William R. Perl

Record status: unconfirmed. Class-roster match confidence is medium. Correct the infobox if you have a source, and note it on talk.

William R. Perl
Personal details
Born	21 September 1906 Prague, Austro-hungarian Empire
Died	24 December 1998 Beltsville, Maryland
Nativity	Austria
Religion	Jewish
Known for	Chief Interrogator, Malmedy Massacre Investigation; Refugee Rescue Work
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	0555149
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Rank at Ritchie	Private
Camp Ritchie	Class 6 (13 March – 11 May 1943)
Section	4
Teams	IPW 175, IPW 177

Teammates

Team — IPW 175

Team — IPW 177

These are other soldiers listed on the same team roster. People moved between teams; overlapping service dates are not always documented.

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.

William R. Perl (21 September 1906–24 December 1998) was a Prague-born Jewish lawyer, refugee rescuer, and Camp Ritchie interrogator (Class 6) who later served with IPW 175 / IPW 177, worked at the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Center, and became a chief interrogator in the Malmedy massacre war-crimes case.

Biography

William R. Perl was born on 21 September 1906 in Prague (then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire), the son of textile merchant Rudolf Perl and Camilla (Fischer) Perl. He was raised and educated in Vienna: after high school he studied at a college of social science, earning a master's degree in economics and social science in 1928, and completed law credentials he described as the equivalent of a Ph.D. in law and an LL.B. As a student he joined the Jewish fraternity Ivria and became active in Zionist work. From 1930 to 1938 he practiced with one of Vienna's larger law firms, handling roughly 150–250 criminal matters (some before the Austrian Supreme Court), with brief experience in minor prosecution work and civil slander cases.

In 1938, before he could be formally disbarred as a Jew under Nazi rule, Perl left Vienna on a valid passport and German exit permit. He later stressed that the departure was legal and that, contrary to some contemporary press reports, he had not been imprisoned or held in a concentration camp. His route ran through England (several months), Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Greece again, Lisbon, and East and South Africa before he received a U.S. visa. He arrived in the United States in September 1940. His wife, Lore (Rollig) Perl—whom he had married on 17 April 1938—remained in Europe when he left; a child was born in the United States about 1947. Before the war he helped organize escape routes for refugees fleeing Germany (not only Jews); in later Senate testimony he estimated that work at roughly 2,400 people and entered into the record a congratulatory letter from former British Secretary of Labor Lord Josiah C. Wedgwood. Other accounts of his refugee work, including the larger figures associated with his later book Operation Action, are noted in research on this page.

After Pearl Harbor, Perl tried to enlist in the U.S. Navy but was turned away because he was not yet a citizen. He was inducted into the Army as a private on 11 January 1943 and was naturalized in April 1943. After basic training he was sent to the Military Intelligence Training Center at Camp Ritchie, Maryland, for interrogation training in Class 6. He graduated and remained as an instructor, running a section of about nine men and rising from corporal to technician third grade (T/3); roster research also places him as an instructor in Section V by 17 August 1943. In the spring of 1944 he requested overseas duty and was commissioned a second lieutenant—among a small minority of Camp Ritchie graduates so commissioned, by his own count.

Overseas he first worked briefly in psychological warfare and interrogation at a prisoner-of-war enclosure near Broadway, England, speaking with prisoners for SHAEF about German morale, then transferred to the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Center (CSDIC), where he ran the political and sociological section under British Major March (later an Oxford law professor), with Colonel Kendrick in overall command. He was sent repeatedly to France to interrogate newly captured prisoners and received the Battle of Normandy campaign star. After D-Day he served with a mobile field interrogation unit through the campaigns of northern France, Belgium, the Rhineland, and Central Europe, earning another battle star; roster team codes place him with IPW 175 and IPW 177. He testified that he was never in direct combat but was often within artillery and mortar range.

At the end of the war he was transferred to the War Crimes Group for lack of German-speaking, legally trained personnel. After other war-crimes assignments he was put on the Malmedy massacre case in November 1945—what he called “the American War Crime Case No. 1”—and became a chief interrogator in the prosecution of Joachim Peiper and other Waffen-SS personnel for the murder of American prisoners of war at Malmedy, Belgium, in December 1944. His interrogation methods were later criticized amid Senate scrutiny of the Malmedy investigation.

By 1949 Perl worked as a self-employed personnel and psychological consultant to commercial firms. He continued psychology study at Columbia University, receiving a Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1950, and later served as an Army psychologist before retiring in 1958 as a lieutenant colonel. He died at his home in Beltsville, Maryland, on 24 December 1998.

Research notes

• Also held enlisted ASN 32712884 (Classes 1–31 roster / Class_ASN).
• Author of Operation Action; some accounts credit much larger refugee-rescue totals than the ~2,400 figure Perl gave under oath in 1949.
• Malmedy interrogations later scrutinized in Senate hearings (methods contested).

Gallery

Additional images can be added here after upload.

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	92
Class_ASN	32712884
Class_Name	PERL, William
match_method	pass2_unique_name
row_source	both

Timeline

• 21 September 1906 — Born in Prague (Austro-Hungarian Empire), son of Rudolf and Camilla (Fischer) Perl.
• 1928 — Earned an M.A. in economics/social science in Vienna; completed law credentials he later described as Ph.D./LL.B. equivalents.
• 1930–1938 — Practiced law in Vienna (large firm; criminal and some prosecution/civil work).
• 17 April 1938 — Married Lore Rollig.
• 1938 — Left Vienna on a valid passport and German exit permit; traveled via England, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Lisbon, and Africa.
• September 1940 — Arrived in the United States.
• Prewar refugee work — Helped organize escapes from Germany; later estimated about 2,400 people aided (Senate testimony).
• 11 January 1943 — Inducted into the U.S. Army as a private (after a Navy enlistment attempt was refused for lack of citizenship).
• April 1943 — Naturalized as a U.S. citizen.
• 1943 — Trained at Camp Ritchie (Class 6) in interrogation; remained as instructor (section of ~9 men); promoted corporal then T/3.
• 17 August 1943 — Instructor, Section V (roster/timeline research).
• Spring 1944 — Requested overseas duty; commissioned second lieutenant.
• 1944 — Interrogation/psychological-warfare work at a POW enclosure near Broadway, England (SHAEF); then CSDIC political/sociological section under Major March / Colonel Kendrick.
• 1944–1945 — Field interrogation in France and later northern France, Belgium, Rhineland, and Central Europe (IPW 175 / IPW 177); Normandy and additional campaign stars.
• November 1945 — Assigned to the Malmedy massacre war-crimes case after other War Crimes Group work.
• About 1947 — Child born in the United States.
• 1949 — Self-employed psychological/personnel consultant; testified before the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on the Malmedy investigation.
• 1950 — Ph.D. in clinical psychology, Columbia University.
• 1958 — Retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel.
• 24 December 1998 — Died in Beltsville, Maryland.

Sources

• Wikipedia: William R. Perl
• 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)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of William R. Perl for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Perl, William R. for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: WILLIAM R. PERL - TIME LINE.doc)
• Malmedy Massacre Investigation, Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services, U.S. Senate, 81st Congress, 1st Session (S. Res. 42) — testimony of William R. Perl (from p. 609)