THE LIFE OF AUGUST - Part 2 of 2

“I could write a whole book about my life,” August says.
“And why don’t you do it?,” Bettina asks.
“I haven’t got any time for that.”
“And what if I would write it for you?”
“Hhhm… ok, then give it a try… let’s see how it turns out…”

August was born in 1904 in Falkendorf, near Preetz. His whole life happened within a radius of about 45 kilometres around this village, except the time in World War II. He never was interested in geography: “Why should I learn about countries that I will never visit?”

Most of his life he worked as a farmhand or day laborer for local farmers. In 1928 he started working at a big farm where he should stay for many decades, together with his wife Margarethe, who started working as milkmaid (against her wishes).

I wonder if August, if he’s not dead yet, and his family are still living there. Maybe I’ll visit the area to see how all the places I know from the book look like today, would be a great experience I guess…

Ah, one last thing: August insisted on approving the book design before it was printed:

“Hereby I confirm that I agree with the photos, the content and writing.”
(Feb. 29, 1979; August S.)

IMAGE INFO: © Bettina Secker, late 1970s, From the book “August - Ein Leben auf dem Lande”

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