Obituary of Gunter Ernst Hinske

Gunter, born February 21, 1925 on his father’s farm located in village of Thomsdorf, Kreis Heiligenbeil, Ostpreußen Germany to Ernst and Therese Materce-Hinske. Gunter was the youngest of three children. He served in the German army in the latter stages of World War II. The war and eventual the defeat of Germany had significant impact of Gunter’s family. His brother Herbert was killed in action. Both his parents were lost in during the Russian advance into East Prussia. Charlotte was evacuated to Denmark and finally there family farm was lost. With the surrender of Germany Gunter became a prisoner of war held by the Russians from 1945 to 1948 required to do forced labor throughout the Ukraine and Western Russia. On his release, with the assistance of the Red Cross, Gunter located his sister now residing in Wilhelmshaven Germany where he joined her beginning the process of rebuilding his life. There at the age of 24 he became an apprentice metal smith. In Wilhelmshaven he met his future wife and Elfriede Grabowski. They wed in 1954 and in 1955 were blessed with the birth of their daughter Barbara. A recession in Germany in 1955-56 cost Gunter his job and with that the couple decided to make a new life in the United States arriving in New York 1956. In 1957 they had their second child Raymond. The sixties were spend raising their children and becoming Americans. The family moved from Brooklyn purchasing a home in Middle Village Queens. In the seventies Gunter and Elfriede purchased their cottage in the Pocono Mountains PA which became their escape from city life. Sadly Elfriede passed away at the young age of 59 in 1989 but Gunter persevered. He subsequently retired from Hertz-Penske Truck Rental Corp in 1990 after 27 years of service and decided to see the United States and more of the world.