Schiffweiler – With an iron will, he fought his way out of the wheelchair back onto his own legs. For ex-Environment Minister Stefan Mörsdorf (60) after his stroke in July 2012, giving up was out of the question. Four years later he picked up the pilgrim’s staff and set out on the Camino de Santiago.
The first stages are done. Mörsdorf has already mastered a 1400 meter pass in the Massif Central mountains in the south of France. Always with his big goal in mind: the Spanish pilgrimage site of Santiago de Compostela.
At the start of Stefan Mörsdorf’s pilgrimage tour, zoo director Norbert Fritsch was there
He wrote down his experiences. Mörsdorf’s first book (“Step by Step – On the Star Path Back to Life”) was published in 2018. Now followed the sequel “Milans im Winde – On the Way of St. James through Lorraine” (Edition Schaumberg, 327 pages, 25 euros).
The 60-year-old: “It is the unexpected experiences along the way, the encounter with simple but unusual people that make the pilgrimage a delightful and never boring adventure again and again.”
A stage companion is the Neunkirchen zoo director Norbert Fritsch (63). Time for little anecdotes from the life of the two friends, which Mörsdorf also describes in his book.
► THE “OKAPI” AFFAIR:
Fritsch had met a woman while on vacation, described her with gestures at a men’s cooking evening: “Legs like an okapi!”
Ex-MP Peter Müller (65), according to Mörsdorf’s descriptions, also belonged to the wine-loving group back then. As the hour went on, a bet came up: Müller claimed that he could easily use the word “okapi” in a press conference. Mörsdorf held against it.
Unfortunately bet on the wrong giraffe!
He recalls: “When he announced his retirement from politics, he said the following sentence: ‘It is true that Caligula has made his horse a senator. But I am not proposing an okapi, but Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer for my successor. ‘”
Mörsdorf was poorer by a case of red wine, and his book was one episode richer.
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