H. W. Blumenthal, a Jewish sailor in the United States Navy, kept this diary (approximately 70 pages) from November 7, 1918-December 17, 1918. He wrote several times each day about many aspects of his military service and the politics of the Balkan Peninsula at the end of World War I. The front cover has a United States Navy seal stamped on the front, as well as the title "Cattaro," the date November 7, 1918, and the initials "H. W. B." A printed sheet containing information about five captured Austrian vessels is laid into the front cover.
Blumenthal commented in depth about his assignments, meetings (with American naval officers and others), his desire to obtain information about naval operations, and other aspects of his military service. He wrote briefly about the navies of Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, and France, as well as the Austrian and Italian armies. Much of the diary focuses on the politics of the Balkan Peninsula during and just after the end of World War I, particularly with regard to attempts to establish what would become the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Hugo Walter Blumenthal (often referred to as H. Walter Blumenthal) was born to Hugo Blumenthal (1862-1943) and Estelle Blumenthal (1872-1947) in New York City on May 23, 1894. He had two sisters, May Estelle Blumenthal (1905-1905) and Louise Mayer Blumenthal (1898-2001). A 1915 Yale University class member, he worked as an investment banker, retiring from Hallgarten and Company in 1937, and later working for the Office of Inter-American Affairs. Blumenthal was a member of the Knollwood Club and also a donor to Mount Sinai Hospital. He married Baroness Maud (Rosenbaum) Levi (1902-1981), shot putter, tennis champion, and former Italian women's Olympic coach, in Reno, Nevada, on August 5, 1935. Blumenthal became step-father to Nina Levi (1928-2007). He died on January 12, 1969, in New York City, and is buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.
During World War I, Blumenthal's motorboat, the Ocoee, was commissioned by the United States Navy as a section patrol vessel. He enlisted as a chief boatswain's mate in June 1917 and attended Officer Training School in Bensonhurst, New York before being commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy. Blumenthal was later promoted to lieutenant (junior grade) and assigned to the subchaser fleet in the Adriatic Sea. He served as commanding officer of USS SC-80 and earned a United States Navy Cross for his service.
