Bravo, 1977: A dream has come true for Anni-Frid: "I've always wanted a father like this"

"When I heard from Bravo that my father was alive and when I subsequently had talked to him, all I did was cry for hours. I couldn't get a single night of sleep anymore. I wanted to meet my father as soon as possible," Anni-Frid tells Bravo. "It's strange and at the same time fascinating to have an origin all of a sudden after 32 years, to get to know your own father and keep thinking: 'is it really him or does he only want to give himself an air of importance?' Everything that has happened in the past few days has had a huge impact on me. It was a tremendous stream of emotions that threatened to wipe me away. I was happier than I had ever been in my whole life and at the same time sad."

Even now, Anni-Frid still isn't able to believe it all. Slowly, she can get used to the idea that she has a father after 32 years, not to be an orphan anymore - something she had believed all those years.

"I kept hoping that I would be albe to meet my father only once at some point in the future. After my mother died so young, when I was only two years old. At one point, I was in Narvik, Norway and talked to neighbours and former acquaintances of my mother, to find out more about my father. I tried to find him through the Red Cross foundation. But all traces ended on a German ship that went down in 1945 near Denmark. And my mother´s acquaintances told me that my father wasn't like most other German soldiers. They thought he was very nice and tender. Still, they warned my mother for this relationship and when I was born I was a 'tyskbarn' which means something like 'German child' and at the time - 1945, after World War II - it was a severe abusive word."

That's why Anni-Frid's grandmother left Narvik two years later, after Anni-Frid's mother had died. "I would be able to grow up in Sweden unencumbered and without being reminded of anything. Initially, I even thought I was born in Sweden. It wasn't until I was old enough that my grandmother told me everything. But only now I learned the whole truth about my origin. When I finally faced my German father on September 9, my last doubts disappeared. Without saying a word, we fell into each other's arms. It was an indescribable feeling that I can't put into words. I just kept looking at him and thought that I was dreaming. I was also relieved that he is so sympathetic and that he has an open and reliable character. I always wanted a father like that. My desire for such a father was so strong that I saw my father in every elderly gentleman that seemed sympathetic to me. Now I finally had the real deal with me. I noticed that we had so much in common and I also saw a resemblance in our outwardly features. We both have the same nose, we have the same somewhat bended forefinger and when I walked around barefooted one day, my father took off his shoes and socks and smiled. We even have the same feet."

Benny liked Alfred Haase right away too. He was impressed by his open and honest nature. For the near future, Anni-Frid and Alfred Haase have planned to see each other more often.