Listeners to WCCO Radio over the last several years are certainly familiar with Paul Douglas, meteorologist and co-host of WCCO's Paul and Jordana show with Jordana Green. Those listeners are probably familiar with a frequent guest and topic conversation of Douglas' as well: his father.
Recently, Volker Kruhoeffer passed away. The nearly 95-year-old father of Douglas spent his last three weeks in Minnesota before passing away.
According to his son, "he survived Nazis and Communists, but he did not survive a medical emergency on August 2."
Volker frequently joined the radio show, sharing incredible stories of survival and more from his life in Europe before immigrating to to the United States. It was a life and legacy worthy of celebration, which the family is holding on Monday in Chanhassen.
"Dad lived an amazing life, and he was able to share many of his stories of surviving fascism and authoritarianism, and the almost surreal chain of events that allowed him to come to the United States, on WCCO Radio over the years," Douglas told us.
Douglas also joined his old radio teammate Jordana Green, and her new co-host Adam Carter, on WCCO this week to talk more about what his storytelling meant to both the family, and hopefully the listeners.
"I guess I'm comforted by the fact that he touched so many lives with his stories and his stories are going to live on," Douglas said this week. "And I'm grateful to WCCO Radio and grateful, really to the listeners, for acknowledging the authenticity of his stories."
Douglas also shared that they were in the process of writing a book and had hired an author to write his story from a first-person perspective.
"The foundation for that book really is the, I don't know, 30, 40 interviews that dad did on 'CCO Radio between about 2017 and 2022," he says. "And he loved being on the air with you, Jordana. I know he had a crush on you, but it was so good for his ego. At one point, he said, 'Douglas, it would appear I am more popular than you are.' Which, and I said, 'dad, that's a low bar. But yeah, I'm OK with that."
But those stories. Volker regaled listeners with the type of history most of us only see in books, movies and television.
Born in Hannover, Germany in August 1930, "Volker lived a remarkable life full of adventure, music, resistance, and love," according to the obituary provided by the family.
Volker spent his younger years north of Berlin where he and his family survived the Soviet invasion of their village in the spring of 1945. Realizing that he did not want to live under Soviet rule after enduring years under Hitler, Volker found his way to the newly formed West Germany thanks to his 1st grade report card from his elementary school in Munich. That simple thing was literally his ticket to the West since it proved that he had lived there before WWII began.
"Some of the stuff that happened with my dad, especially at the end of World War II, my sister, brother, and I, we grew up listening to these stories," Douglas explains. "And we thought that everyone's parents had similar stories, and maybe they do, but stories of hiding women in barns behind hay bales, so they wouldn't be raped by Russian soldiers. Dad was told to carry a gun to school, which again, in 2025, it's shocking to hear that in a sentence. But, my grandfather, Volker's dad, was concerned that the Gestapo would pick him up and forcibly send him to Berlin."
Eventually, Volker came to the United States as an exchange student, one of 250 German students.
"The U.S. government, in their wisdom, was trying to indoctrinate them in democracy," says Douglas. "Hey, come over here, see how we do it, and then go back and make sure that Adolf Hitler can't ever come to power again. So, and his roommate at Wabash for one year turned out to be able to offer him a job through his uncle in Pennsylvania, and Dad was able to come back legally in 1955. I was born in 1958 before he became a citizen, which actually makes me German, which is kind of weird. I have dual citizenship."
Douglas does say the book they were working on will be published soon. The title is, "You Can Always Shoot Us After Dinner: A Memoir of Resilience and Resistance."
You can listen to all of Volker's stories via a Spotify podcast here, or on Amazon Music here.
You are also invited by the family to tune into Volker's "Celebration of Life" on Monday, August 25th at 11:00 a.m. You can watch it here.
As a lifelong advocate for refugees and immigrants, Volker's final wish is that anyone seeking to pay tribute to him would give generously to Church World Service in Lancaster PA; their budget was recently slashed by the current administration in Washington DC. Please donate at here.