Was it Erich Maria Remarque's book "All Quiet On The Western Front" or Heinrich Böll's story "Stranger, bear word to the Spartans We ..." that turned me into an emigrant? I read both while my classmates were still collecting Karl May adventure books.
Although I've forgotten which I read first, I can still picture both books in my mind's eye: "All Quiet on the Western Front" was a hardcopy edition under the title "Im Westen Nichts Neues" bei Bertelsmann, and Heinrich Böll's short story was in an early paperback edition by rororo-Verlag under the cover title "Wanderer, kommst Du nach Sparta ..."
Since even the 1930 film version had done nothing to stop the ascent of a certain Charlie-Chaplin-like figure and the outbreak of World War II, I became an instant conscientious objector to any military service, and told the German "Bundeswehr" where they could stick their "Wehrpass".
I left Germany in June 1965 - click here - and have lived a peaceful life south of the Equator ever since, far away from the frictions in Europe.
