Life from the Ashes: A Wartime Survival

By Guenter L. Grothe and Kendall B. Krogstad

Guenter L. Grothe was born in Melchow, Germany, in 1931, at the height of the great depression. Adolf Hitler was becoming a political powerhouse, promising jobs and proposing the reclaiming of that portion of Poland that had been removed from Germany as part of the World War I armistice. His agenda was popular with the general public, and he was elected chancellor in 1933. Hitler then began his autocratic rule.

In the late 1930s, life for Grothe and his family was pleasant and calm, but after Hitler's army invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, the war rapidly escalated to World War II, against the reservations of most of the German population. The Grothe family lived through the relentless destruction, but as Germany succumbed, a lawless army of Russians rampaged through eastern Germany murdering, looting, and raping. The Grothe family survived but lost everything. Destitute and living under an oppressive communist regime, they tirelessly strived to survive, rebuild, and restore dignity to their lives.

Under threat of arrest, Grothe defected and had to wait three years before getting a visa to come to the United States of America, where he became the independent owner of a successful dental laboratory.

Join Grothe as he looks back at surviving the horrors of a dictatorial, dispassionate, regime that viewed German workers as slaves, and how he immigrated to America to achieve his American Dream.

Kendall B. Krogstad has forged the Grothe memoir into a readable excursion into living through the horrors of WWII and rising through the ashes of war to become a successful businessman and the epitome of the American Dream.
Krogstad is also the author of Exploration Pilot - The Flying Adventure, which is a compelling account of his extraordinary, often risky missions, including gripping episodes of calamities and near disasters, finally ending in an enigmatic, criminal incident.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Sep 29, 2018
• ISBN: 9781480867505

Guenter L. Grothe

Guenther Lehmann Grothe and his family were victims of the cruel Russian invasion of Germany at the end of World War II. Despite living under an oppressive regime, he dedicated himself to restoring his family’s dignity. After defecting, he waited three years before getting a visa to come to the United States of America, where he became the independent owner of a successful dental laboratory. Kendall B. Krogstad is also the author of Exploration Pilot - The Flying Adventure, which is a compelling account of his extraordinary, often risky missions, including gripping episodes of calamities and near disasters, finally ending in an enigmatic, criminal incident.

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Copyright © 2018 Guenter L. Grothe and Kendall B. Krogstad.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the authors except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Archway Publishing

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The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-6751-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-6750-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018910132

Archway Publishing rev. date: 09/19/2018

CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1     Depression Years

Chapter 2     The War Cauldron Boils Over

Chapter 3     Early War Years

Chapter 4     Invasion

Chapter 5     Journey Of Despair

Chapter 6     Survival Strategies

Chapter 7     Finding Work

Chapter 8     Working And Learning

Chapter 9     More Meaningful Work

Chapter 10   Certification

Chapter 11   Decision And Defection

Chapter 12   The Long Wait

Chapter 13   Passage

Chapter 14   Becoming American

Chapter 15   Return To Germany

Chapter 16   Army Advancement

Chapter 17   Going Into Business

Chapter 18   Ownership And Germany

Chapter 19   Another Defection

Epilogue

End Notes

For Shirley,

for her love and dedication

In loving memory of Hildegard,

for her eternal support

In loving memory of Emil Gläser

for his sponsorship

And In loving memory of Vera,

for her devoted partnership

Guenter L. Grothe

FOREWORD

After a chancy meeting in 2001 at a well-known outdoor outfitting company, Grothe and Krogstad became backpacking partners. In their visiting over campfires, they learned of their widely differing backgrounds.

Grothe writes:

Since my expertise is highly technical and I had no experience in writing a book, I was glad to find Krogstad’s expertise that would give me some assistance in getting my life experiences written.

The experiences of WW II were very emotional, a world apart from the demands of technical expertise and business ventures, where facts are paramount to success.

I had briefly given thought to the fact that when I pass on my experiences would be silenced. In some ways, I would be disappointed to have that happen, but I didn’t have the tools, neither time nor expertise, to put them on paper. Writing a book was a possibility that I allowed had only a meager chance of occurring.

It immediately became apparent when I met Krogstad that he expressed himself well and had a much better command of the English language than I have.

We became good friends, but the possibility of our working together to document my early life never surfaced for the first decade of our acquaintanceship. I do not remember how we managed to merge into a working partnership. It just seemed to grow. I expressed the facts, and Krogstad put them into words. It was gratifying to know that my experiences would be available to inspire others.

Guenter L. Grothe

Krogstad writes:

As I came to know Guenter Grothe, I realized that I was befriending a man with a singularly unique point of view on life. A gentler, more sensitive man I had never met, but there was an inner strength in him to which ordinary men could rarely aspire. How could a man so effectively represent such socially incongruous characteristics? I wondered. The answer had to be in his life experiences. I was intrigued.

