Peter's uncle and aunt in 1890

The African fauna clearly aroused a great wonderment in the young boy. "Upon his return to Dortmund, he dragged everything into his house, dogs, cats, fish, birds, and other animals", his sister related to us. As soon as one of the animals died, Peter set about to studying its internal organs, and our aunt got specially upset when the odor of decay filled the whole house. Later, I often asked myself if all of those animals had died natural deaths...

At the age of thirteen, after another visit to his father, Peter impressed his aunt and sister with a sentence that foreshadowed the destiny of the young researcher.
Elke remembers the scene very vividly: Peter has always been very introverted, but after his return he would hardly speak at all for days, and if he did speak, it was only about animals and more animals. When Aunt Maria asked him if he had liked the animals, then, he replied succintly: Yes, from the outside and from the inside.







His aunt Mary at Dortmund



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