In the early 1950s, Honka started an apprenticeship as a bricklayer, but had to give it up due to an allergy. Honka fled to West Germany in 1951 and started work as an unskilled farm worker in the small village of Brockhöfe on the Lüneburg Heath. He had an affair with a woman named Margot which yielded a son, Heinrich. Honka had to pay 3000 Deutschmarks alimony and left the village. In 1956 he came to Hamburg and was employed as a harbour worker at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft. A serious traffic accident in 1956 smashed his nose and gave him a pronounced squint. In 1957 he married Inge and had a son called Fritz, but the marriage failed and they separated in 1960. Neighbours recall violent scenes in their flat. The couple reconciled, but separated a second time in 1967.