Soft launch: Soldier biographies and research notes vary in completeness. Prefer class-roster, NARA, newspapers, and other cited sources for contested facts — treat Research notes as leads, not settled history. Anyone can correct a page; contact us with questions.
Maximilian Lerner
| Maximilian Lerner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 4 September 1924 Vienna, Austria |
| Died | 10 September 2022 Manhattan, New York City |
| Nativity | Austria |
| Religion | Jewish |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| ASN | 32908439 |
| Rank | Private |
| Camp Ritchie | Class 11 (25 August – 23 October 1943) |
| Section | 5C |
| Enlisted | New York City, New York |
{{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.
Maximilian Lerner (4 September 1924–10 September 2022) was a Vienna-born Jewish refugee, Camp Ritchie trainee (Class 11), and OSS/CIC intelligence soldier who later wrote Flight and Return and spoke widely about the Ritchie Boys.
Biography
Maximilian Lerner was born on 4 September 1924 in Vienna, Austria, the son of furrier Isak Lerner and Bertha (Deutscher) Lerner. After the Anschluss in March 1938, Jewish students at his school—including Lerner—were expelled and forced to scrub streets outside the building. Two months later he fled with his parents and sister Susi to Paris, where he learned French in high school; the family later lived in Nice before leaving via Madrid and Lisbon for Manhattan, arriving in April 1941. In New York he attended high school at night while working, then took courses at the City College of New York.
Lerner enlisted in the Army at eighteen and began basic training at Fort Pickett, Virginia. After about three weeks he was sent to Camp Ritchie, Maryland, for intelligence training in Class 11. His European service began in 1944 in Northern Ireland, where he was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services and trained with the British. He served with the OSS and Army Counter Intelligence Corps for more than a year. His French led to brief staff work under Gen. Jacques-Philippe Leclerc after the liberation of Paris, sorting prisoners held by the French Resistance (collaborators, Germans in civilian clothes, Vichy officials). He later recalled interrogating an SS major with deliberate courtesy despite his anger. Combat experience included a few days during the Battle of the Bulge; he also described a behind-the-lines raid near Oppenheim after interrogating captured German frogmen. In the postwar denazification period he worked in Wiesbaden and arrested figures including Julius Streicher, insisting that those he arrested know he was a Jew.
After the war Lerner worked in horticultural wholesale and import businesses, later owning his own firm (sold in 1995). He earned a master’s degree in business education from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1952, wrote spy novels and the memoir Flight and Return, and in later years led tours and spoke for the Museum of Jewish Heritage. He died on 10 September 2022 in Manhattan.
Research notes
- Camp Sharpe (2 mos)
- OSS
- CIC
Gallery
Technical record
| Field | Imported value |
|---|---|
| Nara ASN | 32908439 |
| Nara Name | LERNER MAXIMILIAN |
| Nara State | 23 |
| Nara County | 61 |
| Nara POE | 2364 |
| Nara DOE | 170543 |
| 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 | N2 |
| Nara Year of Birth | 24 |
| Nara Race | J |
| Nara Race Description | White not yet a citizen |
| Nara Education | 4 |
| Nara Civilian Occupation | 134 |
| Nara Marital Status | 1 |
| Nara Height (inches) | 48 |
| Nara Weight (lbs) | 148 |
| Class_ASN | 32908439 |
| Class_Name | LERNER, Maximilian |
| match_method | asn_exact_name_exact |
| row_source | both |
Timeline
- 4 September 1924 — Born in Vienna, Austria.
- March–May 1938 — Anschluss; family flees to Paris.
- April 1941 — Arrives in Manhattan.
- 1943 — Enlists; Fort Pickett, then Camp Ritchie (Class 11).
- 1944–1945 — OSS/CIC service in Europe (Northern Ireland, Paris, Bulge, denazification).
- 1952 — M.A., Teachers College, Columbia University.
- 10 September 2022 — Died in Manhattan.
Sources
- HistoryNet — Maximilian Lerner dies at 98
- New York Times obituary — Maximilian Lerner (Richard Sandomir, 19 September 2022)
- Wikipedia: Maximilian Lerner
- 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 2020-02-09 (1 post)
- Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2020-03-23 (1 post)
- Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2020-04-01 (1 post)
- Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2020-05-29 (1 post)
- Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2021-09-24 (1 post)
- Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2021-12-22 (1 post)
- Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2022-09-13 (1 post)
- Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2022-09-18 (1 post)
- Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2022-09-19 (1 post)
- Facebook-linked source: bit.ly
- Facebook-linked source: Veterans interview / article
- Facebook-linked source: legcy.co
- Dan Gross, Timeline of Maximilian Lerner for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
- Dan Gross, Timeline of Lerner, Maximilian for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: MAXIMILIAN LERNER (2021).doc)