OTTO KRÜGER

Otto Krűger passed away on May 6, 2026, at the age of 100. Born on April 17, 1926, in North Rhein-Westphalia, Otto survived the difficult Depression years and qualified as a Master Machinist and Tool and Die Maker. He was drafted at the age of 17 and served on the Eastern front as a Panzer Grenadier. Wounded in battle and trapped in a military hospital in a body cast, he became a Russian prisoner of war. Otto was one of only five of hundreds of POWs to get a special pass to return home, thanks to a female Russian doctor intervening on his behalf. His fellow POWs gave him a sack full of letters to give to their families. Making an arduous journey home on foot in late 1945, he mailed the letters to the families. Otto and his mother Ida then spent the next six months being visited by the families of those POWs, anxious to have any information about their sons. Not a single one returned. Postwar, he was very proud to have worked directly for Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery. In 1953, Otto, his wife Christine and son, David, immigrated to Canada, settling in Toronto. He secured a well-paying job the day after his arrival, never taking a government handout his entire working life. Otto helped install massive hydro-electric generators in Labrador. The six month northern assignment allowed him to save enough money to buy his family their first house in Canada and a beautiful Nash automobile. Every place of employment valued Otto's skill and knowledge. The management at Continental Can of Canada gladly kept him on until the age of 78, as he was the only one who could fix the expensive equipment from Germany, with his custom made precision parts. Otto was very active in his younger days and was a fast runner and cross-country skier. At the age of 80, he and his daughter were together awarded Gold medals from the Deutsches Sportabzeichen program. Otto is survived by his family, including his wife Christine and son David.