Günter Ochs

Günther Ochs was born in Mühlhausen in 1929. He joined the Hitler Youth in 1943. After finishing school, Günther Ochs wanted to start an apprenticeship as a hairdresser, but he was unable to: instead, he was drafted into the Volkssturm shortly before the end of the war in 1945.

Günther Ochs was briefly held as a prisoner of war by the US military. In August 1945, the Soviet secret service arrested him for his activities as a “Hitler Youth secretary” and transferred him to the Special Camp No. 2 Buchenwald. In 1947, due to his young age, he was transferred to Karaganda (Kazakhstan) for labour. There, he was forced to work in a construction crew.

In December 1949, Günther Ochs was released into the GDR. He fled to the FRG a few months later. There, he was able to complete his training as a hairdresser. Eventually, he worked as a self-employed master hairdresser. Günther Ochs died in 2011.

After more than two years of enforced silence, Günther Ochs was allowed to write to his family from Karaganda at the end of 1947.