Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler
New York Times Bestseller
The definitive story of the Ritchie Boys, as featured on CBS's 60 Minutes
"An irresistible history of the WWII Jewish refugees who returned to Europe to fight the Nazis.” —Newsday
They were young Jewish boys who escaped from Nazi-occupied Europe and resettled in America. After the United States entered the war, they returned to fight for their adopted homeland and for the families they had left behind. Their stories tell the tale of one of the U.S. Army’s greatest secret weapons.
Sons and Soldiers begins during the menacing rise of Hitler’s Nazi party, as Jewish families were trying desperately to get out of Europe. Bestselling author Bruce Henderson captures the heartbreaking stories of parents choosing to send their young sons away to uncertain futures in America, perhaps never to see them again. As these boys became young men, they were determined to join the fight in Europe. Henderson describes how they were recruited into the U.S. Army and how their unique mastery of the German language and psychology was put to use to interrogate German prisoners of war.
These young men—known as the Ritchie Boys, after the Maryland camp where they trained—knew what the Nazis would do to them if they were captured. Yet they leapt at the opportunity to be sent in small, elite teams to join every major combat unit in Europe, where they collected key tactical intelligence on enemy strength, troop and armored movements, and defensive positions that saved American lives and helped win the war. A postwar army report found that nearly 60 percent of the credible intelligence gathered in Europe came from the Ritchie Boys.
Sons and Soldiers draws on original interviews and extensive archival research to vividly re-create the stories of six of these men, tracing their journeys from childhood through their escapes from Europe, their feats and sacrifices during the war, and finally their desperate attempts to find their missing loved ones. Sons and Soldiers is an epic story of heroism, courage, and patriotism that will not soon be forgotten.
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Community Reviews
Prologue
GERMANY 1938
7/10
About Martin in 1938 experiencing Kristallnacht. Quite short, but proper intro to what the book is about.
PART ONE
1. Saving the Children
10/10
I like it. Jewish children in Germany and how conditions become unbearable after 1933 and especially 1938. USA has a rule for immigration where immigrants must be able to sustain themselves so family members already in USA must show they have wealth enough for it. Which is very complicated as the Jews in Germany of course only have a few family members in USA who likely are not rich. One American Jew loaned some money from friends and put it in the bank for some days to fake being rich. Then returned the money post the check. Meanwhile Nazis take Jewish businesses, kick Jews out of schools, units beat up Jews, forbid Jews from many jobs, and don't allow Jews to take money with them out of the country making immigration very complicated. As Jews in Germany now have very little to no money and USA immigration laws want people with money many parents are forced to just send their oldest son to USA alone and wait for some extra opportunities. At this point KZ camps are already taking in prisoners in huge numbers. And even sending one single person is complicated. After this it's impossible to escape at all.
2. Escaping the Nazis
8,5/10
The kids escape Germany via various routes. To France, Holland, England. France is later conquered and the Jewish kids are given to the Germans by the Vichy France that works tightly with Nazi Germany.
3. A Place to Call Home
8/10
Guy's new life in USA. A rich gambler wants to sign an affidavit for Guy, but a Jewish lawyer refuses to "lie" to the government about the man just being a businessman. The chapter also mentions another kid in USA. A rich Jewish family travels away from Germany step by step using various tactics to get out by paying their way out. It's a complicated plan. In USA the young man is seen a huge curiosity as an escaped Jew. But he asks for USA to join the war and that makes the women at his dinner table irritated and fearful.
PART TWO
4. Camp Ritchie
7/10
Largely about training. A bit confusing about who does what. One Jew here trains in intelligence services to interrogate German prisoners. As these Jewish soldiers speak German many distrust them. But at the same time they are crucial for these specific tasks that regular Americans cannot do.
5. Going Back
7/10
Training and going to Germany on D-Day. They land way inland with money printed for the war that won't be worth anything unless Allies win. But it's what farmers can get for food.
