Stanley Milford Nowinski was born on October 23, 1911 in Ripon, Wisconsin. He grew up in the city, graduating from local schools and attending Ripon College for four years. Upon graduating he took a job teaching German at his alma mater, which he continued until his military service. Nowinski was drafted into federal service in March 1941. He initially reported to Fort Benning, Georgia before transferring to a military police training camp in Boise, Idaho. In November 1942 he was assigned to the 775th Military Police Battalion and several months later received a promotion to lieutenant.
Nowinski went to Europe in 1944 and in February 1945 was transferred to the 42nd “Rainbow” Division. With that unit, he witnessed the recently liberated concentration camp at Dachau and saw first-hand the condition of the former inmates. He had applied for an assignment to the Civil Affairs Division, thinking that his fluency in Polish and German would be of use in the European theater. He was assigned as the Displaced Persons Control Officer in Salzburg, Austria and was in charge of repatriating the displaced persons, including concentration camp survivors. His duty was to return them to their home countries, but he soon discovered that many Jewish people feared returning to Europe and wanted to instead go to Palestine (modern-day Israel). Against orders Nowinski began working with Bricha, an underground organization intent on getting Jewish survivors into British-controlled Palestine. He allowed tens of thousands of Polish and German Jews to pass as Italians and thus be shipped to Italy, from where they could obtain easier passage to Palestine. British authorities discovered the subterfuge after time and their objections almost led to a court martial for Nowinski. The situation was defused and he avoided reprimand.
Remaining in the Army after the war, Nowinski was assigned as an officer at Mattoon High School (Illinois) ROTC, where he served through 1950. From 1950 to 1952 he served in Korea, assisting refugees as part of the United Nations Civil Assistance Command, Korea (UNCACK). Returning to the United States after his tour of duty in Korea, Nowinski married Hazel Yacks in June 1953. He then served duty at Fort Carson, Colorado; Heilbronn, Germany; Redstone Arsenal, Alabama; Fort Lewis, Washington; and Alaska. After twenty years of service, Nowinski retired at the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1961.
Upon retiring Nowinski and his wife settled in Union Grove, Wisconsin, where he taught German and American history at the local high school. He became a member of American Legion Post No. 171 and of the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois. He also maintained a correspondence with many of the Bricha members he had worked with in Salzburg, especially Aba Geffen.
In the summer of 1973, at the request of his friends from Bricha, Stanley and Hazel traveled to Israel where he was honored for the help he gave to Holocaust survivors following the war. He planted a tree in the national forest, visited the Holocaust archives, and was awarded the Remembrance Medal and the Righteous Gentile Award, the highest honor the nation of Israel can give to a person of non-Jewish origin.
Nowinski spent his final years attending Holocaust remembrance events around the country and speaking about his experiences for local schools and organizations. Suffering from Parkinson's disease, he passed away in Kenosha, Wisconsin on July 6, 1993.
