Introduction

Ok, so – I never really introduced myself here on LinkedIn, so here’s an attempt to share a little more about myself, my background and what shaped my experience in life so far.

As the younger of two sisters, I grew up in (what I sometimes jokingly refer to as) “exile” – in the Taunus, a greenbelt area around Frankfurt am Main.

Having both been born in the North of Germany, our parents moved to Frankfurt for work, a few years before my sister and I were born. During holidays, we regularly travelled to Hamburg and the Neugraben-Fischbek area, mainly by train – a very exciting journey for two younger girls, who felt rather grown up, especially when making the journey on our own (our mum would put us on the train in Frankfurt at the main station, our grandmother picking us up in Hamburg).

Growing up in a (mainly) peaceful Europe and in the Western part of Germany, I always felt both German and European at heart. As with many Germans, my family lineage includes a wide range of influences, in our case Polish, French, Kosak and South-Western-German (closer to the French border). My mother’s family came from Silesia, what is part of Poland today, to the Northern part of Germany, with only a suitcase each, leaving behind everything in terms of roots, friends, and material possessions. Our mother kept the small leather suitcase (more like a travel bag) her mother brought with her, for many decades even after both my maternal grandparents had passed away.

Raised Protestant, my sister and I went to a mainly Catholic all-girls’ high school, which accepted students from all faiths. Not being Catholic students at our school meant we learned about all faiths in our religious education class, and still had the option to attend mass, which usually meant being able to do so instead of the official first lesson of that day.

Both our parents did not continue school until the Abitur, nor attend university, as their families did not have the financial means after the war. Instead, they both became apprentices in the insurance industry (our mother) and the banking sector (our father). Our parents always supported us girls in as much as they were able to – be it in out-of-school interests, hobbies, attending school up to the Abitur and university studies (as the first one in my immediate family, I explored the world of university education, with my sister following a few years later).

Our family is one of book lovers, with our trips to France or Austria always including large parts of our luggage filled with books – our parents always brought at least one full suitcase with novels, crime stories, magazines, and the weekly newspapers they didn’t get around to reading back at home.

My next post is – perhaps unsurprisingly – to be about some of the books I feel helpful especially in today’s times, and I hope you might enjoy some of these too (in case you haven’t read them yet).