Paul: Tell me how - you were in East Germany at the end of World War II, what became East Germany after everything was divvied up. How did you get to the United States?

Volker: Well, we have to go back to 1946, one year after the war. The year didn't count, so I should have gone to high school in 1946. However, as the son of a capitalist, that path was blocked. A capitalist was any businessman. You might have had a woodworking shop or an automobile dealership, or you could've had a garden center. You couldn't go to high school. So how to get to high school?

Fortunately for me and for many others, the 4 powers - the United States, Great Britain, Russia and France - agreed that everybody could go back to where they lived before the war, before 1939. So, I was lucky enough that on a rainy day, I walked in back of our house, and strolled across our lawn.

I must say that our house was ransacked. We had left the house in order to survive, and the Germans - not Russians, Germans had ransacked the house and scattered all sorts of papers on the back lawn. There in the rain - soaked, I found my report card from 1st grade from Munich in West Germany. That saved my skin.

With that - armed with that report card, I could take a train to the border. We walked across. I was one of many. And legally crossed over into West Germany into the British zone. And it was quite an experience. The very first thing in the refugee center, we were deloused. Never mind if we had lice. We were deloused, and then faced a number of officials who checked on us to see if we were truly residents or future residents of West Germany. Yes, I was.

So, I first stayed with 2 aunts in Hanover, in the British zone. Where by the way, I saw my first British troops. They were very neat and formal. And they were a wonder to behold, after living under the Russian occupation for a year. So, from Hanover, I took a train. A train to Munich, which is about 455 hundred miles.

It took several days, because Hitler had given the order to detonate all bridges. So, I would take a train from Hanover to points south. The train would go, say 40 miles, and everybody had to stop because there was a bridge out. You would go on a bus. The bus would go down through the valley. And you would come up on the other side and take a train back to the tracks, and eventually I made it to Munich. I think it took 3 or 4 days.

What I remember vividly was sleeping in, on the floor in the train station. And I had all my belongings in a seaman's bag. And the seaman's bag was my pillow. And that bag had a long, long cord which I wrapped around my middle - just in case somebody - while I was sleeping, would try to steal my belongings.

Okay, the porter tells me I only have a minute here. Anyway, I made it to Munich, I encountered no problems. And I had - at the border, I had received ration cards, a train ticket to Munich, a picture ID. I realized I had not just shaken off the Russian occupation but that I had entered an area of freedom. Seeing the first British uniforms was a revelation. At the time it was less a feeling of freedom, but the knowledge that I would now most likely survive and lead a normal life. Those thoughts were overshadowed by getting into high school, catching up on what had happened in the West since the end of the war, and last but not least, securing enough food to survive. Believe it or not food was a constant on everybody’s mind.  Not just mine.

The West German state was wonderful. I got into high school. I spent 4 years in high school and graduated in 1950. And in the same month, I received a scholarship to study in the United States. I had won the lottery.

Paul: And I'm sure as heck glad you did, otherwise I might be speaking Russian right now.

Volker: Yes.

Paul: At some point the writing was on the wall, right? Anyone with half a brain knew that you couldn’t fight the Russians and the western allies, including the United States, at the same time. Did people openly resist?

Volker: Yes, there was quiet opposition, quiet opposition. If you officially fought the regime, you knew you would lose your head. So, it was a quiet opposition. You do not - you could only talk openly and criticize the Nazis in your immediate family, with your immediate family. And you had to be extremely careful. You lived in 2 worlds….

Paul: Let me ask you about the attempt on Hitler's life. July 20th, 1944. The bomb went off, he was injured but not killed. Almost 5,000 people ultimately rounded up and executed. Tell me about that. And we have a great uncle, right? Who was part of that plot, Von Schulenburg.

Volker: Yes. This was - my father had remarried. And this was the German Ambassador to Moscow. Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg, was old nobility, who was on the list. The Nazis, with typical German efficiency, had typed up a list as to who after the successful coup would run the country. Who would be Chancellor, who would be Secretary of State? Who would be this and this?

Schulenburg was supposed to become the new Secretary of State. When the coup fell apart, when the plot fell apart in Berlin, when Stauffenberg, a day later was executed. And several people died when all this fell apart. He, because Schulenburg was on the list. But he was never - there was never any court, no trial. Hitler was so embarrassed by how many people were part of the plot. These people were quietly executed. All we heard is that he had died of a heart attack. And this was not made public until after the war.

Paul: Dad, my grandmother, Oma - who I met a few times while she was still alive. She was a famous opera singer. Why did she have to stop singing?

Volker: Well opera in Germany was and is a very big thing. Every state capital had an Opera House. My mother was a singer and she was a celebrity. She was invited to all the upper crust get togethers, which included Jewish bankers, Jewish industrialists. And after Hitler came to power, she was visited by some Nazi officials in uniform. Who told her, "Listen, you're a celebrity here, you have to stop associating with Jewish people."

My mother, who was not diplomatic - she was rather outspoken. More or less said, "Do you know who I am? I'm a star at the opera here, and you are beer hall thugs." Which did not go over well. She was almost hauled into court for insulting a German official. Yes, the Germans have a law like that. Anyway, the Opera House was told she had to be fired. Which took place.

She moved to Munich where her sister lived, and one of the first things she did - she went to the Opera House - and the Director there, knew her of course. And said, "Look, we would love to hire you. I can't do it. You are blacklisted. You will never sing in Germany again. If I hire you tomorrow, I'll be out of a job in a week." So she didn't. And we-- But we had to go on living. But she was never incarcerated, but she lost her job.