Taking the Michael: Paul Oestreicher reflects on a life with his archangel

‘This legend was no fantasy.’

by Paul Oestreicher 22nd May 2026

My father was born to secular Jewish parents in 1896. Recruited in 1914 like all his school mates, and later a lieutenant in the Bavarian horse artillery, he survived the horrific battle of the Somme. He began to reflect on the meaning of life – and death. Medical study followed. As a young paediatrician, driving through the forest in deep snow, visiting a sick child, he heard a voice, stopped his little two-seater car: Paul, go and be baptised.