This is My History and the ‘View of the Future Shaped by the Past’ series, in which we are proud to present Paul Collowald. Mr Collowald is a journalist and writer who witnessed the emergence of today’s European Union first hand. It all started when he met one of the EU’s founding fathers, Robert Schuman. He would later go on to work in many roles at the European Commission and the European Parliament, including Director-General for Information and Head of the Private Office of Parliament President Pierre Pflimlin. His story is divided into two parts. This is part one, in which he tells us about his early life in Europe during the war. In part two, he shares his experience of working with the EU’s founding fathers. This podcast is based on an interview by Valter Mavrič, Director-General for Translation at the European Parliament.