Wasn't he always Jewish?
I didn't know it was.
And when did you know it?
At 14 years old, next to dad's deathbed, in 1954.
What did your father tell you?
That he and mother were German Jews: father emigrated to Barcelona in 1933, when he was 31 years old.
And his mother?
Two years later. They had known each other since they were children. And they married. I was born in Barcelona in 1939, after the Civil War.
What prompted you to emigrate from Germany?
A book.
What book?
Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler. Published in 1923, my father read it... and believed it.
What was believed?
That Hitler would attack the Jews, as he said.
I wish millions of German Jews had left.
It is incomprehensible to me that they stayed, and then did not rebel against their captors and murderers.
Fear paralyzes...
This is how many relatives disappeared in Auschwitz, my father told me. Two of his brothers did emigrate to Palestine.
Why did his father wait to tell him he was Jewish?
It protected me from a national-Catholic clerical Spain. Here my parents had converted to Catholicism: they upset my Israeli uncles... who forgave them.
Are you converted by faith or pragmatism?
For not having problems. But I also say that Franco's ambassadors would save many Jews in Europe.
Rescue me some childhood memories.
I remember a toast in 1945, around my sixth birthday: World War II was ending and Hitler was dead!
What did you do when your father died?
He had a hardware store in Sants but it did poorly in the post-war period: we went through hardships. And when he died, I decided to emigrate.
Where to?
To Germany. Only me. She was 16 years old, it was 1956. I had to wake up.
It was almost a return trip.
I arrived in Berlin and worked in the KaDeWe (“Western”) department store and studied languages. I worked in his travel agency, and I had a stroke of luck.
Which?
An official came to get some tickets, he noticed my strange accent, I told him “I'm from Barcelona”… and he signed me as an interpreter… for Willy Brant!
The chancellor of Germany?!
I was his interpreter. I admired Brandt, a giant politician. I met many others...
For example?
Admiral Carrero Blanco. I had a bad time: in their half hour together... neither of them opened their mouths. What great tension!
And so?
They were two opposite worlds. When Carrero arrived, he had told me: “José, I have to hear mass every day, or else I'll leave.” It was difficult for me, but I found a Catholic priest.
Who else did you meet?
I shook J.F.'s hand. Kennedy, who was rehearsing his speech: “Two thousand years ago it was an honor to be a citizen of Rome, as it is today to be a citizen of Berlin: I am a Berliner!”
Did you sympathize with communism?
What happened in the Eastern bloc were left-wing dictatorships, it was not communism.
What is communism, in your opinion?
The Kibbutz of Israel have been the closest thing to communism that has existed: everything belonged to everyone. I lived in some.
How does the current war affect you?
At the age of 27, I already volunteered for the Six Day War, to die for Israel. When I arrived and joined... the war ended.
Would you do the same thing today if you were 27 years old?
Without hesitation. I am Spanish, German, Catalan, an agnostic Jew..., but I get emotional before the Wailing Wall.
Were you an interpreter for many years?
After ten years, I started as a commercial agent for the pharmaceutical company Schering (later Bayer): since 1968 I traveled the world promoting its contraceptive pill.
Well, it contributed to changing the world.
The pill protected the woman from an unwanted pregnancy: she became sexually liberated. Women's liberation changed the world.
Is it responsible for the low birth rate?
No: it responds to socioeconomic factors.
There is no male pill...
If I were a woman, I would not trust men and would protect myself. Oh, and for him to put on a condom.
What do you teach your grandchildren?
Let them talk to everyone and be grateful. I thank the street sweepers for how they sweep the street.
What has been the best thing in your life?
My wife Karin: always supported me. I've been missing it for 16 years... and I can't get over it. I tell her everything, I talk to her every day: today I will tell her about this interview with you.