6. Normandy
8/10
Post D-Day. Allies are winning handily and Germans feel that. We follow an interrogator who is conducting interviews with German prisoners and locals doing very well at gaining crucial info. Werner meanwhile is captured with a large group of soldiers. He acts clueless and doesn't tell anything to the English speaker interviewing him. He's an expert at this already and never reveals he can speak German. The German is a kind guy and Werner respects him even when Americans take the Germans there capture. He never reveals he could speak German.
7. The Breakout
8/10
Getting into France. The French want to retake Paris themselves so Americans wait for that. But a Jew wants to visit his former girlfriend. He finds out she was taken to a camp and now also discovers that his unit has traveled away. So practically he is awol.
8. Holland
7/10
A bit shallow overview of events in Holland and Operation Market Garden.
9. The Forests
8/10
Stuff like Battle of the Bulge and other great German counter-attacks with their last forces. A Jew lied about his competence to not take a job in London so that he could be with his new girlfriend in Paris. But instead he is sent to the warzone which he has no experience at. As Germans counterattack with huge forces his situation becomes dangerous. Plus German groups disguise themselves as Americans to infiltrate the lines. Of course they are shot on sight as this is highly against war rules. But it also means that the German Jews working with the Allies are in danger of being shot as they have thick accents and can't answer the code questions about baseball and American cities.
10. Return to Deutschland
8/10
Guy becomes friends with a German prisoner. He has seen executions of prisoners and written all about his experiences in his diary. He helps Guy translate it and everyone who reads it is absorbed so they even write a fictional sex focused finale to the story for them. Later they go to a Marlene Dietrich concert and invite her over to see the German prisoners as Guy's mom was once a masseuse for her in USA. Even though she fled Nazi Germany and hates the regime the Germans still like her despite the regime calling her a traitor.
They also invent fake characters like a Russian who acts like he will take prisoners to Siberia which is Germans' greatest fear. And they place collaborators into prison cells with the Germans to gain extra info.
A German officer kills captured American interrogators who are Jews.
PART THREE
11. The Camps
8,5/10
KZ camps. Americans discover just how horrible the Jewish situation was. Local villagers don't care about the camps and say they don't know anything about it. Everyone claims they are not Nazis. The locals and military men are forced to attend Jewish funerals. Some German soldiers turn their back to it and start smoking.
12. Denazification
7/10
Germany getting de-Nazified. The Jewish soldiers find out their families are likely dead as they uncover the cruelty of KZ camps. But some find their families.
13. Going Home
6,5/10
What happened with these few Jews post the war. Some refused to talk about it. Most moved to USA. But a few returned to Germany and started to speak to school classes 50 years later. And it seemed to motivate them. Many became academics and lived long lives. Mostly they didn't find their families in Germany which initially was a huge motivation for even joining the war effort.
My final opinion on the book
Great book for sure. Perfect on audiobook. It's nice when you can recognize a few battles and events so that you can follow along on the story. Some events are gut-wrenching. The German commander who shot 2 American soldiers because they were Jewish is just pure evil. He was then tried and hung for it - clearly. This stuff is just pure evil. You'd figure that maybe the evilness was largely in the KZ camps outside of view. But clearly not. It was in every single village in Germany. And this book illustrates how even when the Americans started to hold burials for Jews and force Germans to attend some Germans refused to respect it. A village mayor protested a decision to send villagers to clean up a KZ camp nearby and the villagers refused to accept what had happened. This is shocking. I always felt like Germany had done a proper job at reeducating people, but this chapter shows that it's not that simple. Many just said they were never Nazis and moved on. Soon no one was a Nazi and no one knew anything either. Of course these are just a few stories.
The main negative thing about the book is how it only focuses on just a few Jewish interrogators. The title makes it out to be a book about Jewish soldiers overall and I was excited to read about battle stories and various conquests. Yet this is mainly about these few people and their personal stories to find their families. It's very nice. I fully liked it until I reached the last 3 chapters and then felt that I didn't quite get the full story. I feel like I learned a lot about WW2 and read a ton of sad and funny stories. Yet there is no overview and it leaves me feeling a bit ignorant about this topic overall. Maybe a ton of doc and movie recommendations could fix it. This book will 100% become a TV show at one point.
