Warburg was born to a German family in
Hamburg,
Germany on April 15, 1900 His parents were Alice (née Magnus) and
Max Warburg, director of
M. M. Warburg & Co. and scion of the Warburg banking family. Warburg was educated at the in Hamburg. In 1918, he served in the
German Army. In 1938, he fled Germany for the
United States and during
World War II, he served as a lieutenant colonel and intelligence officer in the
United States Army. As a
German language speaker, he interrogated many prominent
Nazis including
Hermann Göring. During the war, Warburg facilitated the migration of German scientists and their families to the United States. He was later awarded the
Legion of Merit by the United States, the
Order of the British Empire by
Great Britain, and the
Croix de Guerre by
France. ==Career==