As we backpacked together in the Rocky Mountain wilderness, our discussions became more familiar, and Guenter, now a dear friend, began to relate his life experiences during and after WW II.

As an American, I had been a child in a society generally protected from the grim realities of the war. What Americans on the home ground experienced—while recognizing the life and death realities that our soldiers faced—would historically be considered trivial in contrast to the realities faced by the Europeans.

Guenter Grothe had lived through those times and events. Although I have been a complacent retiree, I was shocked at what Guenter shared with me over camp fires and outdoor meals. I found that I had a need to help inform our modern, younger. and preoccupied society that what they enjoy as personal and political freedom came at a cost that is often lost in the clutter of daily pursuits.

As a professional writer in my post-aviation life, I was motivated to suggest to Grothe that his story be documented.

His initial response was, as I might have expected, reserved and humble. Although he has a very good and fluent command of conversational and business English, he felt unqualified to write a book in English. Of course, if he should choose to write it in German, I could be of no help to him. We have known each other for about fifteen years, and only now have we decided to collaborate on the book.

In the book, we have preserved the authentic German terms and spellings, and we have used the formal forms of personal address as was customary in Germany at the time Grothe was growing up. After he came to the United States and became more familiar with the customs, he used the more casual forms of address used in the US, and we reflect this use in the latter part of the book.

Grothe’s experiences were real. I am certain but saddened that there are other compelling stories that will be forever lost.

This book is Guenter’s story, and I am honored to be able to render assistance in putting it in terms that would seem appropriate and logical to an American reader. All references to I, me, or my within the book refer to the person of Guenter L. Grothe.

It is my hope that the events of the war and the possibilities of success after total destruction and chaos will not be lost on a complacent American generation.

Kendall B. Krogstad

INTRODUCTION

My experiences in my early life were unique in many ways, and I feel compelled to put them in writing so that a reader could get an idea of the cataclysmic changes from normal, organized life to utter chaos.

Few people have experienced the kinds of cataclysmic events that I had experienced—not in a large city such as Berlin that had been subjected to the bombing and fighting, but in the rural areas where we were being invaded by Russians who were on the way to Berlin. Our area was occupied by the Russians in anticipation of their assault on Berlin.

We experienced the extreme lawlessness that the soldiers were perpetrating—shooting, looting and raping, all out of control, devoid of morality. They considered that we were their property, treating us as spoils of war.

I considered it imperative to get those days, months, and years all captured in writing so that readers could get an idea of how that kind of change affects everything in life.

In the present age and society, the kinds of events that happened are slowly being forgotten. I want to document those events so the lessons learned are not lost in the future. I want to express my feeling that no matter how bad things become, one should not give up, but believe that there is a way out of it, and things will eventually get better.

In adversity it is necessary for the people to work together and try to find solutions and then be actively engaged in making the changes necessary to conduct normal lives.

Despite our desperation we were determined to go on and start a new life. The old way of life was gone. We had to devise new ways to survive and live on.

CHAPTER 1

DEPRESSION YEARS

My father, Karl Lehmann, was born August 27, 1883, in his parents’ home in Eberswalde, Germany, a large city about sixty-five kilometers northeast of Berlin. Though I know little of his youth, what I present here is derived in large part from his own journal and autobiographical notes. I know that in 1895, when he was twelve years old, he was working for a gun maker. Each week, there was a shooting match, and Karl carried the weapons to the match locations for the competitions.

Karl learned to play the accordion and zither in school when he was twelve years old. He paid twenty five Pfennige—cents—an hour to learn to play both the accordion and zither. He loved music and although he was modest about his accomplishments, he did very well with his music. He bought a zither with ten Marks–the German currency—he had earned for working at cleaning up in the church after each service. He also rang the church bells.

He was eighteen years old when he became a member of the local zither group in Eberswalde. At age twenty two Karl became a member of the zither ensemble, Edelweiß,¹ in Berlin, and commuted on the trains. It was an elite group, and Karl was pleased that he was accomplished enough to be accepted. It was while he was with this group that he performed two pieces as soloist. He was a member of Edelweiß for two years. The next year he became the administrator for the group.

As the first world war began to escalate, Karl was drafted into the German army, and on November 17, 1914 at age thirty one, he was sent to Poland. On February 15, 1915 he was wounded in action. He was reinstated to action status in 1916, and he was sent back to the front lines as a medic with his old company. In March of 1918 the war ended, Germany having suffered a humiliating defeat, and the economy collapsed. Karl was discharged.

Karl had learned to smoke, preferring a pipe—and cigars when he could get them—because he believed that while tobacco was pleasant and acceptable, cigarette papers and the glue used for them caused health problems. He always had a pipe with him, and he grew his own tobacco for the remainder of his life.

