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Hermann Neustadt

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Hermann Neustadt
Personal details
Birth nameNewton
Born1920
Died1998
NativityGermany
ReligionJewish
AwardsPurple Heart
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch United States Army
ASN0555150
RankFirst Lieutenant
Rank at RitchiePrivate First Class
Camp RitchieClass 17 (11 March – 8 May 1944)
Section5B
SpecialtyPrisoner of War Interrogation Officer
Battles / warsNormandy
Northern France
Rhineland
Awards and honors
Purple Heart
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.


Hermann Neustadt (1920–1998) was a Ritchie Boy who later served as a first lieutenant and prisoner of war interrogation officer under the name Harvey P. Newton.

Biography

Newton, born Hermann Neustadt on October 4 1920, the son of an upper-middle class, assimilated Jewish family in Breslau (now Wrocaw, Poland). Hermann worked as general farmer. Instead, he decided to join a group of young Jewish people who opted for agricultural training at the Auswanderer-Lehrsgut Groß Breesen, a farm that prepared young people to seek a new life outside Germany. He completed his training, thereby earning a diploma. In 1940 he emigrated to the United States, and worked briefly at the Hyde Park training farm in Virginia before enlisting in the U.S. In 1944 Hermann Neustadt changed his name to Harvey P. In February 1944 he was transferred to the Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie, Maryland, due to his fluency in German. There he was trained in interrogation, and worked as an interrogator of German civilians and officers until he was wounded in France in November 1944. Thereafter he worked at the Enemy Prisoners of War Information Bureau. Harvey Newton was promoted several times during his service; by the time he retired from the army in 1946 he had received the rank of First Lieutenant. By 1948 he had earned a B.S. in Agronomy and a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology in June 1951. From 1952 to 1956 he held various positions as a soil expert and was then dispatched to a number of underdeveloped countries on behalf of the U.S. Harvey Newton spent his last years in Costa Rica, where he died on April 1, 1998. His honorable discharge, enlistment record, separation record, his name change, a short biography and statement of how he was wounded, which earned him a Purple Heart, his war department ID, a certificate of proficiency, Army ASTP certificadte, and his Camp Ritchie MITC 17th class certificate.

Research notes

  • Enlisted records identify Hermann Neustadt as ASN 33044875; later officer records identify Harvey P. Newton/Hermann Neustadt as ASN 0555150.
  • The name-change record connects Hermann Neustadt with Harvey P. Newton.

Gallery

Technical record

Field Imported value
Approx Age at Death 78
Class_ASN 33044875
Class_Name NEUSTADT, Hermann
match_method pass2_unique_name
row_source both

Sources

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