After the war he studied medicine at the university of leipzig taking part in a number of free corps actions as a member of the Zeitfreiwilligen Regt Leipzig.
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Dr Guenther was in the first class to go through the NSDAP Doctors school in Alt Rehse
He was an early party member and had the ausweis for being a party speaker, in the late 20s however he left the party and was to rejoin again after 1933. As the doctor of the town Boden in Saxony Dr Guenther was also in the Kreisleitung as leader of the Rassen-Politische amt. He was involved in the euthenasia program and the studies into Sterilisation of career criminals, two practises that received wide spread approval of NSDAP doctors. In spite of being in the party Dr Guenter never approved of the Racial policies of the Nazis and like many, believed that the Nazis were just a stepping stone to the rejuvenation of Germany.
(Boden had only 2 Jewish citizens, one old lady that recieved Aryan heritage papers from Dr Guenther, and a factory owner .. Who had the blood order !!)
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N.S.F.K.
An early member of the RLB and NSFK he was a well known Glider pilot and involved in many glider training programs.
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Missing badge
Dr Guenther also had a regular pilots badge, if this was an NSFK 1st or 2nd pattern, or a Luftwaffe one I have been unable to find out. |
Insignia
Here he is as A NSFK Doctor. I assume it is a gold party badge, although this is strange as he had left the party, and had rejoined after the Nazis came to power. |
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The Field Division
Although exempt from service because of his serious wounds he volunteered and in December 1942 he found himself as head doctor of the 6th Luftwaffe Field division on the Russian front. The Commander of the division was a general who had until then commanded Air transport units and saw the value of having an experienced Infantry officer on his staff. DR Guenther received the Clasp for the EK2 as the 3rd EK2 of the Division. His time was divided between advisor for the General and his field hospital |
Clasp to the EK1
In November 1943 he received the clasp to the EK1 after the 6th Luftwaffe Field division was attacked by 4 soviet divisions. The 6th had minimal deaths because Guenther pushed his aid stations right to the front line and wounded soldiers were treated right away. The Corpsmen and doctors laboured under almost the same conditions as the grenadiers and Guenther was glad to be able to award Eks to his men. In a letter home he wrote
“ 4 divisions attacked us yesterday, in the evening the Genral called me to his tent and handed me the clasp to the EK1, we then drank a bottle of Sekt to celebrate. It was an honor for me as the doctors of the other divisions in our Korps got the KVK1â€
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A text book example
To think my wifes Grandmother wanted to clean these all up with a brillo pad before she gave them to me :-) |
The award doc is signed by Von Heyking.
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This one is signed by Schlemm
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A bad hair day
take his hair, combine it with that of Dr. Buechler on my other site (Follow the links page) and you will see that both sides of my wifes family have nice medals... but little hair. Same goes on my side. Where does that leave us when we have kids ? |
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Death notice for NSDAP doctors killed in action
Dr Guenther was wounded when a Russian shell landed in the divisional HQ, a pretty minor wound but enough to get him evacuated to Warsaw. Here in the hospital he made a false call and ordered a junior ranked doctor to sew up his wound. This caused an infection that killed him a week or so later. |
The original grave
The cemetry in which he was buried was covered with apartment houses when Warsaw was rebuilt, and until 1999 the family thought he had no grave. In 1999 through the German graves council (online) I discovered that he is one a tiny fraction of German soldiers killed in Poland that does indeed have a Grave. A small section had been moved when the apartment block was built.
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Glider Ausweis
Note the stamps from the DLV |
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