Who is Hans-Olaf Henkel?
Henkel was born into a well-to-do merchant family in Hamburg in 1940. His father, a successful paper wholesaler, died on the battlefront in Hungary. With a villa on the renowned Lake Rothenbaumchaus, the family was forced to live on reduced means after their home was bombed out. However, a good standard of living for the family was never seriously threatened. When Henkel’s mother took over the paper wholesale business after the war, the family soon returned to their former lifestyle. But because the young Henkel was to prove something of a burden to his venerable mother, she sent him to a boarding school for two years. Apparently, this was not to his liking. Apart from beatings from the nuns, the boy received bad marks in his studies. Henkel dates his passion for freedom back to this time. Later he attended a better school, enjoyed more freedom there, and was able to produce better marks. It was here that he first realised his basic philosophy: freedom depends on performing better. In
