Overview
- Interview Summary
- 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.
- Interviewee
- Dr. Günter Cordier
- Date
-
interview:
2011
- Geography
-
creation:
Menden (Arnsberg, Germany)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Museum Menden
Physical Details
- Language
- German
- Extent
-
1 digital file.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Restrictions on use. Rights to the interview are owned by Museum Menden. Copyright restrictions may apply.
- Copyright Holder
- Museum Menden
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Brothers. Children of interfaith marriage. Forced labor. Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Personal narratives. Jews--Legal status, laws, etc.--Germany. Jews--Persecutions--Germany. Medical personnel. Mischlinge (Nuremberg Laws of 1935) Radiologists. Tuberculosis. World War, 1939-1945--Conscript labor. Men--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Château-du-Loir (France) Dortmund (Germany) Herford (Germany) Kirchlengern (Germany) Le Lude (France) Le Mans (France) Luxembourg. Menden (Arnsberg, Germany) Paris (France) Westphalia (Germany) Wuppertal (Germany)
- Personal Name
- Cordier, Günter, 1921-
- Corporate Name
- Organisation Todt (Germany)
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Museum Menden donated the oral history interview with Dr. Günter Cordier to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in April 2018. The donation was faciliated by Carol Culbertson, a relative of Günter Cordier.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 09:29:51
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn610442
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