Former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt advised Roland Tauber to write down his life story.
The (former) Schongauer has now done that.
Schongau / Hamburg
- Roland Tauber, who is wearing a suit, casually holds the worn out hiking shoes in front of the camera. He doesn't need her anymore. Because the displaced person has arrived in his new home and has achieved something. "The way was long and sometimes difficult," says the 82-year-old looking back. A famous confidante and patient of Tauber, former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, asked him several years ago to write down his eventful life story, which eventually led him from the Sudetenland to Schongau as a successful doctor in the Hanseatic city. "Even if this shouldn't be published, at least do it for your children," he thundered once.
During the pandemic, Tauber took heart and did as he was told.
"Displaced - the long way to a new home" is the title of his book.
After the expulsion from Aussig, which Tauber describes soberly despite all the horrors - an uncle was slain, several relatives committed suicide together with cyanide out of desperation, and his mother always had capsules "ready for emergencies" on the run, which she only took in Threw Germany into the fire - the then six and a half year old came to Schongau with his family, where his father settled down as an ear, nose and throat doctor.
Happy childhood in Schongau
“Schongau should become our second home,” said Tauber. However, the start there in 1946 was not easy. Some insulted them disparagingly as “fornicators, Grattler. We couldn't get rid of the stigma of being a displaced person for years. ”But that's how it was for everyone who arrived back then, says Tauber. And there were also a lot of helpful Schongauers, he doesn't want to go unmentioned. Tauber quickly settled in and, when asked where he comes from, still says today: "I'm Schongauer."
At that time there were still farms in the city, cows were driven through the streets and, in the event of death, the coffin was picked up in a black hearse pulled by two black horses. "I developed into a real rascal who could think of a thousand stupid things," writes Tauber. Whether while stealing apples or because he threw the intestines of a freshly slaughtered rabbit around the legs of "the daughter of the city's most famous barber" - "complaints hailed". He competed with other children around the city wall, went to school and communion in Schongau. A very happy childhood, Tauber looks back.
After elementary school he went to the boys' boarding school in Hohenschwangau.
He passed the Abitur at the boys' boarding school with a bang - “luckily there was no numerus clausus back then”.
Because that way, Tauber could still study medicine - a family tradition, so to speak.
While studying, he met his wife Antoinette, whom he married in 1967.
As a doctor he worked in hospitals in Schongau and Munich, among other places.
"You can achieve anything with diligence and diligence"
In 1988 he took over the management of the urological department of the AK Barmbek as a medical professor who was already respected at the time. Even if the decision was not easy for the family after so many years in Bavaria, it was the right one for Roland Tauber. In the beginning, however, he also had to struggle here - with a nursing emergency and chronic underfunding. He brought the clinic back into shape and, among other things, dealt professionally with the unfulfilled desire to have children. All of this can of course also be found in his book. “You can achieve anything with diligence and diligence,” says Tauber. The conviction runs like a red thread through his life and his autobiography.
The question that he fearfully asked himself before moving: "Can a Bavarian become a home in Hamburg?", Tauber now answers with a clear "Yes." Nevertheless, he remains connected to Schongau.
His parents are buried here in the forest cemetery.
He likes coming to Lechstadt or thinks back to his childhood here.
However, Tauber found the rummaging in the past for the book and of course the writing down quite exhausting.
"For real!
Once and never again! ”He says and laughs.
The book
"Displaced - The long way to a new home" is available now.
Publisher: Prof. Dr.
med.
Roland Tauber, Oderfelderstrasse 9, 20149 Hamburg.
Or printing: WIRmachenDruck GmbH, Mühlbachstrasse 7, 71522 Backnang.