Kurt R. Jacobs

Kurt R. Jacobs
Personal details
Born	1909 Germany
Died	1944
Nativity	Germany
Religion	Jewish
Awards	Purple Heart
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	12207399
Rank	Staff Sergeant
Rank at Ritchie	Private
Camp Ritchie	Class 19 (16 May – 13 July 1944), 20 (19 June – 16 August 1944)
Section	5E (19); 5D (20)
Enlisted	Buffalo, New York
Unit / division	106th Infantry Division
Team	IPW 154

Awards and honors

Purple Heart

Teammates

Team — IPW 154

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.

Kurt R. Jacobs (1909–1944) was a German-born Jewish Ritchie Boy on IPW Team 154 with the 106th Infantry Division; he was murdered as a prisoner of war because he was Jewish.

Biography

Kurt R. Jacobs was a German-born Jewish Ritchie Boy who trained at Camp Ritchie (Classes 19–20) and served as a staff sergeant on IPW Team 154. The six-man team was attached to Headquarters, 106th Infantry Division, for interrogation of German prisoners.

Jacobs and teammate Murray Zappler were taken prisoner and murdered because of their Jewish heritage. Their names appear on the 106th Division Headquarters honor roll (sometimes with typographical errors). The responsible German officer’s case is documented in a Dachau trial transcript.

Research notes

• KIA Murdered as POW
• IPW Team 154; murdered as POW (Jewish); with Murray Zappler

Gallery

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Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	35
Nara ASN	12207399
Nara Name	JACOBS KURT R
Nara State	23
Nara County	29
Nara POE	2309
Nara DOE	131142
Nara Grade Alpha	PVT
Nara Grade Code	8
Nara Branch Alpha	SC
Nara Branch Code	90
Branch	Signal Corps
Nara Term or Enlistment	0
Term of enlistment	Unknown
Defer. Date	3
Nara Source	0
Nara Nativity	N1
Nara Year of Birth	9
Nara Race	1
Nara Race Description	White citizen
Nara Education	8
Nara Civilian Occupation	46
Nara Marital Status	6
Nara Height (inches)	69
Nara Weight (lbs)	191
Class_ASN	12207399
Class_Name	JACOBS, Kurt R.; JACOBS, Kurt
match_method	asn_exact_name_exact
row_source	both

Timeline

• Born 17 November 1909 in Germany.
• 1943 — Enlisted as Pvt (ASN: 12207399).
• 31 July 1944 — Entered Class 20 (IPW Ge).
• 16 August 1944 — Graduated Class 20 (German Documents Examiner).
• 4 September 1944 — Assigned to DEML. Promoted to S/Sgt.
• 28 November 1944 — Assigned to IPW Team 154 attached to 106th Infantry Division.
• 28 November 1944 — Assigned to IPW Team 154 attached to 106th Infantry.
• May 1944 — Assigned to Class 19 Section 5E.
• Buried at the American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle, Belgium.
• Division.

Sources

• Bruce Henderson, Sons and Soldiers (account of Jacobs and Zappler as POWs)
• Dachau trial transcript — Jacobs/Zappler murder case (Marburg ICWC)
• Dan Gross research archive (miscellaneous timeline-adjacent documents; not uploaded): Jacobs and Zappler.doc
• 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 2017-09-03 (1 post)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2019-06-06 (3 posts)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2021-03-08 (1 post)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Kurt R. Jacobs for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 2 source documents reviewed)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Jacobs, Kurt R. for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 2 source files: KURT R. JACOBS (2021).doc, KURT R. JACOBS.doc)