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94 Olaf Falkenhagen
Ein Lied von der Unzulänglichkeit
Menschlichen Strebens
On The Road
Gelsenkirchen (born), Essen, Floetenstein,
Aschersleben, Essen, Calgary (immigrated),
Vancouver, Los Angeles, Frankfurt, Los Angeles
(today).
War Years
My father was drafted into the Wehrmacht in
1939 and my mother, with my two-year old
sister and me, moved to Floetenstein/Pommern
to escape the bombing in Essen. Our years in
the country were quite peaceful until February
1945 when the Russians invaded and our family
became separated. My mother vanished
overnight and I was left alone with my sister,
baby brother and an ailing grandmother. We
children were moved by the Russian troops to
another village and when my mother could not
find us, she escaped north to Danzig and went
from there by troop ship to Flensburg. Soon she
located my father who had been released from
American prison camp in France, but they had no
idea of our whereabouts. For six months we did
not know what had happened to my mother, or if
my father had survived the war. Then one day
my mother suddenly reappeared. It was a day
I’ll never forget. We were transported out on a
freight rail car and arrived in Frankfurt/Oder
stripped down to our underwear – while one of
the lowest moments in my life, its memory has
always given me strength in tough times to get
up off the floor. We settled in Aschersleben/
Sachsen where we reunited with my father.
As the Communist rule became increasingly
oppressive and the food rations smaller, in June
1948 we closed our apartment and left everything
behind. Near Magdeburg we began to
cross the Iron Curtain. The most serious
problem was that we did not know where we
were going except in a westerly direction.
During the day we hid in barns and at night we
moved through the woods and in the rain,
dodging bullets from Russian/East German
guards. We finally reached the Golden West and
jumped on a train to Essen - on the same day
West Germany converted to the new Deutsche
Mark, leaving us penniless, again.
Humboldt Years
My years at the Humboldtschule from 1949 to
1956 rank at the top when it comes to my life
experiences, education and foundation for
future success in life and business – in Germany
and abroad. I will never forget my Klassenkameraden
“Hoch auf dem Gelben Wagen” und die
einzigartigen Pauker and the memorable Schulfahrten,
particularly to Holland, Belgium and
along the Weser.
During my school vacation, I worked in construction
jobs for Strabag and Krupp; this included
one summer pouring concrete for the walls and
floors of the new Humboldtschule buildings in
1955.
The 1956 WAZ article about our career goals
listed Philologe under my name. (The article
alongside was on “Altenessener Schweinemarkt
– Marktverlauf schleppend. Qualitaet gut”reads
like a Lebenslauf summary?) I wonder
how many of our fifty graduates accomplished
their indicated goal. My plan almost immediately
changed when I turned the use of my language
skills from the academic into the commercial
direction and joined Ferrostaal AG in 1956 as
Exportkaufmann trainee for selling heavy machinery,
rolling stock and factories to all corners
of the world. I was doing well and seemed
to have started on a promising career. That’s
when my parents decided to follow friends and
immigrate to Canada in 1957. At the last moment,
I reluctantly changed my mind and sailed
with them – to an unknown future.
Canada
When we arrived in Calgary, I could not find a
job related to my export business experience;