Margret Waldstein’s father was a German Jew and a member of
the Reichstag. When the Nazis came into power, she and her family escaped to Rio
de Janeiro. There, she met Hans Reyersbach, a Jewish salesman from Hamburg. They
married in 1935 and moved to Paris. June 14, 1940, Parisians woke to the sound
of tanks and loudspeakers. Paris was now occupied by Germany. Only a few hours
before the city fell, the young couple fled on bicycles Hans had built from
spare parts. They pedaled to Spain, where they bought tickets to Lisbon. From
there they returned to Brazil and finally settled in New York City. They’d escaped
with little more than the clothes on their backs, a manuscript Margret had written,
and Hans’ drawings of a cheeky monkey and a man with a yellow hat. Curious
George was first published by Houghton Mifflin in 1941. Eighty years later, the
mischievous monkey is as popular as ever.
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