Part 65: Swinging Sixties In The GDR While working as a chamber cleaner and plant operator, retraining, and doing sports, I also had plenty of free time. Most weekends I went to the clubhouse to dance.
Part 64: Caught In The Maelstrom Of Political Turmoil The lack of a debate led to serious flaws in the socialist planned economy. In short, the people were dissatisfied, and the workers’ uprising on June 17, 1953, could no longer be prevented.
Part 63: Mastering The Art Of Welding Our coach was a former successful heavyweight wrestler. Tough and unyielding in training, but he loved his boys like a concerned father. When he heard that I wanted to become a lab technician, he shook his head.
Part 62: Unexpected Journey Into Wrestling Written daily logs had to be kept of everything, which were evaluated in the laboratory. I really liked my job because I had to work with my head and gained experience in driving the plant, which was also checked by the people in the laboratory.
Part 61: Sudden Chance For Advancement After a few weeks, chance came to my rescue. During my lunch break, I heard on the company radio that young people were being sought to take part in a training course leading to a vocational qualification.
Part 60: The Daily Life Of A Chemical Plant Chamber Cleaner The huge building was divided into three parts. In the middle hall, six reactor furnaces produced phthalic anhydride.
Part 59: Bird Of Paradise In A Chemical Plant The sixth post-war summer had grown weary, and the great vacations were coming to an end. Curious and full of expectation, I set off for my new school.
Part 58: Traces Of The Past Finally, the tractor with the furniture truck drove up. There was not too much to pack. Mother and Hannchen climbed into the front of the trailer’s glass pulpit with a furniture carrier.
Part 57: Farewell To Country Life Now the time had finally come. Almost all the good friends had left the village long ago: the acquaintances from the theater group of the first hour, Joseph with his Silesian family and Hilde from Berlin.
Part 56: First Love And Broken Dreams A change had taken place in Ms. Opitz. Her brittleness gave way to warm-hearted care, without slackening her usual sense of duty.
