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Werner Herbert Gumpertz
| Werner Herbert Gumpertz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 26 December 1917 Berlin, Germany |
| Died | 1 December 2017 West Newton, Massachusetts |
| Nativity | Germany |
| Religion | Jewish |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| ASN | 42033526 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Rank at Ritchie | Corporal |
| Camp Ritchie | Class 25 (30 November 1944 – 29 January 1945) |
| Section | 5A |
{{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.
Werner Herbert Gumpertz (26 December 1917–1 December 2017) was a Berlin-born U.S. Army interrogator associated with Camp Ritchie. He trained with Class 25, interrogated prisoners for Seventh Army in Germany, later handled publications for military government in Karlsruhe, and after the war co-founded the engineering firm Simpson Gumpertz and Heger.
Biography
Werner Herbert Gumpertz was born on 26 December 1917 in Berlin, Germany, the son of Richard and Olga Gumpertz. He wanted to be an engineer from childhood. In 1936 he went to Zurich to study at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. In the summer of 1939 he was in Amsterdam on volunteer engineering work when the war blocked his return to finish the course. After Kristallnacht his father was sent to Dachau; his mother secured Richard's release and Richard joined Werner in Holland. The two arrived in New York City on 12 March 1940 on the Red Star Line ship Westernland. Olga and Werner's younger brother followed in 1941.
In the United States he worked as a junior engineer and surveyor in New York and on defense housing in Newport News, Virginia. Drafted on 27 August 1943, he trained at the Engineering Replacement Training Center at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, served in Pennsylvania, and returned to Belvoir as a supervisory noncommissioned officer. On a free day he went to the Pentagon, told an intelligence officer he wanted the work, and within a week was sent to Camp Ritchie.
Gumpertz trained as an interrogator with Class 25 (30 November 1944 – 29 January 1945). He later recalled a graduation exercise in which he and two others spent three days reconstructing a German force in northern France from a laundry basket of ordinary papers—laundry tickets and speeding citations—with the secret material already stripped out. Another night exercise dropped them on the Gettysburg battlefield with a map printed in Japanese; they had to match terrain features to find the assembly point. He went overseas on a British liner (sleeping under a table rather than in a hammock), to England, then across the Channel to the suburbs of Paris, and into Germany with Seventh Army as a translator and interrogator of prisoners. He was assigned to MFIU-5 at Jugenheim, attached to Seventh Army. The unit ended the war in Augsburg. He later said he once had a short conversation with Hermann Goering, and that when the small intelligence section needed a doctor it brought in a captured German air-force medical officer whose father-in-law, a Protestant bishop in Heidelberg, had refused to yield to the Nazis; Gumpertz later corresponded with that bishop from Frankfurt.
After the fighting he joined United States military government in Karlsruhe as agent in charge of publications, covering periodicals and books. Discharged in early 1946, he spent a year as an engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers in Frankfurt, then used the GI Bill at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning bachelor's and further engineering degrees and teaching there. With Howard Simpson and Frank Heger he formed Simpson Gumpertz and Heger. He married Elizabeth Lewit in 1949, lived in West Newton, Massachusetts, and died there on 1 December 2017 at the age of 99.
Research notes
- MFIU-5
- see CR notes
Technical record
| Field | Imported value |
|---|---|
| Approx Age at Death | 100 |
| Nara ASN | 42033526 |
| Nara Name | GUMPERTZ WERNER H |
| Nara State | 97 |
| Nara County | 11 |
| Nara POE | 2364 |
| Nara DOE | 270843 |
| 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 | N1 |
| Nara Year of Birth | 17 |
| Nara Race | J |
| Nara Race Description | White not yet a citizen |
| Nara Education | 7 |
| Nara Civilian Occupation | 48 |
| Nara Marital Status | 1 |
| Nara Height (inches) | 0 |
| Nara Weight (lbs) | 0 |
| Class_ASN | 42033526 |
| Class_Name | GUMPERTZ, Werner H. |
| match_method | asn_exact_name_exact |
| row_source | both |
Gallery
-
Werner Herbert Gumpertz, from his 2017 Brezniak Funeral Directors obituary
Timeline
- 26 December 1917 — Born in Berlin, Germany.
- 1936 — Began engineering study at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
- November 1938 — Father sent to Dachau after Kristallnacht; later released and joined Werner in Holland.
- Summer 1939 — Volunteer engineering work in Amsterdam; war prevented return to Zurich.
- 12 March 1940 — Arrived in New York with his father on the Westernland.
- 1941 — Mother and brother reached New York.
- 27 August 1943 — Drafted; Fort Belvoir and Pennsylvania engineer training.
- June 1944 — Supervisory NCO (corporal) at Fort Belvoir.
- 30 November 1944 – 29 January 1945 — Camp Ritchie Class 25; graduated corporal.
- 1945 — Seventh Army interrogator in Germany (MFIU-5 / Jugenheim; later Augsburg).
- 1945–1946 — Military government, Karlsruhe (publications); discharged early 1946.
- 1946–1947 — Army Corps of Engineers, Frankfurt, then MIT.
- 1949 — Married Elizabeth Lewit.
- 1 December 2017 — Died in West Newton, Massachusetts, at age 99.
Sources
- Obituary portrait used as profile photo
- Newton Talks oral history with Werner Gumpertz — original catalog record (Newton Free Library / Minuteman Library Network)
- Newton Talks interview (watchlist card)
- Brezniak Funeral Directors obituary for Werner H. Gumpertz (granddaughter Beckie Moses)
- Newton Talks oral history project (Newton Free Library)
- Newton Talks oral history with Werner Gumpertz (7 July 2016) — transcript on Internet Archive
- Newton Free Library interview with Werner Gumpertz on YouTube
- 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 2017-12-10 (1 post)
- Dan Gross, Timeline of Werner H. Gumpertz for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
- Dan Gross, Timeline of Gumpertz, Werner H. for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: WERNER H. GUMPERTZ.doc)