The Moses Factory 1968

Willi only returned from school late in the afternoon. When he entered the house, his mother didn't say a word to him. His brother Sigmund was already back at the hated construction site, completing one of the many tasks set by his father for the week. Actually, Willi should have also helped at the construction site. He silently pushed past his mother in the narrow kitchen of the old building and disappeared into his small room. This tiny room had served as a pantry before he was born. However, when Willi reached an age where little boys should no longer sleep in their parents' bedroom, father Lenz remodelled the room. He had lovingly created this cozy, narrow single room for his eldest. The youngest child's screaming at night in his parents' bedroom was probably the trigger for this decision to give the"big one" his own room. Grateful, Willi always liked to retreat into the cozy solitude of his little room. Every evening his mother had sung him a song after prayer before he fell asleep -"Good evening, good night, angels guarding you tonight…...!"

There was a window built into the narrow wall at the head of the bed. Willi often lived out his inexhaustible imagination in the dark at night. Sitting backwards, he pulled the blanket over his head, covered his feet with the pillow and admired the glowing full moon through the window. In his mind, he had spent nights fighting against enemy opponents in the fictitious cockpit of a “Ju 88” until fatigue and sleep finally won the battle.

In the summer months, Willi liked to use the rotating function of the small window and, after a breakneck exit climb out, visited the gardens of the six neighbouring properties. With a rich booty, according to the season, he then reached his own cozy realm, mostly unnoticed, heavily laden with peas, gooseberries and carrots. Such enjoyable evenings of satiating gluttony, combined with secretly reading his beloved Mickey Mouse magazines in the dim light of a flashlight, had given him a feeling of comfort in his own realm.

Today, without a word, he retreated to the shelter of his room. He hung his anorak on the only coat hook on the wall. He grumpily placed his school bag on the floor. Tired, he threw himself onto his bed. The terrible events of the morning dominated his thoughts and prevented a restful sleep.

After a while he remembered the brochure about seafaring in his school bag. He found it in the tray under his classmate Volker's table. He excitedly searched through his school bag. Relieved, he discovered the intact leaflet among the books and pulled it out. With increasing interest and his heart pounding, he scanned the interesting lines about a cabin boy's school in Elsfleth. An adventurous