ABSTRACT
I was born on Thursday, May 26, 1921, the only child of not-very-young parents. My father worked in town or traveled, my mother spent most of the time with me. We had a small apartment in a southern suburb of Breslau, Schwerinstrasse 64, third floor, right entrance. In my early memories, the apartment and the house figure prominently. There was a balcony in front, and one in the back, with geraniums grown in front and tomatoes in the rear. There is a photograph taken on my fifth birthday in which I am critically mustering the presents, which include a tennis racket (my interest in sports goes back to an early date). I was dressed in a then-fashionable sailor suit, with high shoes, well over the ankles. My parents were serious people, but on this occasion they had engaged in a practical joke. I loved cherries more than anything else; my father on one occasion wrote a poem on the subject. Thus, my parents had put a few cherries on top of the tomato plants, arguing that in my honor, and in recognition of good behavior, the plants had produced cherries. I did not believe their story.
