Life is a Journey: Live it (Part 66)

The other autobiography
to be a helper at the election. As I had not reached maturity of eighteen years I was allowed to help but not to vote on the ballot papers invalid or valid. I was so fascinated by the atmosphere in the polling station that I had set my mind on becoming the head of a polling station one day.

Next time when asked to help I got the position of a helper. The following election saw me as a deputy head of a polling station. When I felt confident enough to head to a polling station I asked someone to give me one. And I got one. In my life I was on and off responsible for polling stations. When I lived in Frankfurt am Main I was not involved in the election process and when I lived abroad not involved as well. When I was in Germany for a longer period I volunteered as head of a polling station in Langenford, St. Pauli, Rissen, Blankenese, Iserbrook, St. Georg or Muemmelsmannsberg. These weekends are long. The Saturdays before and the actual day of voting Sunday…very interesting and exciting. Now I decided fifty years later enough is enough. But my wife Alberta loves to volunteer and my training surely proved to be successful. Maybe I started a new family tradition.

My next step into politics came with the NATO Double Treaty and the local demand for secure roads for bikes in Hamburg. Let's start with the later aspect. I was a passionate bike rider. I loved my racing bikes. They got stolen frequently. Our insurance cover paid for them. As student I hardly use public transport but rode my bike from Alte Wöhr to Stadtpark, from there along Borgweg to the north tip of Lake Alster passing Hotel Intercontinental into Moorweide and locking it outside the Pferdestall next to the Abaton Cinema where my university Department was. Opposite was the Department for future librarians, the place where Ulrich Groß studied. Only when heavy rain or snow made it impossible to go by bike did I used the train to reach Hamburg University.

To ride on bikes in Hamburg at that time was dangerous. We demanded special demarcated roads for bikes and that bikes can be brought onto buses and trains. Several biker groups protested publicly and lobbied Hamburg politicians. Our demands were rejected arguing bikes in public transports cause accidents and the demarcated roads or newly built bike routes would be too expensive. This was the only time my mother would get involved in politics. In a star march from various corners of Hamburg we marched to meet outside Hamburg Town Hall to lobby the local MPs. That day we were one hundred thousand protesters. My group marched from Alte Wöhr, along Stadtpark, along Hamburger Meile, passing Atlantic Hotel before meeting the rest in Town Hall Square. I was so proud of my mother you can not imagine. In the end we succeeded.

My generation is called the Peace Movement generation. Before us was the students 1968 revolution and following us the environmental protection generation. Later the Fridays for Future generation. Anyway that drew me closer into politics while the aspect involved to stand against nuclear power stations was not my focus.

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