Campaign in the East

Heinz Postenrieder was born in Mering by Augsburg January 24, 1909, the eldest of four sblings. When he was twelve he lost his mother. The father married again, and gave with his new wife his children a stepmother out of Grimm's fairytales who in everything favored her own daughter, Trudl. He studied theology, but before the final consecration decided not to become a priest. He took an apprenticeship with an optician and in addition became a passionate photographer. In 1935 he had an illegitimate daughter, Christl. In 1939 he was drafted, became a prisoner of war, befriended a young Russian doctor (feldsher) who put him on the prisoner release list in November 1945. In the pulverized inner city of Pforzheim he found an intact cellar in 1947 which he divided into four rooms, three for his shop and one for himself. In 1959 he started the "Neues Optikaljournal." "Why does Germany which was at one time leading the world in optics not have an optical Messe (fair/conference)?" he asked himself. To remedy the situation, in 1974 he founded, against strong opposition, the "Optika" (now: Opti). He died in Pforzheim on April 5, 1979.

"Freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew" (Goethe). My father earned both, freedom and life.

This book is available at Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble, or inquire through the Contact page here at cbmiller.com.