Autor: Juergen

In January 2012, I received an email from Gunter, informing us that he will be working with us while working at MD.
Our first meeting was at Fruit Logistica in Berlin in February. Looking back at the email, Gunter started the job with a lot of motivation and positive energy.
At the end of February, beginning of March, Gunter made his first trip to Israel. During this visit, we had quite a bit of rain. Gunter needed to take samples of the organic carrots with leaves back to Germany to the laboratories to be checked. I don’t think Gunter ever forgot that first visit as at the entrance to one of the fields, he stepped into a very deep puddle of water up to his tummy! He was completely soaked from the water!
Every visit he made to Israel which was around the season, he spent running up and down carrot fields collecting samples. (I will send you some of the pictures).
Working with Gunter was perfect! Despite not always being the most organised person out of the office, everything to do with work was completely organised. It was really a pleasure to work together and it gave us confidence to know that our produce was in his hands.
Near the end of 2014, Gunter suddenly disappeared ☹. We were unable to get hold of him. We were worried and it was very strange.
We finally managed to contact him and understood that he had left MD.
As our relationship with Gunter had become so close and we trusted him completely, we informed him that we wished to continue working with him so he should find a company to work with ??.
I think he already had a new place of work and so he needed to arrange the formalities of how to add the import of Israeli carrots to their business.
We knew that this is what we wanted to do. We had already got to know Gunter, the relationship was strong and in addition to the working relationship, we were also all becoming friends.
Visits here with Gunter, and our visits to Germany with him were always interesting. Gunter was very knowledgeable and was interested in lots of things. He took us to see places connected to Jewish history and any place he thought may be of interest to us.
It was also important for him that our customers should feel the same about us and Israel. Every visit here, we tried to take him and the customers to interesting places and last year, he arranged for a complete group to come here, together we were the tour guides as well as the Israeli organic carrot supplier.
During the years we knew Gunter, the time we spent with him was always quite intense as we had many kilometres to drive together. He was always looking for nice places to stay or to stop.
Sometimes, we gave Gunter challenges, like requesting from him to help sell our conventional carrots despite the company being an organic company. He really did his best to represent us.
I think that when he brought members of your family here to Israel, or brought us to meet you in Germany, it was because he too, recognised the friendship that we had and wanted to share it.
Gunter was very proud of his family. When I asked how you all are, he would tell me about the different stages each of you were at. He was very excited at becoming a Grandpa and it is good that he had some time to enjoy it.
In November 2019, Gunter sent us an email informing us of his illness. After that we only saw him in January on his visit and in February in Berlin.
It is difficult to say goodbye to someone who became so close to us.
Gunter was good hearted, jolly, caring and had a good sense of humour.
I will attach some of the pictures I have of him from over the years.
We greatly missed him this season and things will not be the same.
I hope I have managed to open a window to you so you can see the work side of Gunter.
We are always here if you ever come to visit in Israel.

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…..Ein Suchender ist jemand , der sucht, nicht unbedingt jemand der findet.
Auch ist es nicht unbedingt jemand der weiß, wonach er sucht. Es ist schlicht und einfach jemand, für den das Leben eine Suche ist…. ( Auszug aus einem Text von Jorge Bucay).
Ach Herje, gutster Günter : Ich such dann noch ein bischen hier weiter.
Das Bild entstand bei einer Wanderung in der Rhön im Herbst 2019

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Lieber Günter,

es waren nur wenige Stunden einer überschaubaren Anzahl von Tagen der vergangenen 5 Jahre; an denen ich mit Dir gemeinsam sitzen durfte, in kleiner Runde oder auch Mal nur zu Dritt, um Gedanken zu teilen oder zu überprüfen .
Doch mit dieser angenehm unaufgeregten Stimme (und dem Heimischen Dialekt) hast du mich vom ersten Abend an begeistert, getreu dem Motto:
Ich möchte Leute um mich haben,
die durch Zufall in mein Leben purzeln und mit voller Absicht bleiben

In tiefer Verbundenheit

Marc Wittenberg