My friend Gudrun and I have been friends for 53 years now. We were born in 1959 and 1961, respectively.
This friendship began when I moved to Bahrdorf at the age of 6 and became her neighbor. I practically spoke to her over the garden fence. We spent our childhood and youth together, growing up, and up until now. From 1980 to 1991, my girlfriend lived in Berlin. During these years, I visited her once a year, and we wrote each other long letters and postcards, "Pokas," as we called them. The special thing about the Pokas was that they were homemade, not purchased. They usually related to a topic that interested us at the time, and this is how entire "series" came about. The Pokas were also unusual. Sometimes they were particularly small, sometimes particularly large; sometimes a stickered tin would be sent, sometimes a fish cut out of a magazine. We called the stamps Paula, Leo, or Rahel, depending on who was pictured. We had fun sticking them in different corners of the pokas, hoping they wouldn't be postmarked and could travel again. I once had the pokas in frames, organized by topic, hanging on the wall; now I keep them in a large box. I sometimes rummage through them and then all the stories come back to me: the topic, the places, the letters. When we go away, of course, the other person has to send pokas. And even today, we collect the free advertising cards to make a poka out of them. After several moves, we now live only three kilometers apart, and I still enjoy every poka. They are all part of our friendship, which nothing and no one can tear apart.
