ENGLISH CORNER, CON LINDA JIMÉNEZ – This week’s trivia question:  What two things does the International Institute of the Righteous do? 

(Guy Stern, a German Jewish refugee who was one of the last known surviving members of the celebrated World War II military intelligence unit known as the “Ritchie Boys” and who became an accomplished Holocaust scholar after the war, died on Dec. 7, 2023, a little over a month shy of his 102nd birthday. Stern published his memoir, Invisible Ink, in 2020, and we interviewed him about his extraordinary life and the book at that time.  

This week, to honor his memory and to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which falls on January 27, we are bringing you that program again.)

Guy Stern was born into a Jewish family in Germany in 1922.  At the age of 15 his father sent him to the United States to live with an uncle in St. Louis, Missouri.  He served with the Ritchie Boys, a special unit of the American Army during World War II and later became a professor and scholar of German and comparative literature, with an emphasis on exile literature.  He later became the director of the International Institute of the Righteous at the Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus in Farmington Hills, Michigan.  Professor Stern won many awards during his life, including the American Bronze Star, the French Knight of the Legion of Honor Medal, and Distinguished Germanist of the Year, the Grand Order of Merit and the Goethe Medal of the Federal Republic of Germany awards.

Stern most recently was a central figure in the 2022 PBS documentary “The U.S. And The Holocaust,” and he also appeared in a “60 Minutes” special earlier that year.  He spoke frequently about his experiences as a refugee, sitting for various survivor testimonies and being interviewed in a number of documentaries and TV programs. Stern remained spry and gregarious into his years as a centenarian, with near-total recall of his life experiences, and was always willing to share his story with anyone who expressed an interest.

In 2020 Stern published his autobiography, Invisible Ink. The book is divided into thirteen chapters, each describing a pivotal moment in Stern’s life, and is written in an engaging style with surprisingly vivid detail.  It’s a very enjoyable read and can be ordered here.