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Legacy from page 10
Life In America
The Osnoses drove Walter and Werner to
Detroit and helped them find jobs at the
Ford Motor Co. By March 1939, they were
able to provide affidavits for the rest of the
family, who arrived at the Osnos' Passover
Seder in April.
At Ford, Werner Stark started work in the
mailroom, progressed to sales and then to
security. His four years as a top-performing
employee came to an abrupt end in 1942,
when he was fired. As a German, he was
considered an enemy alien.
After Pearl Harbor, Stark tried to enlist
in the U.S. Army, but was once again
rejected as a German. He then worked
in sales with his father and continued
his tennis career. He won several tennis
tournaments and made a name for himself
within the Metropolitan Detroit tennis
community.
Less than a year later, the U.S. Army
drafted him. Originally assigned to the
Pacific theater, Stark convinced army offi-
cials he should go to Germany because he
had what they needed: perfect language
skills and knowledge of the country's geog-
raphy, customs and culture. He also was
bright, intuitive, fearless under pressure,
competitive and charming.
Stark volunteered to work behind
enemy lines in exchange for U.S. citizen-
ship, reasoning that citizenship might
protect him if captured. The army gave
him citizenship and, in 1944, he went to
Camp Ritchie in Maryland to train for the
Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC). From
there, he was deployed to Germany as a
soldier and undercover agent.
Back In Germany
In his first months, Stark fought in one of
the last battles in Germany. In addition
to his military responsibilities, he also
located remaining family members and
determined what was left of the family's
business and personal assets, providing
his parents with information about eligible
restitution.
In spring of 1945, he wrote, "You can
imagine why I want to have everything
ready and want to have our affairs settled
first. When the completed regulations
come out as to restitution of Jewish prop-
erty ... huge amounts will be claimer
As the American Army occupied
Germany, the CIC provided tactical intel-
ligence about the enemy from captured
documents and interrogations of troops
and civilians. It provided security for mili-
tary installations, rooted out enemy agents
and countered stay-behind networks.
In spring and early summer of 1945,
the CIC took major responsibility for the
task of sorting war criminals from other
German citizens. In June, Werner wrote,
"You know how thorough the (Nazi) con-
trol was, and it is very hard to differentiate
between those who were really into it and
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jiN
sl
Werner Stark,
center, and two
unidentified men
those who simply kept their mouths shut
or were passive ... The people who had
real influence and didn't do anything to
counter the Nazis are, from my viewpoint,
those who should be punished.
"Whomever you talk to tells you, 'We
little people could do nothing. Each of
them all of a sudden is 'a little person. If
it were not out of the realm of possibility,
you would soon be convinced Hitler did all
the atrocities singlehandedly."
Meeting With A Monster
Hiding among the "little people" of
defeated Germany was Josef Mengele, a
man whose activities had been so heinous
he is often considered the most notorious
Nazi war criminal. Mengele is described
in a 1992 U.S. Justice Department report
as having systematically sent thousands
of men, women and children to the gas
chambers and doing horrifying medical
experiments on thousands more.
Stark asserted in the 1993 Holocaust
Memorial Center video that he personally
interrogated Mengele at a POW camp and
secured a partial confession.
The Justice Department report placed
Mengele in U.S. custody in two sepa-
rate POW camps immediately after the
war between May and August of 1945.
These camps were in the exact vicinity of
Werner's assignments, lending credence to
his assertions.
The government report notes the
Americans relied heavily on German per-
sonnel to run the POW camps. If Stark
posed as a German, his interrogation of
Mengele could have gone unrecorded by
the Americans.
The descriptions in the Justice
Department report of the chaos in post-
war German match Stark's own written
record of the time, and create a plausible
explanation for how his interrogation
never became official, and how the notori-
ous death doctor could eventually have
escaped justice.
Stark's videotaped description of the
interrogation is an important addition
to what little is known about Mengele's
detainment by the U.S.
Mengele "was a true bastard ... I knew
that unless the interview resulted in full
admission, he would not be put to death
or be made to give a full account of deeds:'
Stark has said. "He admitted only to doing
experiments on criminals."
This partial confession and then learning
Mengele slipped away from U.S. authorities
rankled Stark throughout his life.
By December 1945, Stark was assigned to
Nuremberg and asked to be a substitute
interpreter at the Nazi War crimes trial.
He also was given an undercover job as an
assistant manager at the Grand Hotel. He
was to ensure security of allied personnel,
observe the Russians and relay observa-
tions to his commanding officer, the only
one who knew he was an agent and not a
German civilian.
Stark later said, after the convictions, "I
did get up at 3 that morning to make sure
those responsible for this terrible crime
were hanged:'
He felt it was historically important that
Hitler and the Nazis started a war, lost it
and were called to account through the
justice system. He saw this as a deterrent
to war, but 50 years later, he still wished
the 10 men he saw hanged had been made
to wear prison stripes rather than their
Nazi uniforms.
Club, he was instrumental in securing prop-
erty and building a new club. He also was a
devoted member of the National Ski Patrol
in northern Michigan, always willing to
help others no matter the cold.
Stark married Betty and had two chil-
dren, Jackie and Larry. He continued to play
competitive tennis and enjoyed life's plea-
sures. He and his siblings raised their fami-
lies in Huntington Woods. The legacy of his
being a spy was the presence of a gun in his
nightstand drawer throughout his life.
Although he was proud of his military
service, he did not find pleasure in dis-
cussing his experiences. He wanted his
story told so others could learn from his
life's lessons. He decided to do the video-
taped interview "in the hope that someone
of influence might benefit from it to pre-
vent atrocities such as anti-Semitism:'
Stark said he believed democracy is an
expensive process but essential to living in
freedom. He recognized that dictatorship is
cheaper, easy to slip into, but avoidable by
keeping people from becoming desperate.
He was a youthful man who lived and
loved life to the fullest, maintaining a
wonderful sense of humor and having fun
with family and friends until his death in
July 1995.
Those who played tennis with Stark
describe his game as being similar to his
character. He was not a power hitter, yet
cunning, crafty and strategic with his drop
shots, slices and lobs. He knew how to use
those skills to win against the strongest of
players. He was a courageous man truly
missed by all who knew him.
Back In Detroit
Jacqueline Stark Odom of Bloomfield Hills,
Nuremberg Trials
In the spring of 1947, after serving three
years in Germany, Stark returned to
Detroit. He worked diligently to build a
successful food brokerage business. Like
his father, he was kind and generous to his
employees.
As the president of the Detroit Tennis
❑
daughter of Werner Stark, and Barbara Stark-
Nemon of Ann Arbor, daughter of Walter Stark,
are grateful for support and contributions from
Larry Stark, Randy Odom, Leon Berman, Guy
Stern, Marion Wilson Hyland and the Holocaust
Memorial Center. In loving memory of Werner
Stark, Walter Stark and Lilo Fauman.