My children, my trees, my district – Paul, the jack-of-all-trades

Who is Paul? Paul is 90 years old. Age alone is no merit. But the man has something to say because he has experienced an incredible amount and loves life. His fiancée Angelika just smiles when Paul starts talking. For some Gorbitzers, Paul is already part of the family. For almost ten years he sold the morning post every Sunday, had a chat and even brought the paper home. In his long life, Paul has met and married five women and fathered seven children. The special thing about them are the three sets of twins, once two boys, once two girls and once boy and girl. His son is probably not particularly interested in this, says Paul, and accepts it. Paul’s mother was Polish Jewish. When she left the country, she left Paul in front of an orphanage in Anklam. He met eleven foster parents and later became a nurse. When two eleven-year-old girls were taken away by the Nazis, he composed a song for them. He sings it to us and we feel the iciness of the moment years later on a hot Sunday afternoon.

Ottmar and Martina from Gorbitz Radio listen with fascination, they have recorded everything and are already looking forward to the next programme of the ambitious amateur radio station. And while they move on again, Paul spins the next thread of conversation about embroidery. That’s right. Paul embroiders something for all of us. The next meeting is already planned. Sometime during the Christmas season, everyone will bring their embroidery work with them.

Paul has also promised to bring his photos of Gorbitz in the early days. He has lived in this district since 1980, was baptised in the Protestant parish in 2017 and planted trees.

TAG24 also portrayed the oldest newspaper vendor in an article: Respect, colleague! Even at 90, Paul Hopp is not giving up his stand

Freizeitangebote und Freizeitclub | Lebenshilfe Dresden e.V. · Josephinenstraße 31 · 01069 Dresden
Frau A. Smettan
mail: ad.club@lebenshilfe-dresden.de · phone: 0351 32027749 / 0160 99518487

Gorbitzfunk | Radio in Gorbitz – Mach mit
project manager: Ottmar Schmidt
mail: info@gorbitzfunk.org (oder persönlich über das Gymnasium Dresden Gorbitz, Leutewitzer Ring 141, 01169 Dresden)