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History of Grand Master O. E. Simon |
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1940’s
As a young German boy Olaf Simon was conscripted into the “Hitler Youth”, fighting for Germany in the final months of World War II. After the war he was captured by the Americans and spent a short time in an American prison camp, after which he was discharged and allowed to go home. Upon crossing the border into East Germany the Russians picked him up and sent him to a Siberian Gulag! His fictional book "Shalom" (1975) gives insight into his experiences in the Soviet Prison Camp.
"GMS then was
drafted into the German Army (not the Nazi Party). In Germany during the
1940’s you either fought or were shot... Olaf Simons mother was killed in
a German Concentration Camp in what is now Poland and he himself has
Jewish roots which were undiscovered during the war. A very distinguishing characteristic of Olaf is that he is missing his left thumb. This apparently occurred sometime during WW II. He escaped from the Gulag and traveled back to Western Europe, partially through Russia and Mongolia, ultimately surrendering himself to the British Army. This part of his life is fictionalized in his books known as the "Adventure Series": "The White Priest" (1980), "Takuan the Manchurian" (1997) and "The Tigers of Sinquang" (1997). “He was in fact in
Beijing at the time of the Boxer Rebellion (he claims) and because his
father was a man of much respect and integrity he was the (again these are
his facts, not mine) only westerner allowed to study with the temple. When
the temples were destroyed by the communist regime he fled along nomadic
trading routes and hid among the gypsies who often traded with the monks.
He made his way, on foot, to Germany and eventually to Canada. He's got a
nice set of scars along his chest where he was shot up. Whether any
of that is true or not, I don't know. He's getting pretty old and it's
hard to tell what to believe. Before age 10 a Chinese friend of his
father taught him some Kung Fu. At age 11 he enrolled in a military
academy in Germany where he learned Karate. At age 15 he left the
academy and served in the German army on an anti-aircraft gun at the end
of the war was arrested by the Russian secret police that was at age 16.
He was imprisoned in Siberia. After 9 months he escaped from Siberia back
to Poland. In Germany he earned his Ph.D. in philosophy and literature.
In 1955 he was back in a Russian prison. After 4 months he was exchanged
for a Communist agent captured in the Western sector. He returned to
Germany and got drafted by the German army." He is said to have studied at the Gena University in Germany, (The same university where Karl Marx studied?). He received a doctorate for his literary achievements and was among 20 individuals given the National Prize for literature from Gena in 1949. During this time he also worked with a student body in the underground movement against the Communist Government in East Germany. Eventually he fled to West Berlin before the Berlin Wall was erected. 1950’s There is very little knowledge of Mr. Simon’s life during this era, however he has told stories in past mediation seminars that he helped out the “Americans” in West Berlin gathering intelligence about Russian activity in East Berlin, helping defectors etc. Real ‘Cloak and Dagger” espionage stuff. His fictional book "Curse of the Gods" deals with this subject matter and like most of his works is possibly based on on his life experience. Sometime before 1960 Olaf Simon studied boxing in Germany at an amateur level.
(without prejudice) |
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