Bert W. Anger '42 spent his first 16 years in Berlin, until his father's political activities led to threats from the Gestapo. In 1936 the family managed to emigrate to New York, where Mr. Anger attended the Fieldston School of Ethical Culture before enrolling at Dartmouth. Skiing was the College's greatest attraction, but he also became active in Germania.

Mr. Anger was serving as Germania's president when Germany declared war on the United States, and the Dean of Students ruled that under those circumstances a German national could not hold that position. This action was very unpopular with Mr. Anger's fellow students, but it did not lessen his own affection for the organization.

After graduating from the College in 1942 and completing a year at Tuck, Mr. Anger enlisted in the army's 10th Mountain Division, hoping to continue skiing, but was soon assigned to teach German to officers on the Stanford campus. He fondly recalls being housed there between two sororities. That idyll lasted three months; he was then sent to New Jersey to train as an intelligence officer in the 2nd Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company,the US Army's answer to German Psychological Warfare. After additional training at a British intelligence school near London, he landed at Omaha Beach in France on June 7, D-plus-1. His service during the European campaign included interrogations of German and Ukranian prisoners and doing live broadcasts between the U.S. and German front lines. He participated in the liberation of Paris and Luxemburg and on April 25, 1945, was present at the meeting with the Russians in Torgau, on the Elbe River. For his service he was awarded the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and the French Croix de Guerre with Palms.

After the war, Mr. Anger stayed briefly in occupied Germany, where he established the newspaper Mainpost in Würzburg. Later, he had a successful career in international business, mostly in Switzerland and the United States. He is now retired in Barrington, Rhode Island, where he is active in community affairs and also competes in track and field. In June, 2006, he won both the 100-yard dash and the long jump in his age group at the Rhode Island Senior Olympics.

Mr. Anger has long been an active and generous alumnus. We are grateful that he has chosen to set up an endowment that helps to support Germania's activities.