Born in Edingen 1926  he became a Lathe machinist after primary school, but had to join the German Airforce during World War II. After witnessing the horrors of war in France he opted for desertion and fled to Belgium, where Belgian farmers hid him. In 1945 he returned to Edingen, worked at the Mannheimer Kraftwerke (Powerplant), where as the shop chairman he was elected into the board of directors. With his wife he had three sons: Bernhard, Wolfgang and Albert - the family always was at the center of his life. Nonetheless he also got involved with politics in the trade union and in the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany).