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Recollections
of Gunther Karger
In his own
words, the Story of Gunther Karger
Born in Schmieheim, Germany March, 16, 1933
with
his wife Shirley
Rosenzweig Karger born in New Orleans September,
27, 1934
I am
Gunther Karger and personally wrote this history in
August of 2012 to preserve the memory of my
parents and the Offenheimers, who lived in Schmieheim
since the early 1800’s.
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Gunther is shown with his wife
as they
were life
partners
throughout their marriage of 58
years (and continuing as of 2012). Gunther is
an Internationally recognized author
lecturing for several years aboard
major world
cruise ships. Gunther was an engineer
pioneering the early exploration of space rockets, satellites.
He received major awards for
contribution to science and military
systems and was named “Outstanding
Young Man of America”
in 1967. Today he lives in
Homestead, Florida with
Shirley. They have two sons but no
grandchildren.
|
Gunther Karger, born March 16,
1933 in Schmieheim is son of Ida
Offenheimer of Schmieheim and
Herbert Karger of
Berlin. He
is the last survivor of the
Offenheimer family dating back
to Israel Offenheimer who
was born 1767 in Emmendingen and
died in Schmieheim
1824.
The Offenheimers were
a farming family while Herbert
Karger opened a clothing store.
In
the early Nineteenth Century, half
of Schmieheim's population (nearly 1000) were Jews.
Today no Jews live in
Schmieheim.
|
The Schmieheim
Jewish Cemetery
|
 |
Gunther
& Shirley shown by Israel
Offenheimer’s grave (died 1824) during
their two week official visit in 2003
invited by the Kippenheim- Schmieheim
Burgermeister.
|
The Gunther and Hanna
Baumann Story |
 |
Hanna Baumann was
the last Jewish person born in Schmieheim
(1934) and was Gunther’s playmate as shown
on the photo with Gunther. Her family left
Schmieheim hoping to escape being
deported to concentration camps and
killed. The train they were on was
stopped, the Jews aboard were removed and
murdered including 5 year old Hanna and
her parents. The people of
Schmieheim dedicated the new kindergarten
school naming it “The Hanna Baumann
Kindergarten” in her memory.
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| Gunther Escapes from
Germany in Summer 1939 |
|
When the threat of
imminent persecution dramatically increased and
Gunther’s parents realized they should leave
Germany but failed, they sent 6
year old Gunther, their
only son away
on a transport of children to
Sweden
in summer of 1939. His
parents packed a single suitcase including a
few pictures of his
parents and Schmieheim family and the only
picture of Hanna Baumann in existence
pictured above. The
picture at right is of Gunther and his
parents just before they sent him away never to
again see their son.
A few
months after,
Gunther’s parents, grandparents
(Gustav and Sarah Offenheimer) and his aunt
Karolina Offenheimer were among the
remaining
14
Jews
rounded up and deported to
the Gurs
concentration camp in France. Gunther’s
parents and grandparents were all murdered. Gunther
today remains the sole survivor of the
Offenheimers who lived in Schmieheim since early
1700’s.
The picture at right is what
remained
of the Offenheimer ancestral
family home
after the war.
|
 |
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The Schmieheim Memorial
In January of
2008, the Schmieheim Evangelistic
Church placed a memorial for the
last 14 Jewish people deported and killed in
concentration camps. Eight of these
fourteen were my parents, grand
parents and others. All were murdered
in concentration camps. I remain the
sole living survivor of these and survived
only because my parents sent me out of
Germany before they were
arrested and deported. Below is
the “Memorial “ and picture of my
grandparents, Gustav and Sarah Offenheimer.
|
 |
 |
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Gunther's Life After
Germany
Gunther was sent to
Sweden for seven years
|
 |
I
don’t remember saying goodbye to my parents
and family. My first memory was
“awakening” in a large train station
sitting on my black suitcase seeing tall
blond people speaking a strange
language. I had been sent to
Sweden where I would live for five
years with the Gustafson family on a
farm in Northwest Sweden. The picture shows
Gunther with Ragnhild Gustafson, the
farmer’s daughter. I have kept in close contact
with my Swedish foster family visiting them
many times. |
Then,
I was sent
to an orphanage for
one year in the south and
finally to another foster
home in Stockholm. After
the war,
I was sent to live in yet another
foster home with
a distant relative to my father in Florida
where I was living as a virtual slave for four
years.
Crossing
the Atlantic
from Sweden to
New York
1946
|
|
MS Gripsholm
1946
|
Gunther
aboard the
Gripsholm
|
| Then,
at age 17, one year before graduating
high school,
I was “thrown”
out by my foster parents in Florida and took
the bus to New
Jersey where I lived in yet another foster
home with my half
uncle Alfred Offenheimer and his wife, Elsie who
had just come from South America. They
were very nice to me and let me stay so I
could finish high school while
cleaning chicken coops on their farm. I
graduated
high school in 1951 as
valedictorian (number one) in my graduating
class and joined the U.S. Air Force. I
met Shirley
Rosenzweig of New Orleans (her parents
immigrants from Poland) in the
fall of 1951 while stationed at Keesler Air
Force Base in Mississippi. We
married in
1954 and still are together and are confident we
will remain together until we all again will
meet the
Offenheimers
in the “next world”. |
 |
 |
|
During
my career in the military and thereafter, I
became an engineer in
aerospace sciences rising during
America’s moon program to Chairman of the electrical
engineering society and worked then
with leading scientists including
Dr. Vernher von Braun, the German rocket engineer
from Peenemunde. Briefly,
I became an adviser to the
White House on
national security matters. In
1967, I was cited “Outstanding Young Man of
America” for
my contributions to the space program and
national security. After
the “Moon Program” ended in 1969, I
became
an engineer and later a senior
executive
in the airline industry until
retirement
in 1987. That
led to a career on “Wall Street” creating
and publishing an investment letter, writing
books,
lecturing and being principal
lecturer
on major cruise ships. One
of the greatest honors I received occurred
May 17, 2011 when Commissioners
of Miami Dade County issued the
proclamation that May 17 shall be known as
“Gunther
Karger Day” recognizing his
significant contributions
to his country and community. For
someone who
stepped off a ship at age 13 alone
with no money having survived the Holocaust
and raised in multiple foster homes and an
orphanage, that
was a great day and honor for a “Son of
Schmieheim”.
As
of this
writing,
Fall of 2012 at age 79, my
wife Shirley
and I live
in a retirement community in Homestead,
Florida
where I am active in politics and
continue lecturing locally and nationally.
We have established a museum at
Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton
Rouge, Louisiana
where Shirley has her large doll collection
and I
have placed
some items from Germany
and Sweden.
“I
deeply thank my parents for sacrificing
their lives
by sending me to
Sweden to survive. My
parents would have loved my wife, Shirley,
who stood
by me for so many years and hope
also that
my parents and the
Offenheimers
of Schmieheim are
proud of their
only son who
they sent away so he had a chance to live.”
Gunther
Karger,
Homestead, Florida,
August, 2012
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Reference
Resources for Gunther Karger
“Restructured Engineer” - Gunther
Karger in
IEEE Engineer Today
|
