In the seventies, he crossed the African continent by bicycle, visited the Ibo and Haussa tribes in the heartlands of Nigeria and Cameroon, and touched areas that had not been accessed by foreigners for generations.

It came naturally that he devoted his time in subsequent years to writing travel books. In the early eighties, Matthias joined the ranks of political peace activists in the United States, teaming up with Cora Weiss, William Sloane Coffin Jr., the brothers Berrigan and Reverend Mike Clark, getting arrested for spilling his blood and chaining himself to nuclear sites along the Eastern seaboard of the United States.

At the same time, Matthias began to translate books into his native German – inspired by E.J. Gold's New American Book of the Dead, which was Matthias' very first translation job. Ever since, he has been an avid translator and has collaborated with many large and small publishing houses in Germany and Switzerland as Copy Editor, Literary Agent and Publishing Consultant.

Since the seventies, Matthias has been an active member of the art community. He participated in Joseph Beuys' Documenta VII "Direct Democracy" campaign, published interviews with Artists, Museum People and Gallery owners in German magazines, organized solo and group shows for U.S. artists in Germany, and worked as art consultant and curator for Heidelberg Editions International.

His own gallery in Berlin, Edition Heidelberg, was the first gallery in Europe to show works of E. J. Gold.

After five stressed-out years in the entertainment industry of the nineties, as associate producer for a number of shows for German TV stations, and head-writer for a daily entertainment news show (including the unavoidable subsequent burnout), Matthias presently enjoys the healthy and healing chores of farm-life in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in Northern California.

Besides tending garden and animals, Matthias enjoys a budding career as a fine artist together with his fellow artists in the Grass Valley Graphics Group, along with occasional relapses into the world of media, software and television as creative consultant, copy writer, translator, voice-over talent and graphic designer.