Herbert Gottschalk was born on July 7, 1917, in Aachen, Städteregion Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. He was the son of Arthur Gottschalk and Bertha Günther Gottschalk. He was the husband of Eleanor Oppenheimer Gottschalk. He served as a U.S. Army intelligence specialist and was among the German-Jewish refugees known as the Ritchie Boys, who were trained in military intelligence, interrogation, and psychological warfare during World War II. During the war, he held the rank of Technical Sergeant and was assigned to the 6th Armored Division.

On April 11, 1945, TSgt Gottschalk, serving with the U.S. Army’s 6th Armored Division, was part of a small armored scout car detachment led by Frederic that diverted from the main column near Hottelstedt after encountering fleeing prisoners and abandoned SS guards. Alongside Sgt Harry Ward and PFC James Hoyt, and guided by former inmates, Gottshalk helped advance toward the Buchenwald concentration camp, reaching its northern perimeter after the guards had already fled. Gottschalk and Frederic entered the camp through a breach in the barbed-wire fence, where they were confronted by thousands of surviving prisoners and the overwhelming reality of the camp’s conditions. As an intelligence-trained soldier, Gottshalk assisted in making contact with the camp’s underground leadership and in urgently relaying requests for medical assistance and food. After distributing all available supplies, the detachment returned to the main force, with Gottschalk playing a direct role in the first moments of Buchenwald’s liberation.

TSgt Gottschalk died on August 6, 1985, and is now buried in the United Jewish Center Cemetery, Brookfield Center, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA.

Source of information: https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/review-sons-and-soldiers.pdf, http://swq.com/Keffer%20letter%2005may1975.htm, www.findagrave.com