Manuel Walter-Kurkjian

Ethnic Armenian with Palestinian citizenship, since 1948 stateless, 1960 -1977 Lebanese citizen, German citizenship since 1977.
Born in 1938 in Haifa (Palestine) as Raffi Ispirian. In 1948 the family fled to  Lebanon.
In the 1960s Raffi managed to illegally receive a new identity in Beirut. The Lebanese Manuel Kurkjian emigrated in 1961 to Germany in order find a job there as a guest worker. Due to a serious disease he had to subsequently change his profession.
After medical treatment in the psychiatric clinic in Ulm, Manuel was adopted by a German woman, Ursula Walter. In 1972 Manuel married Irmgard.
Nowadays the German pensioner lives with his wife in the Bavarian town Selbitz.
Besides his mother-tongue Armenian, he speaks German and English fluently as well as some Arabic, Turkish and French.
In 1974 he returned to Beirut to introduce his wife and daughter to his parents, while there he underwent a traumatic experience. The baby, Jasmin, could not leave Lebanon temporarily because of unclear affairs of citizenship.  This was a disaster for Manuel, and as a consequence he never returned to Beirut, even for the funeral of his parents.
Now, after so many years, Manuel feels a need to go back to his former home, Lebanon, and face his pain and loss.

Apart from Manuel’s dramatic life story, his charismatic, likeable and humorous character will contribute to carry the story line.