“THE UNSHAKEABLE ONE” - First World War (1914–1918)
Erich Karl was born into a simple working-class family in Weimar in 1913 shortly before the start of the First World War. After the end of the war, he received so-called “cocoa soup“ at school as a 6-year-old boy. These were financed with donations from Save the Children from London, issued in Weimar by the Quakers, for children from needy families, in order to restore their childrens' bodies, which had been scarred by war and hunger.
Erich Karl is a witness to two world wars, the Weimar Republic and the GDR. The 105-year-old lives in his own apartment in a retirement home in Berlin. His childhood during the war was a long time ago, his memories of it fragmentary, only the tin bowl for the hot cocoa is always present to him. The current crises feel very close. From his balcony, Erich Karl can look out over a container village where adults and children from Syria and Afghanistan live. They have fled threats and violence.
“FANFARE FOR A STEADFAST MAN“
The quiet evening moment in the life of the century-old witness Erich Karl inspired journalist Ingo Zamperoni to write his text.
Always kind and grateful for the help he received as a child, Erich Karl lived independently in Berlin. He passed away at his home on June 19, 2021, at the blessed age of 107. See here an obituary of the witness of the century: