Seidlin, Oskar (31050474)

Oskar Seidlin
Personal details
Birth name	Salo Oskar Koplowitz
Born	17 February 1911 Königshütte, Germany
Died	11 December 1984 Bloomington, Indiana
Nativity	Germany
Religion	Protestant
Known for	Germanist; Bronze Star; Ohio State / Indiana University
Awards	Bronze Star Medal
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	31050474
Rank	Technician Third Grade
Rank at Ritchie	Technician Fourth Grade
Camp Ritchie	Class 8 (17 May – 16 July 1943)
Section	5A
Enlisted	Springfield, Massachusetts
Specialty	Military intelligence; psychological warfare; German media reconstruction

Awards and honors

Bronze Star Medal

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Oskar Seidlin (17 February 1911 – 11 December 1984), born Salo Oskar Koplowitz, was a German-Jewish literary scholar and Camp Ritchie Class 8 graduate who earned the Bronze Star serving with U.S. Army intelligence and psychological warfare teams that rebuilt German newspapers and radio.

Biography

Oskar Seidlin was born Salo Oskar Koplowitz in Königshütte, Upper Silesia, Germany, on 17 February 1911. After Hitler’s seizure of power in 1933 he continued his studies in Switzerland, earning a Ph.D. summa cum laude from the University of Basel in July 1935. He emigrated to the United States in 1938, worked for a time in New York as secretary to Thomas Mann and Erika Mann, and in 1939 began teaching German literature at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts (lecturer, then assistant professor), while also teaching summers at Middlebury College’s German Summer School.

Inducted in 1942, Seidlin trained at Camp Ritchie (Class 8) and served nearly four years in the U.S. Army (1942–1946), on leave from Smith. He took part in the early stages of the European invasion and later worked on teams that revived German newspapers and radio stations, receiving citations from First U.S. Army, the 83rd Infantry Division, and Fifteenth Army Group headquarters and Psychological Warfare, together with the Bronze Star Medal. After the war he returned briefly to Smith and Middlebury before joining Ohio State University in 1946 as an assistant professor of German.

Seidlin rose to associate professor (1948), professor (1950), and Ohio Regents Professor (1966). He was a visiting professor at the University of Washington (winter 1949), a guest of the Federal Republic of Germany (1956), Ford research professor in residence at the Free University of Berlin (1959), and a Guggenheim fellow (1962) for work on Joseph von Eichendorff. Honors included Phi Beta Kappa honorary membership (1957), the Eichendorff Medal (1958), the Golden Goethe Medal (1963), Ohio State’s Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching (1960) and the College of Arts and Sciences Good Teaching Award (1966), the German Academy of Language and Literature’s Prize for Germanic Studies Abroad (1968), and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Michigan (1969). He declined a Munich University professorship offered by Bavaria, citing contemporary West German excesses that recalled 1932–1933. Designated Regents Professor Emeritus in 1972, he moved to Indiana University as a distinguished professor of Germanic languages and retired in 1979. He wrote widely on Goethe, Eichendorff, Thomas Mann, and comparative literature and died in Bloomington, Indiana, on 11 December 1984.

Gallery

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Technical record

Field	Imported value
MRBC2	2
MRBC3	3
Approx Age at Death	73
Nara ASN	31050474
Nara Name	SEIDLIN OSKAR
Nara State	13
Nara County	15
Nara POE	1375
Nara DOE	170342
Nara Grade Alpha	PVT
Nara Grade Code	8
Nara Branch Alpha	BI
Nara Branch Code	0
Branch	Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
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	11
Nara Race	J
Nara Race Description	White not yet a citizen
Nara Education	8
Nara Civilian Occupation	31
Nara Marital Status	6
Nara Height (inches)	67
Nara Weight (lbs)	119
Class_ASN	31050474
Class_Name	SEIDLIN, Oskar
match_method	asn_exact_name_exact
row_source	both

Timeline

• 17 February 1911 — Born Salo Oskar Koplowitz in Königshütte, Upper Silesia, Germany.
• 1933 — Leaves Germany after Hitler’s seizure of power; continues studies in Switzerland.
• July 1935 — Ph.D. summa cum laude, University of Basel.
• 1938 — Emigrates to the United States; works in New York as secretary to Thomas Mann and Erika Mann.
• 1939 — Begins teaching German literature at Smith College (lecturer; later assistant professor).
• Summers 1939–1941, 1946 — Faculty, German Summer School of Middlebury College.
• 1942–1946 — U.S. Army service (on leave from Smith); Camp Ritchie Class 8; European invasion; German press and radio reconstruction; Bronze Star Medal; citations from First U.S. Army, 83rd Infantry Division, and Fifteenth Army Group (headquarters and Psychological Warfare).
• 1946 — Assistant professor of German, Ohio State University.
• 1948 — Associate professor, Ohio State.
• Winter 1949 — Visiting professor, University of Washington.
• 1950 — Professor, Ohio State.
• Summer 1956 — Guest of the Federal Republic of Germany.
• 1957 — Honorary membership, Phi Beta Kappa.
• 1958 — Eichendorff Medal.
• Summer 1959 — Ford research professor in residence, Free University of Berlin.
• 1960 — Ohio State Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching.
• 1961 — Appointed to Princeton University Advisory Council (reappointed 1964, 1967).
• 1962 — Guggenheim Memorial Foundation grant (Eichendorff study).
• 1963 — Golden Goethe Medal.
• 1965 — First vice president, Modern Language Association of America; co-editor of Arcadia.
• 1966 — Named Ohio Regents Professor; College of Arts and Sciences Good Teaching Award.
• 1968 — Prize for Germanic Studies Abroad, German Academy of Language and Literature (Saarbrücken).
• 3 May 1969 — Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, University of Michigan.
• 1972 — Regents Professor Emeritus, Ohio State; moves to Indiana University as distinguished professor of Germanic languages.
• 1979 — Retires from Indiana University.
• 11 December 1984 — Died in Bloomington, Indiana.

Sources

• Ohio State University Archives — Seidlin, Oskar biographical file (PDF)
• Indiana University Alliance — Oskar Seidlin
• English Wikipedia — Oskar Seidlin
• 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)