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Draft:Stanley Nowinski

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@Jishara: Thanks for the feedback. I've revised the wording to make it more neutral and encyclopedic. Please let me know if you think it still needs further changes. Meirgf (talk) 18:43, 3 October 2026 (UTC)

  • Comment: In preparing this draft, I disclose that AI assistance was used as follows: For some sentences asked the chatbot if they sounded neutral or encyclopaedic enough Meirgf (talk) 18:36, 3 October 2026 (UTC)
  • 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)
  • 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(1911-10-23)October 23, 1911
Ripon, Wisconsin, United States
DiedJuly 6, 1993(1993-07-06) (aged 81)
Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States
OccupationsArmy 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, he served as a Displaced Persons Control Officer in Salzburg, Austria, where he worked with Jewish displaced persons and with members of the Bricha movement.[1][2][3]

Early life

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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

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Nowinski was drafted into the U.S. Army in March 1941. He initially reported to Fort Benning, Georgia, and later attended military police training in Boise, Idaho. In November 1942, he was assigned to the 775th Military Police Battalion and was subsequently promoted to lieutenant.[1][2]

Nowinski was deployed to Europe in 1944. In February 1945 he was transferred to the 42nd Infantry Division, known as the 42nd "Rainbow" Division. The division, led by General Harry J. Collins, took part in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp.[4][5][2] He subsequently sought an assignment to the Civil Affairs Division, citing his knowledge of Polish and German.[2]

He was assigned as the Displaced Persons Control Officer (DPCO) in Salzburg, Austria.[1][6]

Service in Austria

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As DPCO, Nowinski was responsible for the repatriation of displaced persons, including concentration camp survivors, to their countries of origin.[1][2] Most Jewish survivors did not wish to return to their former homes in Eastern Europe because of the destruction of their communities and continuing antisemitism and violence.[7] Many Jewish survivors sought to reach Eretz Israel (Mandatory Palestine). During his service in Salzburg, Nowinski cooperated with Bricha, an underground movement that assisted Jewish Holocaust survivors in leaving Europe and reaching Mandatory Palestine.[8][6][3]

Nowinski worked with Aba Gefen, who headed Bricha activities in Salzburg. Accounts by Gefen and Professor Yehuda Bauer describe Nowinski as facilitating the movement of Jewish refugees across borders in Austria and neighboring countries.[8][6] He also worked with Rabbi Eli A. Bohnen, chaplain of the 42nd Infantry Division. Bohnen's account describes cooperation between American military personnel and Jewish displaced persons in Salzburg.[9]

Accounts of Nowinski's work describe several forms of assistance to displaced persons and Bricha. Bauer and Gefen wrote that Bricha organizers could contact Nowinski when refugee groups were stopped at borders or when members were detained.[10][11] Other accounts describe his involvement in obtaining additional food supplies for displaced persons.[12][13] Bauer and Ephraim Dekel, head of Bricha, also describe Nowinski's involvement in the establishment of the Committee for Assistance to Jewish Refugees (CAJR), chaired by Gefen. The organization operated from former UNRRA offices and was associated with Bricha activities in Salzburg.[14][15][16] According to Gefen, the cooperation between American military personnel and Bricha representatives also contributed to relations between the U.S. Army and displaced persons in the Salzburg area.[17]

British authorities sought to prevent Jewish survivors from reaching Palestine. Accounts of Nowinski's work state that his activities came to the attention of British and American authorities and that a Counter-Intelligence Corps investigation followed British protests.[18][6] According to Bohnen, General Collins described the cooperation with Bricha as having "tacit approval" from higher headquarters while instructing that it remain secret.[19]

Nowinski was reassigned from his position as DPCO in Salzburg in May 1947. Bricha representatives held a farewell ceremony for him following his reassignment and planted 36 trees in Israel in his honor.[20] In a May 1947 farewell letter, Gefen expressed appreciation for Nowinski's assistance to Jewish refugees, 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]

Later military service

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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 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.[1][2]

Retirement and later life

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After retiring, Nowinski 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 1973, Nowinski and his wife traveled to Israel at the invitation of former Bricha associates. During the visit, he was honored at Yad Vashem, met with Israeli officials and was awarded the Remembrance Medal.[22]

Honoring Stanley and Hazel Nowinski at Yad Vashem - 1973

In his later years, Nowinski often spoke about his wartime experiences at schools and community organizations. In discussing his treatment of displaced persons, 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

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Stanley Nowinski '37: Righteous Among the Nations". Ripon College. January 27, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Stanley M. Nowinski Papers and Photographs". Wisconsin Veterans Museum.
  3. 1 2 "Righteous Gentile Honored in Israel". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 1973.
  4. ↑ "The 42nd Infantry Division during World War II". U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
  5. ↑ Goldenberg, Richard (April 27, 2020). "NY's 42nd Infantry Division liberated Dachau 75 years ago". U.S. Army.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Bauer, Yehuda (1970). Flight and Rescue: Brichah. Random House, NY. pp. 263–266, 284, 304.
  7. ↑ "Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland After Liberation". Yad Vashem.
  8. 1 2 Gefen, Aba (1993). Defying the Holocaust: A Diplomat's Report. Borgo Press. pp. 111–115, 118–120, 126, 133–135.
  9. ↑ Bohnen, Michael J. (2022). Eli A. Bohnen - Rabbi and Chaplain. pp. 60–77.
  10. ↑ Bauer, Yehuda (1970). Flight and Rescue: Brichah. Random House, NY. pp. 264–265.
  11. ↑ Gefen, Aba (1993). Defying the Holocaust: A Diplomat's Report. Borgo Press. p. 112.
  12. ↑ Dose, Emmert H. (1973). "Union Grove Man Remembered, Honored in Jerusalem". The Racine Journal Times (Sept 24th 1973) – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ Gefen, Aba (1961). פורצי המחסומים [The Barrier Breakers] (in Hebrew). Yessod. p. 148.
  14. ↑ "CAJR Certification". Wikimedia.
  15. ↑ Bauer, Yehuda (1970). Flight and Rescue: Brichah. Random House, NY. p. 266.
  16. ↑ Dekel, Ephraim (1972). B'riha Flight To The Homeland. Herzl Press. p. 143.
  17. ↑ Gefen, Aba (1961). פורצי המחסומים [The Barrier Breakers] (in Hebrew). Yessod. p. 125.
  18. ↑ "Union Grove Man Remembered, Honored in Jerusalem" (PDF). Rainbow Veterans. 2024.
  19. ↑ Bohnen, Michael J. (2022). Eli A. Bohnen - Rabbi and Chaplain. p. 63.
  20. ↑ Dekel, Ephraim (1972). B'riha Flight To The Homeland. Herzl Press. p. 86.
  21. ↑ "Farewell letter Nowinski" (PDF). Wikimedia.
  22. ↑ "Newspaper Clippings - Nowinski Visit" (PDF). Wikimedia (in Hebrew). 1973.
  23. 1 2 Anvelasco, Catherine (1993). "WWII humanitarian Nowinski dies at 81". The Racine Journal Times (July 7th 1993) – via Newspapers.com.
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