Our good friend Max died on March 20th, 2022 in his adopted country of Macedonia. We received the news completely surprisingly and unexpectedly. Max and I had been in contact almost weekly for the last 20 years and when I asked how he was doing via telegram, his granddaughter Maria answered me with the sad news of his death.
In 1973 Max had skipped two classes at high school in order to finally take his Abitur with us in 1974 in the class OIm1. Max was a likeable and friendly high-flyer with a good dash of Leibniz, because everything was easy for him and interested him - even joking. His fun with our class teacher Keipert in the fresh snow in front of our pavilion remains unforgettable. Keipert, on his way to class, staring down to follow the strange barefoot tracks (of Max) in the otherwise untouched snow, yanked open the door to our classroom and... rushed into the snowman we saw behind the door had set up.
Max always went barefoot in sandals, winter and summer. He wasn't above having fun, he jumped out of the classroom cupboard in class to scare the teachers and in the hours that followed he went back to doing his usual A's in class tests.
At the time, some saw him as the future physics professor, others as the star lawyer and still others as the linguistic genius. No one was right, or rather, everyone was right, because Max didn't need titles and honors to do what was important to him and made sense. Instead of studying, he did his master's degree in electrical engineering - of course in the fast lane - and above all followed his heart to Maria in Macedonia.
Even if we only show photos of Max in his workshop, his legal texts in Greek, English etc. his BLOG for Greece always showed the "Leibniz" from back then.
And Max always remained true to himself, only doing what seemed right and sensible to him. So I asked him at the end of the 90s if he would like to set up a website for Karin as a midwife. His answer was a resounding no, on the grounds that he had no knowledge of midwifery issues. But somehow the question had aroused his interest, because after only a few days his "check your server" came and Karin suddenly had a wonderful website with all the important midwifery information - why? Max had quickly read a few books. Unforgettable remains his pounding baby or the flying storks, which earned the site many sympathy points.
And how did we bring Max from Macedonia to our class reunion in Bochum about two decades ago? With a funny game, of course, because Max, not wanting to travel to Bochum, was happy to take part in a chat round in which everyone present could ask the strange chat contact with the pseudonym "Easter Bunny" a question to find out who he was . And finally, after many questions and answers, the redeeming "that's our Max" came out of the same mouth from everyone. Max, whom everyone liked and appreciated.
Max loved his Draviscose in Macedonia and was proud of his family, his wife Maria, his children and grandchildren.
With Max we lose our friend with his clear mind, his unwavering determination and his profound and always apt humor. Our thoughts are also with his nice family and we wish them strength and confidence for the coming days.
Max, we miss you.
Karin and Jurgen
