Hey guys, quick heads up. This episode mentions suicidal thoughts. Okay, here's the show.

Produced by the island at WBUR Boston.

You're 92. Are you afraid of dying?

Oh, not at all. I'm ready. I'm I'm so ready. I got

it. If it comes tonight or tomorrow or sooner or it doesn't really matter.

It's fine with me. I feel I feel relaxed.

This might seem like a strange question to start with, but the man who

story we are bringing you today has spent most of his life not ready to die.

He's come close many times, but he's always managed to avoid it.

Now that he's finally telling his life story, he seems ready for his life story to end.

So we're getting that story from him. One piece at a time.

Hello, Robert. Hello.

This is Robert Middellman, M-I-D-D-E-L-M-A-N-N.

I was born July the 10th, 1927 in Germany in the Ruhe Valley.

Robert lives in British Columbia outside of Vancouver.

Alt in the sticks to say, you know what? We like it.

Roberts come a long way, literally and figuratively, to get to the sticks of British Columbia.

But it's the earlier years of Robert's life in Germany that we wanted to know about.

What kinds of things did your family need to do to survive?

To put the swastika flag out on holidays, to blend in with the rest of the people,

and also say, hi, little, and you're going to the store and greet people.

Anyway, in the street, hi, little, you raise your hand, hi, little,

...