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[email protected] for further information about this collection STORY PRESERVATION INITIATIVE CLAUDIA CORDS-DAMON TRANSCRIPTION OF AUDIO TRACK 01 – INTRO TO RECORDING Today is Wednesday, the 15th of April 2015. This recording is of Claudia Cords-Damon, the daughter of Jutta and Helmuth Cords, who were involved in Operation Valkyrie, the 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler. It is being made at CedarHouse Sound and Mastering in North Sutton, New Hampshire. This recording is a production of Story Preservation Initiative, copyright, Nexcord’s Generation Partnership, LP. All rights reserved. TRACK 02 – HITLER’S RISE TO POWER I’m Claudia Damon. I am the daughter of Jutta and Helmuth Cords. My mother was born in 1920, in Berlin. My father, Helmuth, was born in Cologne, in 1919. They were living in, respectively, Berlin and in Cologne at the time that Hitler came to power in 1933. I want to tell the story of my parents and their involvement in the plot to kill Hitler that took place on July 20, 1944. It was probably the twenty-third plot or attempt, none of which worked. They were involved in that one, in particular. Actually, my mother would say it’s not so much a story about the plot to kill Hitler, as it is their own love story. So, in 1930, my mom and her parents moved to Berlin. She was in school, and school was a wonderful place. It wasn’t always interesting for Mom, but some of the classes were, and she loved being with the kids and had a lot of friends.