He was born on April 18 1929 in the working-class Cologne suburb of Sülz and was just seven years old when his father, a member of the Communist Party, was arrested by the Gestapo and sentenced to 10 years' hard labour. Jean's grandmother and aunt were also imprisoned for six months and Jean was placed in an orphanage until they were released, when he went to live with his grandparents. Later he was sent to a Nazi Reichsbahn (railway) training centre in the Nippes suburb of Cologne which, he recalled, "consisted of a factory, school, Hitler Youth - all in one". In 1942 he dropped out and joined the "Edelweiss Pirates".
He was born on April 18 1929 in the working-class Cologne suburb of Sülz and was just seven years old when his father, a member of the Communist Party, was arrested by the Gestapo and sentenced to 10 years' hard labour. Jean's grandmother and aunt were also imprisoned for six months and Jean was placed in an orphanage until they were released, when he went to live with his grandparents.
Later he was sent to a Nazi Reichsbahn (railway) training centre in the Nippes suburb of Cologne which, he recalled, "consisted of a factory, school, Hitler Youth - all in one". In 1942 he dropped out and joined the "Edelweiss Pirates".
