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George Linker collection, 1928-1957, Date acquired: 08/20/2008, bulk 1939-1945

 

Summary

Creator:
George Linker
Extent:
1.00 folders
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], George Linker collection, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_08_0149.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains a memoir, picture, and discharge paper from a Russian prison camp, and certificate from the town of Trebbin about Linker's experience in the Kriegsmarine, Army, and Russian POW camp.

Biographical / historical:

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.

Acquisition information:

George Linker

Gift

Custodial history:

Transferred from the Institute on World War II and the Human Experience to FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives in July 2022.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is open to all researchers.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Title of Item], [Date of Item], [Box and Folder number], George Linker collection, Special Collections & Archives, Florida State University Libraries, Tallahassee, Florida. http://purl.fcla.edu/fsu/WWII_08_0149.

Location of this collection:
116 Honors Way
Tallahassee
FL
32306-2047
USA