Group photo football team, 1962
Salih Ucar is born in Istanbul and moves to Germany at the age of 19 for his engineering studies. The university in Stuttgart has an excellent reputation among architects and civil engineers at that time. His friends envy him when they say goodbye to him at the Sirkeci train station in Istanbul on February 19, 1957. Before starting his studies, he first completes a three-month internship at a construction site in Sindelfingen. He meets his future wife, Rosemarie, while dancing. After the birth of their son, they try to build a new life in Turkey. However, working conditions in Istanbul are poor, and the political situation in Turkey in the 1960s is tense. In 1969, the Ucar family returns to Germany. For 30 years, Salih Ucar works in an engineering office in Stuttgart. Since 2003, Salih and Rosemarie Ucar have been living in Tübingen. Salih Ucar’s great passion is football. In the group photo of his student football team, he wears a black jersey. For him, his team represents a piece of home, as the team consists of other Turkish students. By playing football with his Turkish classmates, he forgets his homesickness and also makes contact with other German students during football matches. He and the other students from his team regularly organize tournaments on the university campus.
