Two days later, September first, the war started. The Poles were no match for the German Army. In 18 days Poland was defeated and occupied. The Russians, by way of a secret agreement with Hitler, moved into eastern Poland and incorporated one half of the country into Russia. The price of the Non-Aggression Pact with Moscow was also the Russian occupation of the Baltic States. The worst miscalculation Hitler made was his belief that France and England would not enter the war in order to come to the help of Poland. I can still hear my father quote Bismarck's last words on his death bed warning the German Emperor: "Never get involved in a two-front war." After losing World War I, it looked as if this time Germany would have to fight only on the western front.

The university went immediately on a trimester schedule. That meant no three semesters were squeezed into one year. summer vacation, but instead

During those early medical-student days I became close friends with three ski-oriented students. All three of us were dissecting a dead corpse in anatomy while we were planning a skiing trip on weekends. We were called the three musketeers. During the early winter I had joined the university ski club and made some weekend trips with my three friends and other club members.

Since I had been skiing for eight years, I felt I had enough experience to lead a tour to the Great Venediger Mountain, the second highest mountain in Austria. During the winter semester break I got 10 students together who already had some mountaineering experience. We took the train to the end of the Zillertal and changed to a small-track train. In the valley wild flowers were already in their prime. In the distance one could make out the glacier and the mountain which still had 10 feet of snow. After a five-hour march, on which we had to carry our skis, we arrived at the Great Venediger refuge hut where we could eat and sleep and gather strength for the attack on the peak the next day. In the morning we put on our seal skins and went onto the glacier. Within five hours we made it to the top. A cloudless sky gave the cold spring snow a shiny reflection. I had the first three students tied to my rope since we had to traverse a number of snow bridges over the glacier clefts. The last 100 feet we left our skis in the snow and climbed to the peak.

On the way down I told everyone to stay close to the uphill tracks. Wind had built up many irregular bumps on the glacier and made the ski turns more difficult in the untouched snow. As I was resting to watch the other skiers come down, I heard somebody scream, "Watch out for a loose ski." I saw a single ski shoot down in my direction. I jumped into a downhill course to overtake it. Within a few seconds I caught up with the loose ski and was able to grasp it. If I had lost the ski it would have meant that Wolfgang, my friend, would have had to manage three to four hours on one ski until he reached the hut. I got it just before it disappeared into multiple crevasses further down. I got hold of it a few feet from the first large crevasse. We all had a good reason to celebrate later in the hut with several bottles of Tyrolian red wine.

My father kept me rather short with money. One hundred fifty marks was all he allowed me per month. Since I wanted to ski this winter, I had to save money some way. The cafeteria served a large portion of polenta, mainly cornmeal, for 25 pfennigs. At night I bought spaghetti and tomato sauce, and on a small gasoline stove I cooked myself a meal in my little room. My culinary experiments had to be hidden from my landlady.

The following winter the university ski club had invited me as their established member on a weekend to join the senior members on a skiing trip to their own ski hut. The president of the club was impressed with my skiing and suggested I function as an assistant ski instructor during the next Christmas vacation. That meant I would get room and board free for teaching 20 students how to ski. The trip was scheduled for a 10-day stay in the little Walser Valley, 3,600 feet high in the Austrian Alps. It belonged to Austria but was accessible only from the German border. When I gathered the group of skiers at the train station in Munich several days before Christmas, I surveyed the different participants. Two pretty sisters were taking part in the skiing trip. At first, I did not know whom I liked better, but as time went by, I paid more attention to the younger sister of the two. Her name was Irmgard. On Christmas Eve I accompanied her to the midnight mass, a 45-minute walk through crunching snow. .Our relationship was at that time more of a casual friendship. We were both too busy, she in her art school and I with my Basic Science Examination. I had not fallen in love with her yet but felt very comfortable in her presence, listening to her when she invited me for tea and pastry in her apartment. We also went to two plays together.

IRMGARD'S SIDE OF THE ENCOUNTER.

Besides going to my art school I enrolled in art history lectures at the university. While waiting in line I saw the advertising of the Academic Ski club at the bulletin board. This would be an opportunity to go on ski trips and meet other students. Susi and I attended their first meeting, and we were eager to sign up for a Christmas outing. The president was a young professor, a sturdy Bavarian with a mustache.

