Draft:Stanley Nowinski
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Comment: I have a conflict of interest because the subject worked closely with my father, Aba Gefen, in Salzburg after World War II — Preceding unsigned comment added by Meirgf (talk • contribs) 19:38, 20 August 2026 (UTC)
Stanley M. Nowinski | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | October 23, 1911 |
| Died | July 6, 1993 (aged 81) |
| Occupations | Army officer, schoolteacher |
Stanley M. Nowinski (October 23, 1911 – July 6, 1993) was an American Army officer and teacher. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean War and retired as a lieutenant colonel. After World War II, while serving as the Displaced Persons Control Officer in Salzburg, Austria, Nowinski assisted Jewish displaced persons and cooperated with the Bricha movement, which helped Jewish Holocaust survivors leave Europe and reach Mandatory Palestine.[1] [2][3]
Biography
[edit]Early life
[edit]Stanley Milford Nowinski was born on October 23, 1911, in Ripon, Wisconsin, to Polish Catholic immigrants. He attended Ripon College, where he studied German, history, and economics. After graduating, he taught German at Ripon College before entering military service.[1]
Military service
[edit]Nowinski was drafted into the U.S. Army in March 1941. He initially reported to Fort Benning, Georgia, before transferring to a military police training camp in Boise, Idaho. In November 1942, he was assigned to the 775th Military Police Battalion and several months later was promoted to lieutenant.[1][2]
Nowinski was deployed to Europe in 1944 and in February 1945 was transferred to the 42nd Infantry Division, known as the 42nd "Rainbow" Division. With the division, he witnessed the recently liberated Dachau concentration camp. He subsequently sought an assignment to the Civil Affairs Division, where he believed his fluency in Polish and German would be useful.[4][5][2]
He was assigned as the Displaced Persons Control Officer (DPCO) in Salzburg, Austria.[1][6]
Service in Austria - assistance to Bricha
[edit]As DPCO, Nowinski was responsible for the repatriation of displaced persons, including concentration camp survivors, to their home countries.[1][2] He encountered many Jewish survivors who did not wish to return to their former homes in Eastern Europe because their families had been murdered, their property had been taken, and returning could expose them to further persecution.[7] Many instead sought to reach Eretz Israel (Mandatory Palestine). Nowinski began cooperating with Bricha, an underground Jewish movement that helped Holocaust survivors leave Europe and reach Mandatory Palestine.[8][6][3] Nowinski worked very closely with Aba Gefen (then Aba Weinstein), the head of Bricha in Salzburg, facilitating the movement of tens of thousands of Jewish Holocaust survivors to cross from Austria to Germany and Italy, from where they could obtain easier passage to Palestine. Nowinski also worked with the Rainbow Division chaplain, Rabbi Eli A. Bohnen. Bohnen fully cooperated with Bricha, worked to improve living conditions for displaced persons, and helped foster trust between the U.S. Army and Jewish survivors.[9]
The main ways in which Nowinski assisted Bricha and the survivors:
- The chaos in the borders was such that groups of refugees were stopped and people arrested on any suspicion – the Bricha organizers report that they could mention his name or even call his office and he would make sure transports would cross and people would be released.[10][11]
- He helped improve food supplies for displaced persons in the camps, at times increasing allocations above the minimum provided by the authorities.[12][13]
- Nowinski helped Bricha establish the Committee for Assistance to Jewish Refugees (CAJR), with Gefen as its chairman. The organization operated from former UNRRA offices and had access to U.S. Army communications facilities. The arrangement enabled Bricha personnel to operate under the name of an officially recognized assistance organization, gave credibility to documents they created, and facilitated their movement across borders.[14][15][16]
On the other hand – the help Nowinski provided to Bricha and to the refugees increased the trust of the survivors in the US Army authorities and Bricha leaders subsequently could use their influence among refugees to assist General Harry J. Collins with matters such as preventing protests, managing camps, and coordinating activities with the Army.[17]
British authorities sought to prevent Jewish survivors from reaching Palestine. Nowinski's assistance to Jewish displaced persons eventually brought him into conflict with British authorities and with US Army officers less sympathetic to the Bricha activities. British protests caused a Counter-Intelligence Corps (CIC) investigation of Nowinski's work. According to a surviving account, the investigation concluded that he was performing his duties satisfactorily.[18][6] According to Rabbi Bohnen's account, General Collins said in a meeting that there was "tacit approval" from "higher headquarters" for cooperation with Bricha, although the cooperation was to remain secret.[19]
