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Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Army
  • Unit of Service: Army Signal Corps; Operational Forces, Office of Strategic Services (OSS)
  • Location of Service: European Theater; North Africa; China
  • Highest Rank: Captain

View full service history

"I think we had a harder time competing against [the F.B.I.] than we did against the Germans." (Video interview, Tape 1, 18:25)

With his privileged upbringing--he was born to a wealthy French family, educated by private tutors, and grew up as a teenager around 1930s Hollywood--Rafael Hirtz might have found a way to coast through World War II. Instead, he volunteered for the fledgling Office of Strategic Services, even after he was told that field operatives had only a fifty percent chance of survival. Hirtz worked on three intelligence missions abroad, using his ability to speak fluent French in service to his adopted country.

Transcript: XML

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About this Item

Title

  • Rafael D. Hirtz Collection

Names

  • Hirtz, Rafael D.
  • National Court Reporters Association (NCRA)
  • Brown, Clinton
  • Julie L. Doherty
  • College of Notre Dame of Maryland

Headings

  • -  Hirtz, Rafael D.
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Army.

Notes

  • -  The veteran was born in Argentina.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Status

  • Veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: Army
    • Unit of Service: Army Signal Corps; Operational Forces, Office of Strategic Services (OSS)
    • Location of Service: European Theater; North Africa; China
    • Highest Rank: Captain
    • Dates of Service: 1940-1946
    • Military Status: Veteran
    • Service History Note: The veteran started his service in the Army Signal Corps as an Infantry paratrooper where he parachuted behind enemy lines in France twice and once with the Chinese 2nd Commandos in China. Hirtz's last three years were spent with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the Operational Forces of the OSS.

Materials

  • Video: S-VHS-C [3 items] -- Oral history interview (collected 1995 - 1998)
  • Photograph: Mixed (Multiple types of photographs) [10 items] -- Photograph (collected 1943 - 1945)
  • Computer File: Floppy Disk [1 item] -- Electronic file of manuscript (collected 02/20/2006)
  • Manuscript: Transcript [1 item] -- Transcription of video recording (collected 02/20/2006)
  • Video: Digital Betacam [2 items] -- Digitized Copy (collected unknown)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/94

Cite as

  • Rafael D. Hirtz Collection (AFC/2001/001/94), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Online Format

  • image
  • online text
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/xxxx), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Hirtz, Rafael D, National Court Reporters Association, Clinton Brown, Julie L. Doherty, and College Of Notre Dame Of Maryland. Rafael D. Hirtz Collection. 1940. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.00094/.

APA citation style:

Hirtz, R. D., National Court Reporters Association, Brown, C., Julie L. Doherty & College Of Notre Dame Of Maryland. (1940) Rafael D. Hirtz Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.00094/.

MLA citation style:

Hirtz, Rafael D, et al. Rafael D. Hirtz Collection. 1940. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.00094/>.