Guenther was born in 1926 in Bamberg. His parents Elsa Fried and Fritz Loebl were also born in Bamberg. His grandfather had founded an electrical supply factory with his brother. Two of the sons, including Guenther’s father set up their own electrical factories. Guenther had two brothers, Willy and Rudolph. After witnessing Kristallnacht and the arrest of their father, the family made efforts to emigrate. Willy went to the US and Guenther and Rudolph were sent to the UK. Guenther was taken by distant relatives on the train to the UK and then was taken in by the Platt family in the East End (their daughter had visited them in Bamberg some years before). He started going to school and learning English. His parents arrived in 1939 and they moved to Belsize Park. His father had sold the factory and got a visa on the condition that he would start a business in the North of England. For some time, Guenther was evacuated to Abbots Langley, before moving to Newcastle.  In 1940 his father and brother were interned in Hyton and he and his mother had to leave their home (as the government was worried about ‘enemy aliens’ in industrial areas). They moved to Keswick in Cumberland, where his mother started working as a cleaner and he started work as a farmer’s boy. Guenther was happy there, as he received good food in a time of rationing.