Overall I would highly recommend this audiobook. Very highly. And I'm very eager to read much more on this topic. I have read some books about about WW2 like the 2 books that inspired Band of Brothers and the Pacific TV shows. But they were frankly confusing and at times uninspired. The Pacific book was about soldiers who just hated being soldiers and rather drank, slept around, and refused orders when they could. Totally demotivating. It's nice to read about motivated Jews who feel like it's their job to fight Nazis. They actually had to fight to join the army as initially they weren't Americans and were questioned for being German. Even in Germany they were often were nearly shot or imprisoned by Americans for having German accents. As Nazis at times dressed up as Americans to win battles it's quite understandable people were on edge. Overall these interrogators were essential for the war effort. Extremely so. Even at times convincing Germans to work closely with them to uncover mines or other spies. Great book.
GERMANY 1938
7/10
About Martin in 1938 experiencing Kristallnacht. Quite short, but proper intro to what the book is about.
PART ONE
1. Saving the Children
10/10
I like it. Jewish children in Germany and how conditions become unbearable after 1933 and especially 1938. USA has a rule for immigration where immigrants must be able to sustain themselves so family members already in USA must show they have wealth enough for it. Which is very complicated as the Jews in Germany of course only have a few family members in USA who likely are not rich. One American Jew loaned some money from friends and put it in the bank for some days to fake being rich. Then returned the money post the check. Meanwhile Nazis take Jewish businesses, kick Jews out of schools, units beat up Jews, forbid Jews from many jobs, and don't allow Jews to take money with them out of the country making immigration very complicated. As Jews in Germany now have very little to no money and USA immigration laws want people with money many parents are forced to just send their oldest son to USA alone and wait for some extra opportunities. At this point KZ camps are already taking in prisoners in huge numbers. And even sending one single person is complicated. After this it's impossible to escape at all.
2. Escaping the Nazis
8,5/10
The kids escape Germany via various routes. To France, Holland, England. France is later conquered and the Jewish kids are given to the Germans by the Vichy France that works tightly with Nazi Germany.
3. A Place to Call Home
8/10
Guy's new life in USA. A rich gambler wants to sign an affidavit for Guy, but a Jewish lawyer refuses to "lie" to the government about the man just being a businessman. The chapter also mentions another kid in USA. A rich Jewish family travels away from Germany step by step using various tactics to get out by paying their way out. It's a complicated plan. In USA the young man is seen a huge curiosity as an escaped Jew. But he asks for USA to join the war and that makes the women at his dinner table irritated and fearful.
PART TWO
4. Camp Ritchie
7/10
Largely about training. A bit confusing about who does what. One Jew here trains in intelligence services to interrogate German prisoners. As these Jewish soldiers speak German many distrust them. But at the same time they are crucial for these specific tasks that regular Americans cannot do.
5. Going Back
7/10
Training and going to Germany on D-Day. They land way inland with money printed for the war that won't be worth anything unless Allies win. But it's what farmers can get for food.
6. Normandy
8/10
Post D-Day. Allies are winning handily and Germans feel that. We follow an interrogator who is conducting interviews with German prisoners and locals doing very well at gaining crucial info. Werner meanwhile is captured with a large group of soldiers. He acts clueless and doesn't tell anything to the English speaker interviewing him. He's an expert at this already and never reveals he can speak German. The German is a kind guy and Werner respects him even when Americans take the Germans there capture. He never reveals he could speak German.
7. The Breakout
8/10
Getting into France. The French want to retake Paris themselves so Americans wait for that. But a Jew wants to visit his former girlfriend. He finds out she was taken to a camp and now also discovers that his unit has traveled away. So practically he is awol.
8. Holland
7/10
A bit shallow overview of events in Holland and Operation Market Garden.
