Hermann—Karin

Hermann and Karin’s partnership is a late, consequential relationship in Hermann’s life: he moves to Lübeck to live with her and her two young children, separating from his wife, but illness and renewed dependence unsettle the new household. The relationship’s place in the family is marked by both intimacy and concealment; as Hermann’s condition worsens, he avoids introducing his son to Karin and the children, then returns to the family home, while Karin’s calls remain a point of conflict during his wife’s return.

Meeting and a New Household

Hermann met Karin on a train. She was much younger than he was and lived in Lübeck with her two small children. By the time he moved in with her, his marriage had become hard for him and his wife to endure: their children had left home, the family dog was gone, and their worries had taken different forms. His decision to join Karin thus changed the household arrangement rather than simply adding a new relationship to an otherwise stable family life.

The timing carries particular weight because Hermann had already received a grave diagnosis. After he passed blood, the affected kidney was removed within a day; he told his son that the risk of recurrence would take six years to diminish significantly. The account does not explain how the relationship began in detail, but it places Hermann’s move to Lübeck amid the accelerating pressures of illness and marital estrangement.

Illness and Withdrawal

When Hermann’s cancer returned, first with pain in his leg and then with tiny shadows found on his lungs, Karin’s household became increasingly difficult for him to inhabit. He tried to resume work, but could no longer manage it. He also avoided having his son meet Karin and her children, a separation that the son says suited him. Hermann lived with Karin’s family while feeling more and more like an imposition on a life that, in his view, was not ready for his illness.

During a visit, Hermann spoke directly about Karin, naming her as the woman in Lübeck and recalling that they had met on the train. His remarks also show how his attention had shifted back toward his estranged wife, who was then living and working in Italy. He wondered aloud what she was doing there alone and dismissed the idea that the separation made sense. The account presents this not as a clear decision to resume the marriage, but as evidence that his new partnership had not erased his attachment to his earlier family life.

Eventually Hermann chose to leave Karin’s home and return to the house where he had raised his family, now situated within the psychiatric hospital. He came back sick and alone. His return was driven in the narrative by his sense of being a burden and by the mismatch between his worsening needs and the new family life he had joined; the account does not say that Karin expelled him or that their partnership formally ended.

Karin and Hermann’s Wife During His Final Illness

Hermann’s wife later remained with him as his illness advanced. She told him that there must be no more secret telephone calls from Karin, or she would leave and let him die alone. The ultimatum confirms that Karin remained present in the couple’s life through contact, even after Hermann had returned to the family home. The son doubts that his father kept the promise, but does not establish whether the calls continued.

This final arrangement leaves the partnership’s ending unresolved. Karin is neither described as returning to Hermann’s bedside nor definitively removed from his life; instead, her continued calls stand alongside his wife’s hands-on care. The narrative keeps the two relationships distinct: Hermann’s wife shares the practical burden of his last weeks, while Karin remains a connection he may not have relinquished.

Significance in Hermann’s Story

The relationship exposes the instability of the future Hermann tried to build after his marriage faltered. Lübeck initially meant a new household and a life with Karin and her children, but his cancer made ordinary participation in that life increasingly difficult. His return home does not simply reverse the separation: the secret-call ultimatum shows that the earlier partnership persists as an unresolved presence even while his wife cares for him.

The account withholds a definitive verdict on Hermann and Karin. It gives concrete markers of their life together—the train where they met, the home in Lübeck, Karin’s two children, and the calls—but not a full history of their intimacy or a stated final break. That incompleteness fits the broader account of Hermann’s last years, in which illness overturns plans and relationships without neatly settling what they meant.