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I have never been so happy about anything before

   At that time there were big department stores in Cologne. One of them was ‘Peters’ and another was ‘Tietz’, and they kept chasing me out. I always wanted to see the electric train sets, which really fascinated me as a child. And they used to chase me out of ‘Peters’ and I would say to my mother, “If you ever buy a train set, never buy one in Peters.” There’s a lesson there: Never chase children out if they are well-behaved; eventually they’ll become customers, won’t they?

   And then, for my 9th birthday, I think, – was it my 8th or 9th birthday? – I was pretty ill, I had jaundice. They made up an extra bed for me in our dining room. And there was an electric train set. I don’t think I have ever been so happy about anything before or since. The department manager came then and showed how it worked. Oh, it was amazing. And of course that was the time I had to leave, I had to leave everything... [behind].
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