Book cover text

Jochen, born in 1941, experienced the last years of the war and the post-war years in Berlin. As well as telling his personal experience and development, he refers to people and events which shaped his life. While writing, he became aware of the inseparable connection between the collective current affairs, and the chronological succession of his life; his choice of profession and the development of his professional career. It appears this was no coincidence, and that these objective, historical events determined his subjective actions. He spent the first half of his life in Germany and the second in England, which explains why he wrote his story first in German and then in English. He identifies himself with his mother's Jewish blood, which has moulded his attitude; his political stance and actions; and which runs like a thread through his life.