer later served in Normandy, where his knowledge of enemy equipment and organization supported the Allied campaign. His duties made practical use of the electronics experience he had acquired in New York and the German military expertise taught at Camp Ritchie.
| | His Jewish family escaped Nazi Germany and settled in New York City. Interested in electronics, he learned radio repair and worked in that trade before entering the Army. He trained as an order-of-battle specialist, learning to identify German formations, weapons, commanders, and deployment patterns so that scattered information could be assembled into a useful picture of enemy strength. |
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| After the war Baer built a career as an electronics engineer and inventor. His experiments with interactive television led to the first home video game console and earned him recognition as the father of video games. The work helped create an entirely new branch of consumer electronics.
| | Working with fellow Ritchie Boy Mauksch, he helped establish a weapons museum and instructional collection. The displays gave American soldiers hands-on familiarity with German weapons they might encounter in combat. His duties made practical use of the electronics experience he had acquired in New York and the German military expertise taught at Camp Ritchie. |
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| Baer received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2006 for his pioneering achievements. He continued inventing and documenting the early history of electronic games until late in life. He died in 2014.
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| Other sources from Ritchie Boys who wrote about their classes in Map Reading: Patrick O'Donnell, Dog Company, The Boys of Pont du Hoc, Da Capo Press, 2012 Steven Karras, The Enemy I Knew: German Jews in the Allied Military in World War II (Interview with [[Baer, Ralph H. (32887607)|Ralph Baer]]) [[Potash, Robert A. (31224431)|Robert Potash]], Looking Back at My First Eighty Years, A Mostly Professional Memoir, iUniverse, 2008 David Hutt, The Boy Who Wore White Stockings, From Hitler's Austria to Patton's Third Army, Matador, 2013 Victor Bromberg, Trains of Thought: Memories of a Stateless Youth, W.W. Norton and Company, 2002
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| == Research notes == | | == Research notes == |