United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Ernest Wachtel (1924-2016) was born on May 6, 1924 in Vienna, Austria to Sigmund (Shaye) and Sofie (Zusa, née Liss) Wachtel. His father, Sigmund Wachtel, was born in Galicia, Poland and settled in Vienna where he served as an officer in the German army during World War I. Sigmund purchased an apartment house in the third district and opened a retail store handling silk and lace in the second district. The family lived in a large rented apartment on Karmeliterplatz. Ernest attended the Sperlgasse Gymnasium. The Wachtel family attended a little shtiebel and Ernest had a Jewish education and bar mitzvah. When Ernest was thirteen, his father bought him a bicycle and Ernest would ride bicycles with his schoolmates. In 1938, Vienna was occupied by the Germans. During this time, his schoolmates pointed out the Watchel apartment to the SS and SA. Ernest and other Jews, men who had been wearing prayer shawls, were forced to use toothbrushes to scrub off the anti-Semitic slogans painted on the clock tower. A mob watched and taunted them. Sigmund closed his business and was forced to turn over the management of the apartment building to a Nazi appointed Kommissar. The family obtains affidavits of support from an Uncle living in the United States, but were unable to obtain visas. Sigmund obtained temporary visitor visas at the French Consul and the family traveled to France in first class on the French ship Normandie. The family was ordered to settle in an efficiency hotel at Bellefontaine #8 in Paris and then later in a small farmhouse in the small town of Vineuil near Chantilly. Sigmund was forced to register with the police daily. In July 1938, Ernest’s United State Visa was available and he traveled to New York alone. He lived with his uncle and aunt on 34th Street between Lexington and Second Avenue. He worked for his uncle, a dentist, cleaning dentist chairs and instruments earning $1-$2. He would attend the movies on 42nd Street as a way to learn English, and was also enrolled in an English course at Stuyvesant High School. At some point, Sigmund Wachtel was interred in an unknown camp. However, in 1939, he and his wife obtained visas to the United States and emigrated. Baron Rothschild lent the family money to buy a chicken farm in Stelton, New Jersey. The family provided eggs and chickens to the army camp, Camp Kilmer. Ernest desired to join the army. After his father refused to allow Ernest to enlist, Ernest forged his father’s signature and enlisted in the army. He was sent to Fort Dix Induction Center and Fort Leonard Wood as a combat engineer. The army sent him to the University of Kentucky to learn topography for creating maps for artillery placement. However, an officer recognized his German accent and sent him to Camp Ritchie. While there, he contracted a near fatal illness and missed half the training courses. However, following his recovery, he deployed to Edinburgh, Scotland with the rest of his unit. In April 1944, they were sent to England. On June 9, 1944, the unit landed on Omaha Beach in France. Ernest was assigned to the Interrogator of Prisoners of War (IPW) Team #62 attached General George Patton’s 3rd Army. During the Battle of the Bulge (December 16, 1944- January 25, 1945), the IPW Team was ordered to remain in their quarters for fear that they would be shot by their fellow American soldiers mistaking them for spies or German soldiers dressed in American uniforms. After the end of the war, General Patton The war ended on May 7 or 8 and General Patton established his headquarters in the Adolf Hitler Kaserne, an armory in Bad Tölz, close to Munich and the Dachau concentration camp. Following the liberation of Dachau concentration camp, Ernest visited and photographed victims, survivors, and perpetrators. He spoke a little Polish and was able to communicate with a few Polish Jews. He took three survivors from the camp and housed them in an apartment after expelling the German residents. He procured supplies of canned foods, blankets, and underwear from the Head of Quartermasters who was a Master Sergeant of Jewish descent. One of the survivors was a Polish silversmith who made Ernest two small silver candlesticks. Ernest continued with the army, searching for Nazis in hiding. In December 1945, he returned to Camp Kilmer where he turned down a permanent position of the Provost Marshall Officer. He was discharged from the Army on December 24, 1945. Upon his return, Ernest reconnected with Rabbi Nussbaum and his family, who had lived on the floor below his family in Vienna, Austria. The family escaped Austria after Kristallnacht. Ernest married Rose Nussbaum in 1947. They have three daughters. Cheryl Wachtel married Mark Friedman, and they have two sons, Jordon and Mathew Friedman. Terry Wachtel married Jacob Lebewohl, and they have two sons, Jeremy and Joshua Lebewohl. Mindy Wachtel married Phil Silverberg and they have two children, Eric and Peri Silverbeg. Ernest Wachtel died on September 13, 2016.
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The Ernest Wachtel collection is arranged in two series. Series 1. Photographs, 1943-1945. Series 2. Biographical series, 2004-2012.
The Ernest Wachtel collection consists of 37 photographs depicting Ernest Wachtel, a Jewish Austrian refugee, and his experiences in the United States Army in Europe during World War II. The photographs also include liberation photographs of the Dachau concentration camp which include images of victims’ corpses, camp survivors, a building, and survivors viewed behind a barbed wire fence. There is also a set of group photographs which likely include the three survivors from the Dachau concentration cared for by Ernest, and other soldiers. The collection also includes articles regarding Ernest Wachtel’s emigration experiences, his work as a Ritchie Boy, and the 2012 Ritchie Boy reunion.
Ernest Wachtel collection