Obituary: Richard W. Sonnenfeldt

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Obituary: Richard W. Sonnenfeldt

Friday, 30 October 2009 00:00

Richard W. Sonnenfeldt, who fled Nazi Germany a teenager, became the chief interpreter for American prosecutors at the Nuremberg war crimes trials and interrogated some of the most notorious Nazi leaders of WWII, died of complications from a stroke at his home in Port Washington on Oct. 9, 2009. He was 86.

He was born on July 23, 1923 in Berlin and grew up in Gardelegen. In 1938, his parents, Walter and Gertrud Sonnenfeldt, both physicians, sent him and his younger brother to a boarding school in England as part of an attempt to move the family out of Germany.

Two years later, he was declared an enemy alien and deported to Australia. After arriving there, he pleaded his desire as a Jew to fight the Nazi and was released. This led him on a journey in which he set foot on five continents and survived a torpedo attack.

In 1941 he arrived in the United States where he was reunited with his brother and parents who had escaped to Sweden. After he became an American citizen, Mr. Sonnenfeldt was drafted into the Army and fought in the Battle of the Bulge and helped to liberate Dachau. Because of his excellent command of the English language, he was taken out of the Army motor pool and made an interrogator.

At the Nuremberg Trials, he interrogated almost two dozen Nazi oppressors. Among them were Hermann Goering, Hitler’s second in command; the industrialist Albert Speer, who ran Germany’s war manufacturing and Joachim von Ribbentrop, the Nazi foreign minister.

Mr. Sonnenfeldt returned to America before the trials were completed. He enrolled at Johns Hopkins University where he studied electrical engineering and after graduating joined the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). He also did early work in the development of computers, held executive posts at NBC and other companies, and was the dean of the Graduate School of Management at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.

In his 70s, Mr. Sonnenfeldt, an avid sailor, crossed the Atlantic Ocean three times in his 45-foot sailboat. In 2006, he penned his autobiography Witness to Nuremberg.

His first wife, the former Shirley C. Aronoff, died in 1979. Besides his son Michael, he is survived by his wife, the former Barbara Hausman; two other children, Ann Goldberg and Lawrence Sonnenfeldt; three stepchildren, Elizabeth Holdstein, Catherine Hausman and Maggi DeNicola; and his brother Helmut.

News

Lutheran Church of Our Savior Holds Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

Friday, 14 June 2013 00:00

On June 1, the Lutheran Church of Our Savior on Franklin Avenue held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house for the Port Washington community to celebrate its $1.7-million expansion and renovation. The money has been donated by the congregation as well as through fundraising efforts that have taken place for over a decade. BBS Architects, Landscape Architects and Engineers designed the expansion and renovations, and Triton Construction served as the general contractor.

“I am very excited that we were able to improve our facilities for the benefit of the congregation as well as the entire Port Washington community,” said Reverend Dr. Charles R. Vogeley. “I would like to thank all congregation and project team members who made today’s re-opening celebration possible. In particular, I would like to recognize Tom Rice, who managed the entire project on behalf of our church, Roger Smith and BBS Architects, who designed the beautiful addition and new interiors, and the tireless supporter of the Port Washington community and parish secretary, after whom we have named the new kitchen, Veronica Ann Mosby,” Reverend added.

Thursday, 13 June 2013 00:00

First Anniversary of Series

Café Music, the Friday night music series at the Dolphin Bookshop, will showcase a diverse line up of new and returning musicians this month. The series began on Friday, June 7, with songwriters Nikki Talley and Rupert Wates, performing in Port Washington for the first time. Talley performs Americana and Folk music with her husband. Based in North Carolina, she was excited to include Dolphin in her northeast tour. Wates is an award winning songwriter who also made his Dolphin debut.

Sports

Badminton Team Wins

Thursday, 13 June 2013 00:00

On May 23, the Port Washington Badminton team won its second straight Nassau County Championship by defeating Calhoun by a score of 4-3. This is the third year in a row that Port has played Calhoun in the county finals, with each contest decided by a score of 4-3. In many ways this season followed the same pattern as last year. Of the thirty five teams in the county, Calhoun and Port entered the playoffs as the one and two seeds, respectively. They were Conference I co-champions, but because Calhoun’s margin of victory was greater than Port’s in their two regular season matches, the Colts got the number one seed.

On April 16, Port travelled to Calhoun and lost 1-6. The final team score, however, did not reflect how close the match actually was. Four of Calhoun’s wins came in three set matches (matches are best of three) that came down to the final few points. According to Coach David O’Connor, “It was the best 1-6 loss I’ve ever seen. We walked out of their gym very confident that we could beat them in the future. It may have been a major loss on paper, but I think it really got our players motivated for the rest of the season.”

Port Rowing Makes Splash On National Stage

Thursday, 13 June 2013 00:00

In only its third season, Port Rowing has grown from an exciting start up to a Long Island powerhouse, to a state champion, and now to a top national contender. Three boats qualified from New York State championships to represent Port Rowing at the largest high school Regatta in the world, The Stotesbury Cup, in Philadelphia. There were over 150 schools from America and Canada at the event, and Port Rowing came right out of the gate on fire. The team advanced all three boats into the second round of top 18. In the second round the boats fell just shy of the top 6 final by mere seconds. In the end, the Boys Freshman 8 took 12th overall, and the girl’s lightweight four and men’s junior eight took 7th overall. In the Adaptive category, Michael and Molly took home the title with a demanding victory in the double. It was a great achievement from the pair that just started rowing together less than a year ago to win the Stotesbury Cup.