A cell physiologist between East and West Germany.

I was born in 1942 in the small city of Halberstadt. My fa8 ther was a surgeon and owned a small private clinic, he ended 9 up in jail in 1943 when he said something critical about 10 the Nazi regime. In April 1945, Halberstadt was bombed 11 flat. My mother fled with me as a little child into the rocks 12 surrounding the city. In May 1945, the Nazi regime ended 13 and my father was released as a sick and aged person. Es14 sentially, I grew up under the love of my grandmother. I 15 had a childhood very much like other children in those post 16 war days in Leipzig, a medium-sized city in the “wrong” 17 eastern part of Germany, the GDR (German Democratic 18 Republic). 19 At the age of 16, I spent my summer vacations with the 20 Ramshorn family. The Ramshorns lived in the countryside in 21 an Institute of the German Academy where father Ramshorn 22 was a Professor of plant physiology. I enjoyed the family 23 with daughter Elisabeth and son Reinhard, but I was excited 24 by the father who introduced me to the laboratory: using a 25 stopwatch, I observed how seedlings changed their colour 26