Vision of Bad Wiessee by the Tegernsee, Bavaria.
I am getting older, time may be running out - It is time to confront my past and confide in my wife. She should learn what formed the person I am. Rolf's thoughts in early 2006.
Chapter XIX - The Memory Road
Returns to Europe
Return to Berlin with Patricia - 2006 - Confronting the Past
In 2006 Rolf decided that the time had come to take Patricia to the City of his Birth and perhaps open up about parts of his life that he had never discussed with her. He had not gone there since the wall had come down and there had been an ever increasing desire to do so. She was not aware of the residual war memories, the nightmares that had never stopped and his relationship with his family prior to leaving for the US.
For Rolf it was to be a journey back to his childhood and perhaps closure with the many things that had never been resolved in his mind. What he did not anticipate was a profound impact that did not materialize until his return from the visit. He felt like he had been walking through a dream while in Berlin, to be hit with an emotional shock several weeks later. During the many returns to his home city he had never experienced any particular problems, although he had mostly stayed away from those places that always were present on his mind; perhaps unconsciously so.
For Rolf it was to be a journey back to his childhood and perhaps closure with the many things that had never been resolved in his mind. What he did not anticipate was a profound impact that did not materialize until his return from the visit. He felt like he had been walking through a dream while in Berlin, to be hit with an emotional shock several weeks later. During the many returns to his home city he had never experienced any particular problems, although he had mostly stayed away from those places that always were present on his mind; perhaps unconsciously so.
A Piece of the Wall
A
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Checkpoint Charley 2006
Now a popular stop for tourists, Charley was a flashpoint for 27 years. Rolf had gone through it many times over the years to look at life behind the Iron Curtain.
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First Return to Berlin 1967
Christmas visit to Berlin to introduce Rolf's first wife to his mother and Fritz. It was the beginning of the healing process between Rolf and his mother.
Patricia on the Zugspitze
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Salzburg, Austria
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Rolf at the Wall 1973
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Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Patricia and Rolf 'The Bavarians'
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The Kaiser Wilhelm Gedaechnis Kirche
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Elizabeth in Berlin - November 2011
Watch here for the continuing look back at places that have had a special meaning in Rolf's life. A return to Berlin to do more research and visits to Vienna and Prague are on the agenda.