Sander, Gunter

Gunter Sander grew up in Germany in the 1930s. Like virtually all German teenagers of the time he joined the Hitler Youth and later became a part of the national work force. When he was brought into the military, he was initially sent to guard islands off the coast of the Netherlands, against a potential invasion by sea. From there he was able to enlist in the Luftwaffe, and training became a big part of his life in the middle war years. But young man that he was, Gunter did not follow all the rules, and a fly-over of his home town did not sit well with his commanding officer, and Gunter was sent to jail and dismissed from the Luftwaffe. He was later released into the infantry and sent to the western front, where he was taken as a POW by British and American forces and sent to a prison camp. There his longtime love of music came to the fore, and this became a key part of the life he would eventually pursue.

Gunter was interviewed for this project by a group of senior history students in January 2012.