Vater und sohn

When I was about 8-9 years old, my brother, who happened to be my number one enemy back then- typical!, did something quite uncanny and gave me a birthday present: a book called "The stories of me and my father" in 3 volumes. It was the collection of strips by German cartoonist Erich Ohser aka E.O. Plauen and dealt with short adventures of a father and his son Eric. It was a wordless feature but, I believe for the first time, they had written the short plot in Persian on the opposite page. The father, even though depicted as a rough violent man with thick mustache and supposedly short temper was extremely light-hearted and kind in nature, the kid was a bit of small devil on surface but deep inside he was very thoughtful and sympathetic. They both had a established set of values like fairness in treating others, standing up for one's right, mutual respect and compassion and etc. Their small adventures had a moral lessen hidden behind them. The whole strip was educating, rich, amusing, funny and innocent - a perfect gift for a kid of that age. I enjoyed that book immensely and grew close to those characters. I remember that at the end of the 3rd volume, as an end was inevitable, their creator decided to send them to the sky (heaven): they walk into to the air as they are holding hands and eventually, the father becomes the face of the moon with a gentle smile while the son turns into the tiny little star beside him and thus, they become immortal forever. This sweet ending was incredibly tragic for me and made me cry a lot - and I still do when I think about it...I really had to battle through tears when writing this! I read in the introduction of that book about the cartoonist himself, that he was arrested for expressing anti Nazi opinions and committed suicide just before his trial. Had he not done that he would have possibly faced the death sentence anyhow. This also contributed more tragedy to the series ending...and even more tears as a result! Needless to say, I was -and still am as mentioned before- touched profoundly by this invaluable piece of artwork for children and this short note, is hereby meant to pay homage that great work. I am going to put some of these adventures in here every now and then to continue with my tribute -though it may be cut short as I don't have my books anymore :(- without intentionally conforming to copyright issues since the sources of them are possibly various places on the internet and it's hard to keep track them. I hope that it is understood that I mean well.

I remember that, on the back cover of the book, there was a small picture of Ohser during work while his young son, presumably at the same age of Eric, watching by. That truly showed their gentle relationship of a father and his son. I have always maintained that there is something special in the relationship of fathers and their sons and yet, I have much difficulty to pinpoint it with words. One small attempt in this sense would be a series of letters that a father carved on handmade radio and gave it to his son in the movie "Men of Honor" which read: "ASNF: A son never forgets!"