Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger, a refugee from Nazi Germany, was drafted in 1943 and served in the Army infantry. After several months, he was recruited into counterintelligence, as the U.S armed forces realized that German Jewish émigrés, with their knowledge of the enemy’s language and culture, could be extremely valuable to the war effort.
In this capacity, Kissinger served in headquarters during the Battle of the Bulge, interrogating German prisoners of war and identifying German spies disguised as Americans.
After V-E Day, he became instrumental in the de-Nazification of Germany, supervising the occupying government of the town of Hanover. While there, he returned to his hometown of Furth, in search of surviving family and friends, and found only one, a high-school classmate who had survived Buchenwald. Kissinger went on to serve as the U.S. Secretary of State from 1973 to 1977.