Oral history interview with Günter Cordier

Günter Cordier, born October 31, 1921 in Menden, Germany, discusses growing up during the Nazi era; his parents and two siblings; the Nuremberg Laws; his father’s service during WWI and his death during WWII from tuberculosis; his Jewish mother; his father being forced to sell his factory because his wife was Jewish and his refusal to divorce his wife; the restrictions his mother experienced before and during the war; being arrested with his brother (Walter, Jr.) in April 1944; being taken to an employment agency in Dortmund; his friend Helmut John; being sent on a train to the Motier Barracks in Porte des Lilas (a neighborhood in Paris) with other mixed heritage youths; being moved to Le Lude, where they did forced labor; being sent to build railroad tracks near Château-du-Loir; being assigned to do medic work; his mother’s deportation to several camps; being separated from his brother; the arrival of the Allies and returning to Germany on a bicycle; being ordered to work in the Westphalia region of Germany; his work digging fox holes and installing Czech guns in the bunkers there; Christmas 1944; being sent to Wuppertal and then Kirchlengern; working as a medic; the arrival of the American troops; going to the Central British Command, located in Herford, in an attempt to be able to contact his mother or find out what happened to her; living with his aunt in Menden while the Americans occupied his family’s house; and his education to become a radiologist.