Edward A. Tenenbaum (1921–1975) was an American economist, sometimes referred to in Germany as "Vater der Deutschen Mark" (father of the Deutsche Mark). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he and civilian

Egon W. Fleck Egon is a variant of the male given name Eugene. It is most commonly found in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, Sweden, Denmark, and parts of the Netherlands and Belgium. The name can also be derived from ...

were the first two non-captive Allied personnel to enter

Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or s ...

, on April 11, 1945.

Biography

Tenenbaum was the son of

Polish Jews The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

who emigrated to America. In the late 1930s he was a student at the

International School of Geneva The International School of Geneva (in French: ''Ecole Internationale de Genève''), also known as "Ecolint" or "The International School", is a private, non-profit international school based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1924 in the servi ...

, Switzerland, where he befriended the portrait artist

Milein Cosman Emilie Cosman, known as Milein Cosman, (31 March 1921 – 21 November 2017) was a German-born artist based in England. She is best known for her drawings and prints of leading cultural figures, dancers and musicians in action, such as Francis Baco ...

. He subsequently graduated

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 1942. Tenenbaum was a US First Lieutenant and intelligence officer with the Publicity and Psychological Warfare unit of the

Twelfth Army Group The Twelfth United States Army Group was the largest and most powerful United States Army formation ever to take to the field, commanding four field armies at its peak in 1945: First United States Army, Third United States Army, Ninth United Stat ...

headquarters under General

Omar N. Bradley Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893April 8, 1981) was a senior officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, rising to the rank of General of the Army. Bradley was the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and o ...

. While in his early 20s,"Ein junger US-Leutnant zog die Fäden"
''Die Welt'' Online. (June 15, 2008) Retrieved February 11, 2011 he and civilian

were the first two non-captive Allied personnel to enter

, on April 11, 1945, at 5:30 p.m. After the war, Tenenbaum served as special assistant to the

Lucius D. Clay General Lucius Dubignon Clay (April 23, 1898 – April 16, 1978) was a senior officer of the United States Army who was known for his administration of occupied Germany after World War II. He served as the deputy to General of the Army Dwight ...

, finance adviser of the U.S. military-established government from 1945-1948 and as an economist with the

Economic Cooperation Administration The Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) was a U.S. government agency set up in 1948 to administer the Marshall Plan. It reported to both the State Department and the Department of Commerce. The agency's first head was Paul G. Hoffman, a fo ...

from 1948–1950. He is credited with rescuing the German

deutschemark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it ...

while in this position. Former German

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Helmut Schmidt Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. Before becoming C ...

said about Tenenbaum, "He was the intellectual link between the American military government and the German experts." He was later an economist with the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster gl ...

from 1950–1951. Working for the Mutual Security Agency, Tenenbaum served as an economic adviser from 1951 to 1952. From 1952 to 1954, he was a finance adviser to the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

government.Edward A. Tenenbaum Papers
Truman Library & Museum,

Independence, Missouri Independence is the fifth-largest city in Missouri and the county seat of Jackson County. Independence is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area. In 2020 ...

, USA. Retrieved February 11, 2011 Tenenbaum was killed in a traffic accident in 1975.

References

United States Army officers 1921 births 1975 deaths 20th-century American economists Yale University alumni International School of Geneva alumni American expatriates in Germany American expatriates in Switzerland {{US-army-bio-stub