Why Brocken-Benno became a myth?
First of all, the catchy alliteration helped: Brocken-Benno, that sounds better than Benno Schmidt.
Then the myth of the Brocken itself: Goethe climbed the mountain three times and sang about it in "Faust" on Walpurgis Night ("There the crowd flows to evil; / There many a riddle must be solved").
And then there was the division of Germany: Benno Schmidt, born on May 22, 1932 in Bochum and grew up in the Harz mountains, head of the planning department in the district office for trade and supply of the Wernigerode district, since 1983 divisional director in the consumer cooperative, hasn't been able to since 1961 on the chunk.
The highest mountain in the Harz (1141.2 meters) was in the border area between west and east, in the military restricted area.
Alphonse Kaiser
Responsible editor for the department "Germany and the World" and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Magazin.
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For almost three decades, Schmidt was annoyed that he wasn't allowed to go up.
From his place of residence in Wernigerode, he always looked up longingly.
He compensated for this shortcoming all the more: Since 1989 he has been going up again and again.
His ambition made him a symbolic figure in the German-German no man's land.
He made his 9,000th ascent on May 22, his 90th birthday, celebrating with friends at the Brockenwirt.
Brocken-Benno was up there for the last time on December 3rd, on the occasion of the 32nd anniversary of the opening.
On December 23, Benno Schmidt died in Wernigerode at the age of 90.