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.
Some video files begin with 10-60 seconds of color bars.
- Interviewee
- Dr. Günter Cordier
- Date
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interview:
2011
- Geography
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creation:
Menden (Arnsberg, Germany)
- Language
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German
- Extent
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1 digital file.
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Museum Menden
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Record last modified: 2022-07-28 19:54:08
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn610442