Thirst for knowledge despite corporal punishment

As a six-year-old, Schmidt (front row, third from left) learns to play chess, reads everything he can get his hands on from an early age and enjoys arguing the point. As a result, his family calls him a »chatterbox«. Only a little is known about his early school years; in 1992, he recalls: »I spent my four primary school years from 1925 to 1929 at the ›Volksschule‹ at number 22 Wallstraße. They still had corporal punishment there, with the cane, or by hitting your fingers with a ruler or by slapping your face from the left and right with leather gloves that were armed with buttons.«