Rural Missouri - March 2018 - 18

THE WILL
TO SURVIVE
How faith, hope and miracles
kept Gunther Skaletz alive
Gunther Skaletz, 90, attributes the strength in his life to his faith in God and advice his mother drilled into him as a
youth, which he still lives by today: "Never forget to pray. Keep your faith, your courage and never give up."

by Heather Berry | hberry@ruralmissouri.coop

at another hotel. "Sadly, the town was eventually wiped out like Berlin," says
Gunther, who in the spring of 1944 was drafted into the German Army.
The teenager immediately was sent to the front lines. Four months later
unther Skaletz vividly recalls the day in April 1943 when his father sent
him away from his home in Poland. He had arranged for his 16-year-old he was seriously injured and taken as a prisoner of war by the Russians. The
son to apprentice at a ﬁne hotel, in hopes he would one day become a enemy made Gunther and others help dismantle a German munitions factory.
Gunther says one day he overheard a conversation between two soldiers who
master chef. So Gunther left his father, mother, sisters and brother with
didn't know he understood Russian. "They said when we ﬁnished, we'd all be
all his worldly possessions in a cardboard box, and took the train south.
shipped to Siberia - which meant we would die," he says.
If all went according to plan, he would be home for a visit by Christmas.
That day did come in September 1945. Remaining prisoners were loaded
"The next time I saw my family, it was 1959. I was 32," says Gunther, 90,
into train cars. Gunther says the train traveled at night, "so we wouldn't know
noting his apprenticeship had been at a hotel in the town of Auschwitz.
Otto Kleinert, the hotel's owner, was to serve as the boys guardian, employer where we were." One evening, there was an explosion in the locomotive. While
and mentor. Each day he had Gunther attend school from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. then the guards ran toward the commotion, Gunther and another man jumped from
the car in hopes of escaping.
work in the hotel kitchen afterwards.
"We could hear bullets ﬂy past our ears as we lay in the ditch," he recalls.
"Then came April 28," recalls Gunther, staring into the distance as if replayThe two trekked across Poland, eventually parting company so they wouldn't
ing a movie in his mind. "It was a Sunday ..."
draw attention. For weeks, Gunther approached farmers at night for food,
The hotel was raided by the Gestapo. The owner and his
sleeping in foxholes and barns during the day.
wife hadn't arrived yet that morning, so the staff was takEventually the 17 year old chose Helmstedt, West Germany to call home,
en to the basement and "interrogated in a very inhumane
where he walked the streets, trying to formulate a plan for a life on his
manner," recalls Gunther. "They took anything of value we
own. The British police helped him locate a job as a dishwasher at a hotel.
had and called us 'dirty people, traitors and undesirable
Gunther saved his money and studied French, with the goal of heading
Jews.' And we had no idea why they were questioning us."
Lake Ozark
to culinary school in Switzerland, which he did.
Hours later, the captives were thrown into trucks and takAfter ﬁve years, Gunther graduated with a master's degree in culien to the dreaded Auschwitz concentration camp.
nary arts. He worked at hotels in Frankfurt and eventually met and
"As we drove through the gates, I saw a sign at the entrance:
married his wife, Elaine. The two immigrated to America in the '60s,
'Arbeit macht frei' (work will make one free)," says Gunther.
and Gunther took a position at a posh New York City restaurant.
The young man soon learned there was no such thing in the
While he served many dignitaries during his career, Gunther and his
Nazi regime. He and his coworkers were separated according to
wife became friends with President Lyndon B. Johnson. After hearing his story,
gender and age, and Gunther was put on hard labor helping build roads.
Gunther says knowing he was an innocent prisoner and the faith he had in the president made Gunther promise to write a book one day.
"It was a painful process to relive," Gunther says, noting he started "Life on
God is what carried him through the months ahead.
"I welcomed each day, for it proved that I had made it through another Both Sides of the Wall" in 2006, ﬁnishing it ﬁve years later.
Gunther came to Missouri in 1976 and took a position with Tan-Tar-A in
night," Gunther says.
During the ﬁrst six months of Gunther's banishment to the camp, his boss, Osage Beach. He later moved on, settling in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, where he
Otto, tried negotiating the release of his employees. Otto had relinquished own- retired in 1994.
Nearly three decades later, the couple returned to the Lake of the Ozarks to
ership of his hotel, casino and an inn to the Nazis as well as his rights to ever
be closer to their daughter as Elaine battled a life-threatening illness. Gunther
own other properties. In turn, Gunther and most of Otto's staff, were released.
"I was 16, homeless, but free, albeit brieﬂy," he recalls. Gunther was imme- says Elaine lost her battle in July at the age of 74.
Today his study walls are lined with items signed by dignitaries around the
diately told by Hitler's SS that he would be going to Germany to continue his
world. Daily journals kept for years line shelves of his library. Keepsakes from
education in Berlin, but that he must join the Hitler Youth.
The teen again worked for Otto, but this time at a Berlin hotel the man only family remind him of his home country. And then there are the boxes of letters
managed. Air raid sirens and the sound of explosions were part of Gunther's from those who've read Gunther's inspiring book.
"I share my story at schools, churches and clubs," says the sharp-minded
new world, but that changed one night when the skies lit up over the city.
"It was Nov. 22, 1943," recalls Gunther. "Flames ﬁlled the skies for miles as 90 year old. "If there's one thing I can leave with anyone, it's what my mother
always told me: 'Never forget to pray. Keep your faith, your courage and never
planes bombed Berlin. It was hell on Earth."
With his new apprenticeship again cut short by the bombing, the lad used give up.' "
a train ticket provided by the Red Cross to head home for Christmas. But he
You may write to Gunther at 340 Grandview Drive, Lake Ozark, MO 65049.
stood on the train platform waiting for hours and the train never came.
Again, his mentor, Otto, left the war-torn rubble of Berlin for the town of Signed copies of his book are available directly from Gunther for $27 plus shipMagdeburg, Germany, arranging for Gunther and the others to work for him ping. Proceeds beneﬁt students in the Lake area who plan to attend college.

RURAL MISSOURI | MARCH 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - March 2018