Early impressions leave a particularly deep mark. Peter Kruse's first memory is of the contrails of the Allied air forces in the sky. The way the author manages to make German-German history tangible through his own biography is as exciting as it is educational. The former editor-in-chief and later publisher of the Hamburger Abendblatt begins the narrative of his life in the ruins of Germany, follows his not always easy biography through the post-war and economic miracle period of West Berlin, recounts the sentiments of the Federal Republic that he observed as a new journalist in Hamburg, and comments on historical events such as the 1968 movement and reunification, as well as significant personalities who have particularly shaped Germany, such as Axel Springer and Helmut Schmidt. An extensive panorama of German history.