9. The Forests
8/10
Stuff like Battle of the Bulge and other great German counter-attacks with their last forces. A Jew lied about his competence to not take a job in London so that he could be with his new girlfriend in Paris. But instead he is sent to the warzone which he has no experience at. As Germans counterattack with huge forces his situation becomes dangerous. Plus German groups disguise themselves as Americans to infiltrate the lines. Of course they are shot on sight as this is highly against war rules. But it also means that the German Jews working with the Allies are in danger of being shot as they have thick accents and can't answer the code questions about baseball and American cities.
10. Return to Deutschland
8/10
Guy becomes friends with a German prisoner. He has seen executions of prisoners and written all about his experiences in his diary. He helps Guy translate it and everyone who reads it is absorbed so they even write a fictional sex focused finale to the story for them. Later they go to a Marlene Dietrich concert and invite her over to see the German prisoners as Guy's mom was once a masseuse for her in USA. Even though she fled Nazi Germany and hates the regime the Germans still like her despite the regime calling her a traitor.
They also invent fake characters like a Russian who acts like he will take prisoners to Siberia which is Germans' greatest fear. And they place collaborators into prison cells with the Germans to gain extra info.
A German officer kills captured American interrogators who are Jews.
PART THREE
11. The Camps
8,5/10
KZ camps. Americans discover just how horrible the Jewish situation was. Local villagers don't care about the camps and say they don't know anything about it. Everyone claims they are not Nazis. The locals and military men are forced to attend Jewish funerals. Some German soldiers turn their back to it and start smoking.
12. Denazification
7/10
Germany getting de-Nazified. The Jewish soldiers find out their families are likely dead as they uncover the cruelty of KZ camps. But some find their families.
13. Going Home
6,5/10
What happened with these few Jews post the war. Some refused to talk about it. Most moved to USA. But a few returned to Germany and started to speak to school classes 50 years later. And it seemed to motivate them. Many became academics and lived long lives. Mostly they didn't find their families in Germany which initially was a huge motivation for even joining the war effort.
My final opinion on the book
Great book for sure. Perfect on audiobook. It's nice when you can recognize a few battles and events so that you can follow along on the story. Some events are gut-wrenching. The German commander who shot 2 American soldiers because they were Jewish is just pure evil. He was then tried and hung for it - clearly. This stuff is just pure evil. You'd figure that maybe the evilness was largely in the KZ camps outside of view. But clearly not. It was in every single village in Germany. And this book illustrates how even when the Americans started to hold burials for Jews and force Germans to attend some Germans refused to respect it. A village mayor protested a decision to send villagers to clean up a KZ camp nearby and the villagers refused to accept what had happened. This is shocking. I always felt like Germany had done a proper job at reeducating people, but this chapter shows that it's not that simple. Many just said they were never Nazis and moved on. Soon no one was a Nazi and no one knew anything either. Of course these are just a few stories.
The main negative thing about the book is how it only focuses on just a few Jewish interrogators. The title makes it out to be a book about Jewish soldiers overall and I was excited to read about battle stories and various conquests. Yet this is mainly about these few people and their personal stories to find their families. It's very nice. I fully liked it until I reached the last 3 chapters and then felt that I didn't quite get the full story. I feel like I learned a lot about WW2 and read a ton of sad and funny stories. Yet there is no overview and it leaves me feeling a bit ignorant about this topic overall. Maybe a ton of doc and movie recommendations could fix it. This book will 100% become a TV show at one point.
Overall I would highly recommend this audiobook. Very highly. And I'm very eager to read much more on this topic. I have read some books about about WW2 like the 2 books that inspired Band of Brothers and the Pacific TV shows. But they were frankly confusing and at times uninspired. The Pacific book was about soldiers who just hated being soldiers and rather drank, slept around, and refused orders when they could. Totally demotivating. It's nice to read about motivated Jews who feel like it's their job to fight Nazis. They actually had to fight to join the army as initially they weren't Americans and were questioned for being German. Even in Germany they were often were nearly shot or imprisoned by Americans for having German accents. As Nazis at times dressed up as Americans to win battles it's quite understandable people were on edge. Overall these interrogators were essential for the war effort. Extremely so. Even at times convincing Germans to work closely with them to uncover mines or other spies. Great book.
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