Nowinski was reassigned from his position as a DPCO in Salzburg in May 1947. Bricha members held a farewell ceremony for him following his reassignment, in which the Head of Bricha in Europe, Ephraim Dekel, Head of Bricha in Austria, Asher Ben-Natan and Gefen thanked him for his assistance and announced that 36 trees had been planted in Eretz Israel to honour him (representing twice Chai - the blessing for a long life).[20]
In a May 1947 farewell letter, Gefen expressed the refugees' appreciation for Nowinski's assistance, writing
- "We bless the parents who had born such a son... and the Jewish community of the whole world will always remember you, Capt. Nowinski, with most sympathetic feeling, with consideration and acknowledgment".[21]
After Austria
[edit]After the war, Nowinski remained in the Army and served as an ROTC officer at Mattoon High School in Illinois through 1950. From 1950 to 1952, he served in Korea with the United Nations Civil Assistance Command, Korea (UNCACK), assisting refugees. He married Hazel Yacks in June 1953 after returning to the United States. He subsequently served at Fort Carson in Colorado, Heilbronn in Germany, Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, Fort Lewis in Washington, and in Alaska. He retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel in 1961 after approximately 20 years of service.[1][2]
Retirement
[edit]After retiring, Nowinski and his wife settled in Union Grove, Wisconsin, where he taught German and American history at the local high school. He was a member of American Legion Post 171 and the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois.[2]
In the summer of 1973, at the invitation of his Bricha colleagues, Stanley and Hazel traveled to Israel. They planted a tree in the National Forest, was awarded the Remembrance Medal, met with government officials and was honored at Yad Vashem for his assistance to Jewish survivors.[22]
In his later years, Nowinski often spoke about his wartime experiences at schools and community organizations. Discussing the legality of his assistance to survivors, he said:
- 'If they said they were Italians, my job was to get them back to Italy. I just wouldn't look too carefully at their papers'.[1][23]
Nowinski died in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on July 6, 1993, at the age of 81.[23]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Stanley Nowinski '37: Righteous Among the Nations". Ripon College. January 27, 2021.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Stanley M. Nowinski Papers and Photographs". Wisconsin Veterans Museum.
- 1 2 "Righteous Gentile Honored in Israel". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 1973.
- ↑ "The 42nd Infantry Division during World War II". U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
- ↑ Goldenberg, Richard (April 27, 2020). "NY's 42nd Infantry Division liberated Dachau 75 years ago". U.S. Army.
- 1 2 3 Bauer, Yehuda (1970). Flight and Rescue: Brichah. Random House, NY. pp. 263–266, 284, 304.
- ↑ "Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland After Liberation". Yad Vashem.
- ↑ Gefen, Aba (1993). Defying the Holocaust: A Diplomat's Report. Borgo Press. pp. 111–115, 118–120, 126, 133–135.
- ↑ Bohnen, Michael J. (2022). Eli A. Bohnen - Rabbi and Chaplain. pp. 60–77.
- ↑ Bauer, Yehuda (1970). Flight and Rescue: Brichah. Random House, NY. pp. 264–265.
- ↑ Gefen, Aba (1993). Defying the Holocaust: A Diplomat's Report. Borgo Press. p. 112.
- ↑ Dose, Emmert H. (1973). "Union Grove Man Remembered, Honored in Jerusalem". The Racine Journal Times (Sept 24th 1973) – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Gefen, Aba (1961). פורצי המחסומים [The Barrier Breakers] (in Hebrew). Yessod. p. 148.
- ↑ "CAJR Certification". Wikimedia.
- ↑ Bauer, Yehuda (1970). Flight and Rescue: Brichah. Random House, NY. p. 266.
- ↑ Dekel, Ephraim (1972). B'riha Flight To The Homeland. Herzl Press. p. 143.
- ↑ Gefen, Aba (1961). פורצי המחסומים [The Barrier Breakers] (in Hebrew). Yessod. p. 125.
- ↑ "Union Grove Man Remembered, Honored in Jerusalem" (PDF). Rainbow Veterans. 2024.
- ↑ Bohnen, Michael J. (2022). Eli A. Bohnen - Rabbi and Chaplain. p. 63.
- ↑ Dekel, Ephraim (1972). B'riha Flight To The Homeland. Herzl Press. p. 86.
- ↑ "Farewell letter Nowinski" (PDF). Wikimedia.
- ↑ "Newspaper Clippings - Nowinski Visit" (PDF). Wikimedia (in Hebrew). 1973.
- 1 2 Anvelasco, Catherine (1993). "WWII humanitarian Nowinski dies at 81". The Racine Journal Times (July 7th 1993) – via Newspapers.com.
External links
[edit]- "The Will to Live — Col. Nowinski's account of his service as DPCO in Austria". 1981.
- Krinke, Ethan (2026). "An American Story: Wisconsin colonel helps displaced Jewish survivors find refuge after World War II". WJFW-TV 12, Wisconsin.