Willi Dickhut, born in 1904, was four years old when his father died in an accident. He consciously experienced hunger, hardship and misery during the First World War. In 1918 he took up an apprenticeship as fitter and lathe operator in his hometown Schalksmühle in the Sauerland region. As apprentice he participated in the general strike against the Kapp Putsch in 1920. In early 1921 Willi Dickhut joined the German Metal Workers' Union. In 1924, for the first time he was "disciplined," i.e., summarily dismissed for taking part in a weeks-long strike in defense of the eight-hour workday. In 1926 Willi Dickhut became a member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and a functionary of the working-class movement. This is where his factual report, That's How It Was…, begins…