On October 29, 2026, the program Schwule Welle (Gay Wave) on Radio Dreyeckland and Radio Grenzenlos conducted an in-depth interview with Shane Mayer. His grandfather was Fritz "Fred" Mayer, who was born in Freiburg in 1921 and lived at Herrenstraße 53. Because his family was Jewish, they emigrated to the United States in 1938. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Fred enlisted in the Army and became an OSS agent. In 1945, he and two comrades parachuted behind enemy lines, landing on a glacier near Innsbruck. Operating under various guises, he gathered intelligence on the Nazis until he was discovered and captured. He was subjected to brutal torture, but was eventually brought before *Gauleiter* Franz Hofer, whom he persuaded to surrender Innsbruck peacefully.
Quentin Tarantino tells a similar story in his film "Inglourious Basterds".
Shane Mayer knew his grandfather—who passed away in 2016—very well; he shares stories about him and his actions, while also offering a glimpse into his grandfather’s character as a human being.
Shane also spoke about his own life: due to the Trump administration, he is emigrating from the U.S. to Germany with his husband and their son, as they found the situation in the U.S.—particularly for gay people—to be increasingly problematic.
Theater Freiburg will soon stage a play about his grandfather, and the city of Freiburg is set to honor Fred Mayer by naming a street after him.
Our interview aired on October 29, 2026, and can be found via rdl.de and radio.grenzenlos.ch (available via their respective livestreams and subsequently in the RDL.de media archive).
In the studio: Hartmut
The interview was produced in collaboration with Stefan M. Schneider.
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