Joerg said:
Hello Mike,
[snip]
Cauer in German would sound like "cow-ah". The "r" is silent in German.
Except in Bavaria, of course, but many over there say that's a free state
and not realy part of Germany. Cauer was from Berlin and it was said that
he did not survive one of the Red Army raids at the end of WWII.
Although I am not very fluent in German, and it has been a long time since
I learned what I did, I don't recall the "r" being silent, except perhaps
to some extent with words like "unter". What about the similar words
"Bauer", and "sauer", and other words like "wunderbar". My father was from
Wertheim, near Frankfurt, and I learned some basic pronunciation as a
child, but then I took classes in Junior High and College. Maybe I'm just a
PlattDeutsch Bavarian at heart, but I would like to know what is correct
(or HochDeutsch). My pronunciation of "Cauer" would be like cow-air.
Paul