Arts&Life
review

G

unther Stern, born in 
Hildesheim, Germany, in 
1922, now lives in West 
Bloomfield, and works at the Holocaust 
Memorial Center. Highlights of his 
activities between then and now pro-
vide the material for his new memoir, 
Invisible Ink, published by Wayne State 
University Press. 
Not long after the Nazis came to 
power in Germany in January 1933, 
Julius and Hedwig Stern had the fore-
sight to try to get their oldest son, 
Gunther, official permission to emigrate 
to St. Louis. Once there, at the home of 
his aunt and uncle, he was expected to 
work to bring to the rest of the family 
— his parents and his younger brother 
and sister. 
Julius warned his son to keep a low 
profile, to make himself unnoticeable 
“like invisible ink,
” until the family could 
meet again. In 1937, Gunther faced a 
most fearsome hurdle: getting approval 
from the American Counsel General 
in Hamburg, Malcom Burke. Most 
American officials systematically denied 
approvals; Burke promptly stamped the 
forms, and Gunther went to America.
In St. Louis, he found a supportive 

home, an excellent high school and 
a way to make a living: working in 
restaurants, first as a busboy and then 
as a waiter. Also a new first name: A 
girlfriend called him “Guy,
” a name that 
Americans could pronounce. 
To rescue his family, the waiter 
recruited a wealthy restaurant patron to 
sponsor their immigration. The com-
munity’
s immigration lawyer, however, 
explained that the patron’
s profession, 
“gambler”
, technically disqualified him 
as a sponsor. The lawyer would not even 
try to circumvent the law. The family 
remained in Germany to be murdered. 
When the war began, the U.S. Army 
recruited Guy and other young immi-
grants who knew the language and 
culture of enemy countries. They were 
known as the Ritchie Boys. The Army 
offered citizenship to the stateless young 
soldier, now officially Guy Stern. In 
France, right after the D-Day invasion, 
Stern interrogated German prisoners of 
war about the remaining German forces. 
After the war, Stern earned graduate 
degrees in German studies, rekindling 
his love of the language that had also 
rejected him. He loved the writers of the 
Enlightenment, such as Lessing, who 

32 | AUGUST 6 • 2020 

Invisible Ink:
A Memoir
Meet Guy Stern Aug. 19 in a virtual program 
of the Holocaust Memorial Center.

LOUIS FINKELMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Entering the 
Army at Fort 
Leavenworth, 
KS, Fall 1942

“Ritchie Boys”: 
1st Army 
Headquarters 
Interrogation 
Teams, 1944

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GUY STERN