Manfred Mitze
Walter Herzog was born in a small town near Marburg, in the state of Hessen, about fifty miles north of Frankfurt. Looking back at his life, one can only say that it was and is like a dream—a dream filled with the spectrum of all colors imaginable; a life full of love, drama, and fear, with inner richness but disenfranchised. It was a life and existence of courage on the verge of desperation, as if madness tried to find guidance through him. He experienced deep depression, loneliness, and indescribably awesome bliss. From when he was born in the forties of the last century until the year 2000 may not seem like a long time, but to remember standing at the crossroads of a small town in the middle of Western Germany when John F. Kennedy was assassinated seems like the brink of eternity. Walter had been locked up; had survived stabbing; was spit on, yelled at, and cursed; and had stuff thrown at him. One Sunday morning, however, he was fortunate enough to ask a true question at the proper moment. *** Tree leaves had already fallen to the ground after turning red and yellow. It was a melancholy season in Germany, with a certain smell ascending from the soil: putrid leaves on wet earth. A symbol for some that winter and death are close, the darkness in the Nordic hemisphere may cause sadness to rise in people and some to develop depression. On a gray day, a boy made his way through his mother's birth canal with a little help from a doctor and some midwives. No complication occurred during the delivery process except the unfavorable time and place into which Walter Herzog was born. Everybody was very quiet during postnatal care, and soon Lisa Herzog needed to go home and try to get food for the newborn baby and herself. Germany was defeated, crushed to the ground, bombed, and the Allies had dismantled all major industrial factory equipment and shipped it abroad for others' use. Germany's infrastructure had been destroyed by British and American bombing and by fighting on t
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