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Plaintiff in the regional social court in Celle: He said he was born on May 2, 1919 in Hanover
Photo: Philipp Schulze / dpa
He goes up step by step, dragging one leg.
He asks indistinctly and quietly whether he can get in already.
In courtroom 129, the man who wants to be 102 years old is about to be at the center of a bizarre trial.
He has applied for a pension which, at this age, would presumably have been due to him for a very long time.
The problem, however, is: According to the data on his insurance account, the man was born in 1973 and is only 48 years old.
The pension insurance has rejected his application.
But the man has appealed against it.
And that's why there is a trial before the Lower Saxony-Bremen State Social Court in Celle this Friday morning.
His skin is wrinkled
The court ordered the man to appear in person to determine his identity and age.
He's a tall man with a bowed back.
He wears black leather shoes without laces, blue jeans, a white T-shirt and over them a gray cardigan with a zipper.
The hair is gray, in between white, and evenly short.
His skin is wrinkled, but not as wrinkled as you'd expect it to be in someone over a century old.
He is sitting quietly in his seat with the plaintiff sign in a plastic cover in front of him.
With his right hand he holds the handle of his blue backpack, which covers his face, with his left he supports it from below, he does not want to be photographed.
His ID card is upside down on the table in front of him.
Only shortly before the start of the negotiation does he take A4 papers out of his rucksack, which were folded.
Now they are his privacy screens.
The seat next to him remains free, he does not have a lawyer.
Trained as an administrative clerk
The court had previously considered whether L. was able to work, so the employer was questioned, and L.'s superior was present as a witness.
The lawsuit seems absurd: why should anyone claim to be 102 years old?
The plaintiff is able to understand, the court found.
The gong rings, the judges enter the conference room.
"If you agree, I'll just start now," says the presiding judge Uwe Dreyer.
"Gladly," says L.
He claims to have been born on May 2, 1919 in Hanover, as suggested by a certificate of birth that he had drawn up himself - a personal receipt, as we know it from tax law, signed with the addition of Prince Ernst of Hanover.
From 1992 to 1995 he successfully completed vocational training as an administrative clerk, in between he was repeatedly unable to work due to illness.
And that the pension insurance set his birthday to July 12, 1973?
Since he had a serious accident, says the plaintiff.
He doesn't want to say more about it.
"That's why we're sitting here today"
"I have suggested to you in the past whether this procedure should be continued at all," says Dreyer.
"You replied that from your point of view that is the case, that's why we are here today."
The man wants to go on, even today.
He applies for an age report from the Hamburg University Clinic Eppendorf and, retrospectively and for the future, an old-age pension calculated after the year of birth 1919.
"You have to expect that you will have to pay all or part of the cost of the procedure," says Dreyer.
He's taking the risk, says the plaintiff.
He knows that he was born in 1919.
Dreyer dictated for the record that the plaintiff wanted to continue, "although he was shown the abusive legal prosecution and he was advised of the possibility of costs being imposed if the legal dispute were to continue."
Dreyer: "Mr. L., again, should we continue?"
L .: "Of course."
Procedure out of willfulness
The judges withdraw.
While the plaintiff sits quietly in his chair and does not speak to anyone, they advise.
The man sits crooked, has bowed his head.
When the judges return, he stands up.
The presiding judge says the appeal will be rejected and the declaratory action will be dismissed.
"I think it is obvious that we are not dealing with a 102-year-old person here." The proceedings were conducted out of willfulness, so the plaintiff had to bear the costs: 1000 euros.
The process has ended.
Revision: not permitted.