George Linker collection

George Linker was born in 1928 in Nikolaiken, in East Prussia (Present day Mikołajki, Poland). At the age of 10, Linker was forced to join the Hitler Youth. When he was 12, he transferred to a high school 20 miles away from Nikolaiken. In 1939, his father was drafted into the military. In the town, they had both French and Polish prisoners of war help in the fields, along with the children, Linker included. In 1944 he was drafted into the German Navy, the Kriegsmarine. He was deployed on the Baltic coast near Memel (present day Klaipeda), as an anti-aircraft gunner. In the fall of 1944 he, as well as anyone else who was on the front lines below the age of 18, were moved. He was sent to Swinemuende, also on the Baltic. In April 1945, he was discharged from the navy, and went to Lueneburg because the USSR occupied his home city. He later received orders to report to a fighting unit in Berlin for its defense. He was 16 at the time. For the defense of Berlin, he was sent with a unit to the outskirts of the city.  He was injured in the stomach in a firefight, and walked to the basement of a building sheltering other Germans. After a nurse bandaged him up, he fell asleep, and when he awoke, he saw a Russian soldier poking him, saying to him in German, “Come on, kamerad.” he walked outside, seeing another Russian soldier, who pointed him in the direction to go. He joined other German soldiers who were captured. He and the other incarcerated individuals marched for the next few days to a prison camp that was used for Dutch prisoners by the Germans. While in the camp, the Russians separated the incarcerated persons into two groups, but when the officer who was in charge was not looking, Linker quickly changed groups and was spared 10 years of slave labor in Russia.

In September of 1945, Linker was discharged. He decided to seek his aunt who moved from East Prussia (now Russian occupied Poland), to Lueneburg. He snuck across the border from the Russian occupied zone in the east, to West Germany. He returned to his aunt, who had him finish high school, and eventually went to medical school. He moved to America and became an intern and eventually stayed in the United States.