Hermann Rath

Hermann Rath
Personal details
Birth name	Hermann Rathsprecher
Born	15 April 1913 Vienna, Austria
Died	16 August 1998 Houston, Texas
Nativity	Austria
Religion	Jewish
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
Arm / service	Signal Corps
ASN	01641712
Rank	Second Lieutenant
Camp Ritchie	Class 23 (25 September – 23 November 1944)
Section	5A

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Hermann Rath (15 April 1913–16 August 1998) was a United States Army Second Lieutenant who trained at Camp Ritchie, Maryland, in Class 23.

Biography

Hermann Rath was born Hermann Rathsprecher in Vienna, Austria, on 15 April 1913. After Germany annexed Austria in 1938, life for Jewish families there became unbearable. In August 1938, Rath fled across the border into Belgium while his sisters secured permission to work in England; his parents and brothers remained in Vienna for a time. In Belgium he was not allowed paid employment and lived on a modest Jewish relief stipend. After repeated visits to the U.S. Consulate, he received an American visa in November 1939 and arrived in the United States in December 1939, settling in New York and working as a shipping clerk.

Rath was commissioned in the U.S. Army and trained at Camp Ritchie in Class 23 as a Second Lieutenant in the Signal Corps. While on assignment at Harvard University, he met Ann Shankman; they married in 1943 and later had a daughter, Paula. He was honorably discharged in 1945.

After the war Rath worked as an engineer and later in the chemical and oil-refinery field, with work that took the family to Europe, South America, and Asia. He retired in 1983 and settled in Houston, where he volunteered at Seven Acres Geriatric Center and with a Holocaust survivors organization. He died in Houston on 16 August 1998.

Gallery

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Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	85
Class_ASN	1641712
Class_Name	RATH, Hermann
match_method	asn_exact_name_exact
row_source	both

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)
• Hermann Rath — Holocaust Museum Houston survivor profile