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Robert Lewis Koehl
| Robert Lewis Koehl | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 6 March 1922 Chicago, Illinois |
| Died | 6 July 2015 |
| Nativity | United States |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| ASN | 31233497 |
| Rank | Major |
| Rank at Ritchie | Private First Class |
| Camp Ritchie | Class 18 (13 April – 10 June 1944) |
| Section | 5B |
| Teams | IPW 108, IPW 175 |
{{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.
Robert Lewis Koehl (6 March 1922 – 6 July 2015) was an American Ritchie Boy who trained at Camp Ritchie in Class 18 and served as an interpreter with U.S. Army intelligence in Europe during World War II, and who became a historian of Nazi Germany and professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Biography[edit | edit source]
Robert Lewis Koehl was born on 6 March 1922 in Chicago, Illinois. He studied history at Harvard University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1943 he married Lieselotte Franziska Eisenhardt, who had emigrated from Nazi Germany in 1939.
Koehl interrupted his studies for war service and was drafted into the Army as a private in Boston, Massachusetts, on 16 November 1942; he also passed through the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP). He trained at Camp Ritchie and graduated with Class 18 on 10 June 1944 as a linguist (IPW), was promoted to technician fifth grade on 14 June 1944, and on 8 September 1944 became a member of IPW Team 108, serving as a surveyor and interpreter for Army intelligence in German-occupied Europe.
Back at Harvard, Koehl earned his Master of Arts in 1947 with the thesis "A Prelude to the Third Reich" and in 1950 his doctorate with a study of Heinrich Himmler as Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood, published in revised form in 1957 and long one of the few works on Nazi settlement and population policy in occupied Poland. He taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Nebraska, and from 1964 until his retirement in 1997 at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was an early founder of the Department of Educational Policy Studies and became professor emeritus of history. Koehl coined the term "neofeudalism" to describe Nazi rule and in 1983 published a comprehensive history of the SS. He died on 6 July 2015.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
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Technical record[edit | edit source]
| Field | Imported value |
|---|---|
| Approx Age at Death | 93 |
| Class_ASN | 31233497 |
| Class_Name | KOEHL, Robert L. |
Timeline[edit | edit source]
- 6 March 1922 — Born in Chicago, Illinois.
- 16 November 1942 — Drafted into Army in Boston, MA as Pvt (ASN: 31233497).
- 1943 — Married Lieselotte Franziska Eisenhardt.
- 10 June 1944 — Graduated with Class 18. Specialty: Linguist #2 IPW.
- 14 June 1944 — Promoted to T/5.
- 8 September 1944 — Became a member of IPW Team 108 (Military Intelligence Service).
- 1947 — MA, Harvard University.
- 1950 — PhD, Harvard University.
- 1964–1997 — Taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
- 1983 — Published a history of the SS.
- 6 July 2015 — Died.
Research notes[edit | edit source]
- ASN 32233497 had been attached to this profile from a NARA enlistment record that belongs to Matthew J. Wyder, a different soldier; that record's data has been removed. The Camp Ritchie class roster's ASN 31233497 is correct.
Sources[edit | edit source]
- Wikipedia: Robert Lewis Koehl
- 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
- 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
- Dan Gross, Timeline of Robert L. Koehl for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
- Dan Gross, Timeline of Koehl, Robert L. for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: ROBERT L. KOEHL.doc)