Take trip to the little Walser Valley," he recommended, "you will like the leader too. It is "the fast Otto" from Berlin."

It was a group of 20 who boarded the train a few days before Christmas. I observed that there were more females than males due to the draft of some of the male students. The ski instructor would have plenty of admirers. I certainly would not make a fool of myself.

Susi and I had signed up to spend Christmas with this group and then join another group and ski hike over a pass to St. Anton to spend New Year there. Everything we needed would have to be in our knapsack but we were confident that we could carry the load.

"Fast Otto" took us all to a nearby hill in the afternoon and watched with a critical eye how we navigated through the ski poles he had set up. He was not pleased with our performance.

"Day after to-morrow we will climb this mountain," he announced, pointing at a high peak. We better practice a lot to-morrow." It would be an all-day ski hike and everybody had to take a knapsack with a lunch along. We zig-zagged up the steep slopes and stopped before the rocks rose almost vertically out of the snow.

"Take your skis off and leave them here" was the order, "we will climb the rest on foot through this chimney. If you are afraid, just stay here, but you will miss a beautiful view."

We looked at each other and tried to hide our apprehension. He stamped his feet into the snow trying to make steps for us. The view at the many peaks glistening in the sun was exhilarating but dampened by the thought that we had to come down that steep chimney. "Fast Otto" or Jürgen, as we called him, sat on his fanny and slid down. Each one made the run a little faster and the last ones had to be caught by their companions so they would not travel too far. The skis became our benches, and we ate our lunch making jokes about our not so graceful descends. Jürgen sat besides me, just an accident I thought. He organized the party for the long run down. The best male skier was elected to lead the way through the untracked snow. "I will stay behind," he said, "to collect any stragglers, so no one is left behind." As I was putting my skis on, he pulled on my arm. "You stay behind and ski with me," he whispered, "I will put your little knapsack in mine, so you are not hampered by it." We let the others ski part-way down and talked. He let me ski right behind him, so I would learn where to make the turns. I felt honored for his attention.

It was December 24th. Even though I was very tired, I wanted to go to the midnight mass in the village church a couple of miles uphill. Juergen volunteered to go along. It was a cold starry night, and the snow was crunching under our feet. Peasants from all sides of the valley hiked with their little lanterns and build strings of pearls funneling into the brightly lit church. It was only natural that he would take my arm so I would not slide on the slippery road.

As my sister and I parted to join the group hiking over the pass to St. Anton, I wished I had signed up to stay longer in the little Walser Valley. But we had exchanged addresses and promised to stay in touch. I did ask him for tea and cake and he invited me to join him on other ski trips.

But the short quarter would be over in spring and he had already plans to move to Königsberg. It seemed smarter to stay just good friends.

JÜRGEN'S STORY CONTINUED

The next semester I decided to transfer to the University of Königsberg in East Prussia. My previous trip, to help the farmers, had made this part of Germany especially dear to me. I also felt the urge to start out in a new town where I did not know a soul. I joined the tennis club and the sailing club to make contacts. Owners of a 50-foot sailboat always needed a crew. So, I was hired frequently to make weekend trips on the Baltic Sea. The club also owned a number of small sailboats which I could use alone or with an instructor. Within three weeks I had picked up all the essential knowledge to qualify for the first level of a sailing examination. The sailing in my kayak had taught me already the basics. I was licensed now on all lakes inside of Germany. As the days became warmer, I took my collapsible boat and coasted on weekends along the Baltic sea. Since I was sailing alone, I had to keep visual contact with the coast. My small sail and detachable sideboards kept moving me along the coast at a leisurely pace.

On Easter weekend a group of medical students decided to make an outing to the narrow but very long peninsula which extends between the Baltic Sea and the Bay of Königsberg. It was such a beautiful spring day it enticed us to dig for the famous "liquid gold," the Bernstein, in the sand dunes. These are hardened resin-stones from old pine trees, which had surrounded the Baltic Sea hundreds or thousands of years ago. They sometimes even had small insects embedded in the resin. With not a person around for miles we decided to skinny-dip. When we raced into the ocean the 50-degree water almost took our breath away. After a few minutes, we were ready to put on our clothes again. In the meantime we noticed a group of girls standing near our pile of clothes and watching us. It did not take us long to get out of the frigid water, no matter what, and hurry for our shirts and pants. We ended up as the first streakers under Hitler's new moral code.

