Announcement

I'm mourning the sudden death of my longtime life companion, Angelika Birck, who passed away on 7 June 2004. We first met in Florence and have spent 10 years of our lives together, first travelling a lot between Innsbruck and Heidelberg to see each other in our time as students, then to and from Paris and Berlin due to our jobs before I moved in with Angelika in Berlin.

Angelika died at home at the age of 32 years due to a sudden cerebral aneurysm rupture. I learned from many people that this is not as rare as one might expect and that there is nothing one can do about it when it actually happens. Nor is there much you can do to prevent it.

She has gone far too early and was full of ideas for projects. She held a PhD in psychology and had a scientific research position at the Center for the Treatment of Torture Victims (Behandlungszentrum für Folteropfer, BZFO) in Berlin where she was working on chronic and complex traumata, political and social frameworks for traumatized refugees in Germany, credibility diagnosis of traumatized refugees, women-specific prosecution, asylum issues, and psychotherapy in an intercultural context. This is a rather complete list of her Publications that she maintained herself. Her satiric article based on her own PhD thesis experience is especially worth reading: Laura Gets Her PhD (German: Laura promoviert).

Angelika - may you have found the end of your own suffering and may we all keep our memories of your fine sense of humour alive in our memories. You were a most valuable person for me and all of us, with an appearance often described as angel-like. All appreciated what you did and wrote to help others survive. I'm grateful and happy for having been close to you! I miss you!

Dinu

Here's a little poem of Erich Fried, that you liked so much (translation by Steve Alexander):

My Choice

Supposing I lose you
and have then to decide
whether I see you again
and I know:
the next time
you would bring me ten times the unhappiness
and one tenth the happiness

What would I choose?

I would be deliriously happy
to see you again

The German original:

Meine Wahl  

Gesetzt ich verliere Dich    
und habe dann zu entscheiden     
ob ich Dich noch ein Mal sehe   
und ich weiß:    
Das nächste Mal      
bringst Du mir zehnmal mehr Unglück    
und zehnmal weniger Glück       

Was würde ich wählen? 

Ich wäre sinnlos vor Glück    
Dich wiederzusehen