In the early morning of February 10, 1974, 27-year-old Dietmar hops onto his bike. It's dark and cold – but he doesn't really notice it because of the adrenaline rush as he pedals briskly. His destination: the nearest telephone, located at the gate of the local rehabilitation center. His wife Sigrid needs an ambulance. She's at home in bed; her water broke around 5:00 a.m. "No one in our new apartment block had a telephone. The nearest one was about 200 meters away, in the rehabilitation center." Arriving at the rehabilitation center, Dietmar explains to the doorman what's going on. Then he quickly turns around and heads back home to his wife. "The ambulance is here soon, just sit tight," he reassures her, giving her a reassuring kiss. Sigrid notices that he's also quite nervous. "We women took the birth matter into our own hands with confidence. It was a given – but well, what else could we do?" Dietmar has now done his part. He starts his normal daily routine, cycling to Aachen train station, from there taking the train to the company. Like many others. The morning bicycle procession. "We couldn't afford a car. Trabants had a long waiting period of 13 years. We had only saved 1,000 DM – we could never have bought a car with that." Meanwhile, the ambulance has arrived at Sigrid's. She is carrying her three-year-old daughter, Sibylle. "My daughter has to come with us; we have to take her to her grandmother," Sigrid explains to the ambulance driver. "No problem." In the ambulance, Sibylle suddenly says to her mother: "I love you very much." "It wasn't a cliché, like it is today. It wasn't said that often. Nowadays, it's said like 'goodbye'. You see, that touched my heart." They make a quick stop at Grandma Martha's to drop off Sibylle. Everyone there is still in their nightgowns. "At that time, there was a slump in the birth rate; not many children were being born. That's why the state passed a law in 1972 that a subsidy of 1,000 marks would be paid for every birth." Sigrid is alone in the delivery room, and the birth goes smoothly. Beate is born at 1 p.m. A nurse calls Dietmar at work to tell him that everything went well.