Emil Gläser was my maternal grandmother’s brother—my great uncle—and about the same age as my father, Karl. Onkel (Uncle) Emil and his sister, my grandmother, Mathilde Gläser, lived with their parents in Lichterfelde. Onkel Emil was raised there. Mathilde married, becoming Mathilde Buch, and gave birth to my mother, Charlotte Buch, in 1910.

As Onkel Emil became an adult in his early twenties, he was ambitious and adventurous and went to France in the early 1900s, before the world war began. His dreams—whatever they may have been—didn’t materialize, and he decided to go to America. In New York he initially got a job as a barber. He then became an American citizen.

Emil found other opportunities, including acquiring a lumberyard business in Atlanta, Georgia, and was successful in supplying lumber for the construction of American military barracks during World War I. After the war ended, he sold his business and moved to Houston, Texas, and resumed barbering. He eventually started a beauty shop that employed six or seven beauty operators.

Onkel Emil was able to accumulate modest wealth and considered that he had achieved the American dream, though in his letters to Germany he sometimes exaggerated his wealth. Over time, he bought three houses in the Houston area and rented them out, but he preferred to live in a boarding house. He never married.

He remained in touch with his sister—my grandmother, Mathilde Buch—who kept my mother informed of his activities. He was to become a significant figure in my life.

In 1922, Karl began working at the electric company in Berlin and became an administrator and, later, a legal advisor for the company. It was a co-op, the shareholders being the company’s customers. His duties included writing contracts for large companies that used electricity. He continued to advance and soon was in charge of the legal department. He commuted from his rented home in Eberswalde every day, taking the steam train to Bernau, then changing to the electric train to Berlin. Of course, he had to again take both trains to return home.

Karl married Elizabeth Thiele in 1922.

Being always very interested in music, Karl organized a zither orchestra of about twenty performers that included one accordion player, a couple of guitarists, and the remainder on zithers. In 1924 and 1925, he was the conductor of the zither orchestra in Eberswalde.

Within a few years it became apparent that Karl’s wife could not have children. Karl wanted a family that was being denied him, so in 1929 he felt compelled to divorce Elizabeth, freeing him to seek another partner with whom he could have a family. But the divorce settlement was steep: he had to borrow about twelve thousand Marks that he would later have to pay off.

Karl, now divorced, moved to Melchow, about forty kilometers northeast of Berlin. He continued his job in Berlin with the electric company. He now commuted from Melchow to Berlin every day, still taking both the steam and electric trains. The area around Melchow was mostly forest, but there was some farming in the surrounding areas.

Karl continued his musical interests and was teaching zither playing. Charlotte Buch, wanting to learn how to play the zither, began taking lessons from Karl. Charlotte learned rapidly and played well and was soon playing in the orchestra that Karl had assembled. The orchestra played for many public events.

Although Charlotte was twenty seven years younger than Karl, who was now forty seven, they were enamored and were married in 1930. They settled into his apartment in Melchow.

I was born Günther Lehmann on March 10, 1931, in the apartment in Melchow. My parents had summoned a midwife for my birth. It was extremely cold that day. It was snowing, and about a quarter meter of snow had accumulated. The water in the bucket in the kitchen of the house was frozen, and they had to break the thin ice cover in order to heat water for cleaning up.

At three years old I was an explorer, curious about the neighborhood and the forest, often wandering away from home. Years later, my father told me of an incident that could have been fatal, though I have no memory of it.

My father went hunting from time to time for ducks, birds, roe, boar, rabbits, and other edible wildlife. On those trips, he was accompanied by his German Shorthair hunting dog, Tell, an uncannily intelligent dog. Because my father knew of my tendency to wander away, he told Tell to always watch me. Tell was then my constant companion.

Any time my father, Karl—Vati as I called him—was outside, I was outside. One day as he was busy working in the garden, Tell, soaking wet, ran up to him, shook himself, and turned to leave, as though asking my father to follow. Tell was excited, heading in the direction of the irrigation ditch that was about a hundred and twenty yards away from the house. My father realized that I was not with Tell, and so, following Tell, ran to the ditch.

He found me lying on the ground at the edge of the ditch. I was soaking wet, sputtering and coughing. Tell was pleased, wagging his tail, as my father picked me up.

He surmised that I had fallen into the ditch. At three years old I could not swim. Tell had pulled me out of the water by my clothes.

My father took me home, and my mother cleaned me up.

But the episode, which could have been fatal but for Tell, did not deter me from my adventuring impulses, which I indulged the remainder of my life.

Tell was with me all the time until, blind and sick, he died. He had been my loyal friend.

My parents continued with the zither orchestra, and they would practice the zither parts at home, sometimes with other zither players.

When I became old enough, I also learned to play the zither. As a beginner, I was learning from sheet music and caught on readily.

Germany, like the rest of the world, was in the depth of the great depression. Unemployment was very high. The existing government seemed either insensitive to or incapable of—or perhaps both—addressing the plight of the general public and didn’t seem to know