About Me

I was born in Krakow in 1942 as a youngest child (two elder brothers).

We moved to Silesia but very soon afterwards fled to my mother’s birthplace (Witten / Ruhr) in 1945.

We moved in with my mother’s father. My father was not present at that time, nor after the end of the war.

In autumn 1945, my mother with her three sons moved to a small village in Lower Saxony into a former munitions depot. It sounds awful, but it was wonderful for us children.

It was in the middle of the forest and there were plenty of opportunities to play.

But after a few years we had to leave this idyllic place and move into the nearby town, Dünsen.

At the time, I felt as if I was being banished from paradise.

Early on I discovered my fondness for Mecki, the editorial hedgehog of HÖRZU. I loved his adventures. The greatest was “Mecki im Schlaraffenland” (Mecki in the land of milk and honey). Then I got my own land of milk and honey for Christmas: as big as a tabletop! My brother Gunter gave me my first Disney comic book. I copied the comic heroes. Pinocchio and Mickey Mouse. I loved the adventures of Alice in Wonderland. That’s how I discovered painting and drawing for myself.

I attended primary school (4 classes in one room – which were all taught at the same time).

During the sports lessons I preferred to draw – they let me get on with it.

After grade 8, “the serious side of life” was to begin. I was given a little respite by being sent to a commercial school in Bremen.

Then I started an apprenticeship as a wholesale merchant, after which I was drafted into the army.

After my military service I found a job in a cigarette and tobacco factory and realised after a while that the life of a commercial employee was not for me.

I then applied to a drawing school in the Rhineland. After graduating, I realised that I wanted to be creative and artistically active on a professional basis. During the vacations, I worked for a graphics and trade fair construction company. After completion of my studies, I worked as a screen printer, later briefly in a small advertising agency.

At Radio Bremen I was empolyed as a general factotum, at times in the press department, where I was able to use my graphic skills.

In autumn 1970 I applied for a job in the television graphics department of NDR (North German Broadcasting Corporation). I worked there as a freelance graphic artist for the first seven years and was then employed permanently.

The work was very varied. Explanatory pieces for the course and educational programme, short trick sequences, props for feature films, printed matter (posters, brochures, accompanying booklets), pre- and post-spots for films (typography), film announcements (trailers), backgrounds, map design, statistical diagrams, presentation for a news block and much more.

In the beginning (the 3rd programme broadcast only in black and white), we still worked with brushes and poster paint. The fonts were made with rubber stamps or photo typesetting (Dia-Type), then there were the rub-on letters (LetraSet).

It became more technical, as airbrush had arrived. Then came the first computers. Paint, brushes, paper – all that could suddenly be forgotten. The computer conquered the whole world of television and work.

I retired at the age of 60 and have enjoyed the freedom of “not having to do anything” ever since.

At the beginning of 2016, I started drawing again and working with various materials. You can see the results on this website in my gallery. The works were – and are – mainly created while I’m watching TV in the evening; I suppose TV won’t let go of me ... :-)