Our grandparents visited me and my little brother in the children's home. Both loved animals and fed me lots of books and cakes. My grandmother was an artist and painted animal portraits with make-up on paper. She was a cousin of the German painter Rudolf Kortokraks. That's probably where my artistic streak came from. Both were politically active. My grandfather had a great sense of humor and was the son of the German founding father and humanist Dr. Werner Hilpert. Despite this, we grew up in simple living conditions. My brother and I lived in children's homes for about three years in total. My mother was homeless for 9 years. Life cannot be put into categories. The first children's home was privately financed and offered a little luxury (e.g. computer room, sauna, excursions, supplies), but we were always used as advertising figures (e.g. newspaper reports on company XY, which sponsors the children's home with a toy race track, etc.). The second children's home, where the photos were taken, was much simpler and was only able to afford modern equipment such as new furniture and computers - a few years after the fall of the Berlin Wall - thanks to a generous donation from the Lions Club. Instead, we often went out into nature together to pick mushrooms and berries and learned to haggle at every opportunity. Many of the residents of the children's home were mentally handicapped. Then I made friends and learned early on what the true qualities of being human are. It is being human.