Spätlese

At 90 years old, Bishop Reinhold Stecher reflects on a life full of experiences. He recalls the hardships and misery during times of dictatorship and war, encounters and coincidences, as well as moments of joy and the absurd – and what remains is the certainty: Life is a gift. For the first time, Stecher shares in this book how he narrowly escaped death multiple times: in the Innsbruck police prison, in the barracks of Werschowitz (Prague), in the forests by Lake Ilmen (Karelia), and later during an avalanche in the high mountains. He reminisces about his time as a student, the interactions with children and young people, where he "went to school" as a teacher and later as a bishop. It is a grateful look back at a life in which the author recognizes God's mercy as "a love that is stronger than death." "But there is no light without shadow," writes the Innsbruck native.