An old schoolmate from the 1950s ...

Joachim Stut and his wife Christel

... emailed me this photo of our last day at school in 1960 and by post several other photos of the old hometown Braunschweig and our primary school and this old picture of our Class of 1956:

Class of 1956 - 4th Grade, with Teacher Albert Rümenapf

from left to right:
Last row: Klaus Langeheine / Waltraud Häupler / Karin Öhlstöter / Ursula Hotopp / Heidi Werner / Heidi Nabert / Brigitte Wippermann / Helga Himrich / Heidrun Träger / Margret Brandenburg / Karin Greczik (?) / ? / Eckehardt Mohr
Middle row: Peter Görmann / Ursula Vespermann / Carola Michaelsen / Dagmar Kroll / Jutta Rohde / ? / Bianka Glathe / Regina Hubbes / Rosemarie Schmalowski / Franzi Giehrs / Horst Siems
Front row: Uwe Caje / Wolfgang Hercht / Jürgen Kreul / Henning Rasche / Klaus-Henning Kramer / Wolfgang Silber / Lehrer Albert Rümenapf / Fritz Korte / Helmut Ullrich / Wolfgang Weise / Jürgen Laue / Joachim Stut / H.J. Lätzsch / Hendrik Heinemenn

Our teacher Albert Rümenapf; he passed away in 2014

As a malnourished and underprivileged child in post-war Germany, I was once sent to a 'holiday camp' on the Frisian island of Langeoog to get some decent food and gain some weight - in the depth of winter, of course, when nobody else would have wanted to go there. I had totally forgotten that my schoolmate had also been in the same group. He sent me pictures of it:

"Uncle Max" ran the camp. I think he was paid by the weight we gained because we were put on the scales as soon as we had arrived and regularly thereafter until the day of our departure

The island of Langeoog in winter was not much better than my hometown except that it was surrounded by water

Nearby was the "Sonnenhof", the home of the then famous singer Lale Andersen

This is a picture taken during the High Season. When we were there, we always wore long johns - two pairs if we could manage - because it was always freezing cold

Thanks again for the photos and the memories, Joachim!

Another aid to longevity is that only the good die young.