During the weekdays our medical studies took precedence. We studied intensely and did not cut any classes.

Hitler had started his war with France, and in six weeks he had destroyed the French Army and the English Expeditionary Corps. At Dunkirk the Germans had captured 200,000 English soldiers. Almost 200,000 more escaped back to England. The war was now at a standstill, and we all hoped that peace negotiations would start soon.

A few letters between Irmgard and me kept our communication current. I started to feel the distance between Munich and Königsberg more and more. My fast change of the university had saved me from induction into the army. At the end of the trimester I hoped I could avoid conscription again and changed the university. This time I went to Innsbruck.

The British Air Force had made a few bombing attacks on Berlin but had left our apartment house untouched. I felt Innsbruck was safe from air attacks, and I could devote my time to studies and skiing. Besides, Munich and Irmgard were not far away. I found a nice room, not far away from the medical clinics, in an old factory building. I had to buy my own coal for heating my room. As time progressed the heating bill became quite a burden. I made the discovery that the Innsbruck opera sold tickets to students for 15 pfennigs apiece. The opera was well heated. When I had to study for a test, I sat in the back row with a flashlight and studied with opera music in the background.

During a week in October 1940 Irmgard invited me for a sail on the Starnberger Lake. I took a train to Munich, wondering what kind of relationship would develop between the two of us. The memorable weekend kindled our love, which now has lasted over 53 years. Having returned to Innsbruck on Sunday night, I wrote the following letter:

My beloved Irmgard!

What has happened to me? From blazing flames propelled I want to let my pen rush over the paper. I would like to tell you a thousand lovely things, I would love to give my feelings wings to bring them with great speed to you in Munich. I usually blush when I try to write even a suggestion about my feelings, so should I give my pen a free run? Or should I use reason and curtail my feelings,, with cruel restriction?

Irmgard what have you done to me? Was it your lovely appearance which struck me, was it the evenness with which you tackle all the things around you, was it your courage, your toughness with which you conquer a high mountain top or was it your amiability with which you disarm the people around you and even make them feel ashamed? I see you before me with your blue hood, with your blue ski-skirt together with your woolen stockings. You looked like a real skier during the vacation in the Walsertal, when the first spark started a smoldering fire. And it kept on burning with a low flame, sometimes nourishing my hope, sometimes burying the affection into secrecy, but nothing could suffocate the spark. And now? Who has dangerously lighted the fire to a full flame? Could you have missed the smoldering spark all this time? I consider it a great fortune that I have never really been in love. How could I have ever experienced such a lucky fate? We had such a great time together on our last weekend in Munich. As the train brought me back to Innsbruck, I again visualized, hour for hour, our great weekend sailing. The last autumn day could not have been better. St. Peter gave us beautiful weather during our sail on the lake. I admit we had too much to eat during the ride, but I will never forget the surroundings which made it such a memorable day....

Do you think we could meet in Garmisch 11 days from now? You know I owe you two marks. This alone is a compelling reason to see each other in the mountains.

Jürgen

Fortunately, the lectures except in surgery were very mediocre. So, it did not bother my conscience when I took off to the mountains during weekdays. I could learn all the medical subject matter better by studying out of books. Twice I took my bicycle on a 100-mile trip to Munich to visit Irmgard. During the last return I pedaled with my bike in fading daylight over the "Zirler Mountain." From the 600-foot level in Munich I had to work my way up to a 4,500 foot pass and then 2,000 feet downhill into the Inn Valley. The road during this last stretch had a 10-percent pitch. My bike had a brake on the rear axle only. Today's rim brakes were unknown. Every 1,000 feet on the downhill run I had to stop to cool down the brakes because they became so hot that they would not brake anymore. After the water in the canteen was all used up, I had to cool the brakes down with my own urine to make it down the hill. It seemed to take forever to make it safely into the valley.