Fritz G. A. Kraemer

Fritz G. A. Kraemer (July 3, 1908 – September 8, 2003) was a German-American military educator and advisor.

Kraemer was born in Essen, Germany, the eldest child of Dr Georg Kraemer (born Berlin 1872, died Theresienstadt 1942) and Anna Johanna (Jennie) Kraemer, neé Goldschmidt (born Essen 1886, died Washington DC 1971) and studied at the famous Arndt Gymnasium in Berlin, the London School of Economics [cite news
url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,1082871,00.html
last=Hodgson
first=Godfrey
title=Obituary - Fritz Kraemer
date=November 12, 2003
publisher=The Guardian] and the Universities of Geneva and Frankfurt before earning a doctorate in law at the University of Frankfurt in 1931 and a doctorate in Political Science at the University of Rome in 1934.

During most of the 30s he was Senior Legal Advisor to the League of Nations at the League’s Legal Institute in Rome. In 1933, he married his wife, Britta Bjorkander, a Swedish citizen.

Kraemer, a Lutheran with a dislike for Nazis, escaped Nazi Germany for America in 1939, leaving behind his wife and son. He was drafted and became a U.S. citizen as an inductee and joined the United States Army in April 1943 ("with two PhDs and one monocle") as an infantryman in the 84th Infantry Division (the “Railsplitter”).

Kraemer fought in the Battle of the Bulge and in the battles of the Ruhr and Rhineland, earning a Battlefield Commission and a Bronze Star in the liberation of his former homeland. In 1945 he was reunited with his wife and son and returned to Washington D.C. in 1947. He left active duty in 1948 and retired from the Army Reserve in 1963 with the rank of a Lt. Colonel.

As a gifted “talent scout” and teacher he, in 1944, discovered the young Henry Kissinger who joined his division. In the 70s he also discovered Alexander Haig, who was promoted to Military Assistant to then National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger.

From the early 50s until 1978, when he retired from civil service, he served as as Senior Civilian Advisor to the U.S. Army Chief of Staff in the Pentagon and influenced the Department of Defense during the Cold War.

A graduate of the U.S. National War College, he advised, taught, and inspired generations of officers, officials, and private citizens.

Kraemer died on September 8, 2003, in Washington, D.C., and was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery on October 8. He was honored by former Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger, his former students Henry Kissinger and Alexander Haig.

Publications

* Fritz Kraemer on Excellence, New York 2004 (Hubertus Hoffmann with contributions from Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, Donald Rumsfeld and others).

References