I, Folker Mittag was born in the Deutsche Reich on 16.03.1943 in Schwerin (Meckl.)
After the end of the war, the area was first occupied by United States forces and then handed over to the Soviet army and became part of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). My father and two of my elder brothers were kept as Prisoners of War by the British and American forces. My mother got the first information about them late in 1947.
My mother wanted to be re-united with those three members of the family and decided to leave the GDR without permission. My two sisters joined us as refugees to walk over a frozen lake. After meeting my father for the first time in my life, he passed away suddenly.
After school, I started an apprenticeship as a commercial employee and worked for the Deutsche Erdoel AG for 10 years. I was offered a job by Texaco in Brussels where I was travelling on business mainly in Europe and Africa. After a short period Texaco closed the European office in Brussels and I got the experience of unemployment for the first time.
After a year’s long experience as an assistant to the Board of a medium-sized company, I joined a German International battery manufacturer where I had different international responsibilities until my retirement after 31 years of service.
In 1966, I met Up with People in Hamburg and, together with a friend, we got a local group started. During this time I met local business people who helped the group with many practical needs. I was introduced to Moral Re-Armament’s (MRA) way of living, which helped me a lot during my work around the world.
After retirement in 2006, I was invited by Indian MRA/Initiatives of Change (IofC) friends to help with conferences in Asia Plateau, Panchgani. Quite a number of trips in connection with these conferences helped to build friendships in many interesting parts of the world. After her retirement, my wife joined me on most of my trips.
My wife, Monica, and I got married in 1983. After retirement, we had the pleasure of learning again what it means to live together on a daily basis. For that, we need daily guidance from above!
