War 1939–1945

When he was still a pupil at the Gymnasium, his English teacher found a note that led him to suspect Schifter was listening to “enemy” radio stations, and re­ported the find to the authorities. Schifter was summoned to Vienna's infamous Gestapo headquarters on Morzin­platz, where he was ordered to surrender his radio – a comparatively lenient pun­ish­ment for the time. After passing Austria's Matura school-leaving examination, Schifter was con­script­ed into the Wehr­macht, but he was discharged after just four months on the grounds that he was medi­cally unfit for service. He was required to perform labour ser­vice instead, and man­aged to get himself assigned to Schrack, a company that made radio equip­ment. He continued to listen to “enemy” radio stations throughout his place­ment, and it was from these broadcasts that he first found out about events like the Allied landings in Normandy in 1944, which raised hopes of a swift end to Nazi rule.

Schifter continued to cultivate his taste in music in secret with his friends, until he was betrayed by a supposedly like-minded acquaintance. In December 1944 he was ar­rest­ed and transferred to the “labour education camp” at Oberlanzendorf near Vienna. In early April 1945, as the Allies advanced on Vienna in the turmoil of the last days of the war, he was able to escape from the camp, and went on to observe the collapse of the Nazi regime from Vienna.

Jazz was suppressed by the Nazi regime, but it continued to be played, even during the war. Bands carried on per­forming American numbers, often with new German lyrics, and 78s continued to be sold under the counter. These recordings found their way into Günther Schifter's record collection, which continued to expand right through the war.