In my family we did not have had that form of conversations. But we children were told narratives about times of life of my parents. They shared their life experiences with us. I grew up in a working class family.

We are German late repatriates from Russia. My parents and grandparents both experienced the war. They experienced horrible things and they talked to us children about it. In the form that they gave us living images of where they were taken, who captured them and how they survived. It amazes me to this day that my mother never spoke hateful about her prison guards, but only about what helped her to survive these times. What I learned was that she could not be bent, although she was recruited for forced labor and was treated very badly. When the release came from the camp, my family tried for another twenty years to get out of the country. They finally managed to come to Germany with six children.

My mother talked very well about her father, who managed to keep the family together and a cool head and compassionate heart. If he had been bitter about war and death, this would have had a great influence on his children and also on me as a subsequent generation.

One thing I learned from the encouraging stories: that conversation and debates about religion or politics do not make you a wise political citizen. On the contrary. The heated clashes, which inevitably come to the church like the amen, cause families to divide and the young people then run to political events in back rooms to form up into activists where they express their displeasure and hatred. So the Nazis came to power in Germany. By hateful people.

Politics does indeed begin in the family. I can be an example of how I behave towards the people who influence my son. However, when I see myself as a puppet of higher powers, my son is also influenced by this attitude. He must see where I live example of my integrity when I face authorities. I don't see them as "above me", so I don't have to hate them.

The most impressive experiences do not happen at the kitchen table, where one debates, but through life itself. I'm always a role model for younger people. If I have no self-esteem, it's contagious.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very much in favour of people talking to each other. But I have to say that it was my parents' stories that motivated me politically rather than their political and religious attitudes. In other families I watched this kind of disputing and children and parents then regularly were turning their backs towards each other. Some families indeed break apart over political and religious affairs.

So it's good to be told examples of how things became better and good instead of preaching against government and authorities.