Jürgen Becker visits his childhood: memories in Zollstock!

Jürgen Becker visits his childhood: memories in Zollstock!

If you stroll along the streets in Zollstock, you will pass striking places that tell stories from contemporary witnesses. Jürgen Becker, a real Cologne veteran, has decided to explore this special district in a nostalgic way. His journey begins at Kröver Straße 1, where as a child he lived on the third floor with his family until they moved into the terraced houses after the war. “I spent my childhood here, always in the mud with the Matchbox cars,” Becker remembers with a smile. He is particularly fond of the workshops behind Höninger Weg, and on his forays he meets old neighbors and asks about the motorcyclist Reinhard Scholtis, who also grew up in the area and is now 92 years old.

The interest in Scholtis is no coincidence: the legendary racing driver dates back to the 1960s, when he earned his first spurs in motorsport. “I remember well the stories of his appearances on the old Südschleife of the Nürburgring,” says Becker. Scholtis opens the door to his apartment and proudly presents the trophies and pictures from his playing days while he talks about his successes. Reinhard Scholtis, who began tuning motorcycles after his journeyman's exam in 1958, quickly became a sought-after driver - he held several lap records, including one on the Nürburgring-Südschleife. As Becker emphasizes, he achieved these successes “with a lot of sweat and a good deal of passion.”

The memories of motorsport

During his school days, Becker had a lot of ties to the Rosenzweig School and raised the flag of joy about the school trips to Zollstocker Hof. Today, when he looks at the settlement architecture from the 1920s and 1950s, he particularly appreciates the variety of building styles. He particularly likes to call the commercial settlement on Höninger Weg “favelas” – a mixture of history and urban life. Becker's passion for motorcycles has also found a place in his life, as he has had his 1955 Minsk converted to an electric drive and is impressed by the work of a local car painter.

Scholtis’ career is an exciting story in motorsport. After he completed his first races - the first of which was on the old Südschleife of the Nürburgring, where he finished 5th - he quickly developed further. He experimented with different engines, set lap records and became one of the first Kawasaki dealers in Germany. “When I think about the exciting races and how technology has changed in the last few decades, it warms my heart,” emphasizes the passionate biker.

Nostalgic recommendations and plans

Becker, who is full of ideas and hosted the midnight peaks for over a decade, is now planning a tour to Hamburg with his program “Your Disco – History in Slices”. He brings the Cologne charm to the Hanseatic city and has some recommendations for the neighborhood. Whether the Café Lilofee in the Indian settlement or the crepe stand, he is happy to recommend the local shops and cafés and shows that modern trends also count alongside the history of the district.

Becker and Scholtis are living witnesses to a history that goes back to another time and reflects the development of Zollstock in all its facets. Whether in the workshop or on the racetrack - they show that passion always has a place, no matter what age you are.

Read more about Jürgen Becker and his experiences in Zollstock ksta.de and find out more about the motorsport legend Reinhard Scholtis mvc-brenig.de. Further interesting information about the history of motorsports is available motorsportarchiv.de.