A follow-up came in the mornings, when I was invited to join my grandfather and
Magda: He then told me stories by Wilhelm Hauff, for example the one about
“Dwarf Nose,” in which a community is described whose only purpose in life is to
work, buy and sell, and earn money. Later on, my grandfather’s arms and legs
became parts of animals, some of them as dangerous as crocodile jaws; there was
the frightening roar of lions that made me run away. The breakfasts that followed
compensated for all this suffering. It would start with him reciting one of the many
poems by Goethe, Schiller, Rilke, and others that he knew by heart. The themes
were again mostly linked to Nature, for example the Easter poem in Goethe’s
Fig. 2 Family reunion in Freiburg on the 70th birthday of Hermann Staudinger on 23rd March
1951. From left to right: Hilde Ru ¨egg-Staudinger, Dora Lezzi (at the back), Luzia Kaufmann
(in front), Hermann Staudinger, Urs Ru ¨egg (between his knees), Peter Kaufmann (at the back),
Eva Lezzi-Staudinger, Hansju ¨rgen Staudinger (at the back), Klara Kaufmann-Staudinger, Gabriele
Staudinger-Schwarz, statue of Franz Staudinger (father of Hermann). Not in the picture: Magda
Staudinger; Max, Ju ¨rg and Markus Lezzi; Monika, Reinhard and Peter Staudinger; Gustav and
Ulrich Kaufmann (Courtesy of Markus Lezzi)
Foreword: Memories of Hermann Staudinger by one of his grandchildren
vii
Magda: He then told me stories by Wilhelm Hauff, for example the one about
“Dwarf Nose,” in which a community is described whose only purpose in life is to
work, buy and sell, and earn money. Later on, my grandfather’s arms and legs
became parts of animals, some of them as dangerous as crocodile jaws; there was
the frightening roar of lions that made me run away. The breakfasts that followed
compensated for all this suffering. It would start with him reciting one of the many
poems by Goethe, Schiller, Rilke, and others that he knew by heart. The themes
were again mostly linked to Nature, for example the Easter poem in Goethe’s
Fig. 2 Family reunion in Freiburg on the 70th birthday of Hermann Staudinger on 23rd March
1951. From left to right: Hilde Ru ¨egg-Staudinger, Dora Lezzi (at the back), Luzia Kaufmann
(in front), Hermann Staudinger, Urs Ru ¨egg (between his knees), Peter Kaufmann (at the back),
Eva Lezzi-Staudinger, Hansju ¨rgen Staudinger (at the back), Klara Kaufmann-Staudinger, Gabriele
Staudinger-Schwarz, statue of Franz Staudinger (father of Hermann). Not in the picture: Magda
Staudinger; Max, Ju ¨rg and Markus Lezzi; Monika, Reinhard and Peter Staudinger; Gustav and
Ulrich Kaufmann (Courtesy of Markus Lezzi)
Foreword: Memories of Hermann Staudinger by one of his grandchildren
vii