Surviving the Reich: The World War II Saga of a Jewish-American GI » (First)

Ivan Goldstein and his two brothers, Jerome and Max, grew up in Denver, Colorado, watched over and loved by their hard-working widowed mother, Ida. Ivan’s pursuit of an art degree at the University of Denver was interrupted by World War II, during which he spent most of his time as a POW. He returned to the university following the war and met June Alexander; they married after graduating in 1948 and raised four children. The Goldsteins delved deeper into their Jewish faith, traveling to and eventually moving to Israel. Ivan and June Goldstein live in Jerusalem.

“In the morning, take the Jew out and shoot him.”

That was almost Pvt. Ivan Goldstein’s fate, his captivity over before it had really begun, on the orders of the German major interrogating Goldstein and his Sherman tank crewmates. It was not the first time Goldstein narrowly escaped death at the hands of the Nazis in World War II, and it would not be the last.

From the moment Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, seventeen-year-old Ivan Goldstein had been ready to enlist. Devoted to his young widowed mother, however, he acquiesced when she urged him to attend college instead of risking his life in the war. His time at the University of Denver only delayed the inevitable, and his draft notice soon arrived. Entering the army, he was eventually assigned to Company B, 41st Tank Battalion, 11th Armored Division.

Private Goldstein first faced a threat close to home: the anti-Semitism of his own company commander. Nevertheless, he got through training in the States and England, and late in 1944 he was on his way to what would become known as the Battle of the Bulge, the bloodiest battle in U.S. history, with more than nineteen thousand American deaths over the course of a month.

Goldstein and his fellow crewmates of the M4 Sherman named Barracuda would not see those weeks of brutal warfare through frozen fields and snow-covered towns, however. Barracuda was hit their first day in combat, caught fire, and became mired in a frozen pond. Lucky to escape the burning tank alive, Goldstein was captured and then interrogated by a German major who ordered his execution. Ivan was lucky again that in the face of an American attack the order was forgotten by theGermans. He was even luckier to still be alive in the stalag when the liberating Americans arrived in the spring.

With faith, friends, and class-clown humor, Goldstein survived the ordeal. Decades later, through the efforts of French historians, and at the urging of his grandson, he would return to claim his piece of history alongside Barracuda, which proudly stands in McAuliffe Square, Bastogne, Belgium, to this day.

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

1 Early Years 1

2 Army Life 25

3 Going Overseas 39

4 Prelude to Battle 51

5 Baptism of Fire 61

6 Captivity 77

7 The Hellhole 93

8 The Cattle Car 109

9 Liberation 119

10 Going Home 135

11 The End of the War 155

12 Civilian Life 163

13 Family and Career 173

14 The Return of Barracuda 191

15 Belgium Revisited 209

Epilogue: Looking Back, Looking Forward 219

Appendix: Family Lore 223

Bibliography 227