Riess was born in Berlin, Germany to Jewish parents. As a child, he saw Hitler's rise to power. He viewed the damage of Jewish shops and fires of synagogues on "Kristall Nacht" and his father being taken to a concentration camp. Mr. Riess was sent to England on a "Kinder Transport" in March 1939 to study engineering and lived with a British family. He sailed during the war on a Japanese diplomatic ship from England via South Africa to Shanghai, China, where he worked for a British trading company. He witnessed the Japanese occupation and was permitted to continue working since he had a Ge...