On January 24, 2003, Joseph Tribbia and Michael Chen interviewed Ferdinand Baer for the American Meteorological Society’s Oral History Project at the Center Green facility in Boulder, Colorado. Born in Germany in 1929, Baer discusses his early childhood during the rise of the Nazi regime, detailing how his family’s escape from Germany to Scranton, Pennsylvania, shaped his upbringing. His father, involved with the Underground, was placed in protective custody by townspeople when Nazis invaded their small town, prompting the family's emigration.