Hans Augusto Reyersbach was born on September 16, 1898, in Hamburg, Germany. From a very young age, he showed an interest in both animals and drawing. Margarete Elizabeth Waldstein was born in Hamburg on May 16, 1906, and was also interested in art, eventually studying at the famous Bauhaus Institute. The two met briefly when Hans visited her father’s home and saw the young girl sliding down the banister.
After serving in World War I, Hans made a living drawing illustrations for the local circus before he moved to Brazil. There, he traveled the Amazon River and became enchanted by the troops of monkeys he found swinging from the jungle vines. While working in his family business in Rio de Janeiro selling bathtubs, he discovered that Margarete had also moved to Brazil to escape the Nazis, and they were married on August 16, 1935.
In South America, the couple shortened their names to H.A. and Margret Rey, in order to make it easier for their new countrymen to pronounce. They loved animals and briefly shared a home with two pet marmoset monkeys.
Honeymooning in Europe, the newlyweds fell in love with Paris and decided to stay there indefinitely. They set up house in a bohemian hotel in Montmartre, where H.A. worked as a newspaper cartoonist. When a publisher saw one of H.A.’s cartoons, he asked him to expand upon them—resulting in the Reys’ first book, Cecily G. and the 9 Monkeys, published in 1939. H.A. came up with the ideas and the illustrations, while Margret took care of the plot and the writing. One of the book’s most interesting characters was an insatiably inquisitive monkey named Fifi who always managed to find himself in trouble. The Reys fell in love with the character and decided that their next book would focus on Fifi.
According to Curious George historian and author Louise Borden (The Journey that Saved Curious George), “Some people close to the Reys have stated that Margret was a bit like George in her antics, in her zest for life. The executor of the Rey estate told me that Margret actually posed on a few occasions for Hans when he was doing his illustrations. She would put her finger in her mouth or tilt her head a certain way. Margret was a bit stocky and a bit short, and so she became George on occasion.” Hans also drew from other characters in his life. The Man with the Yellow Hat, according to Borden, “was loosely modeled after an absent-minded professor friend that they [the Reys] knew—a man who had gone to school with Hans in Germany.”
As the Nazis advanced toward Paris in the blitzkrieg of May 1940, the couple, both German-born Jews, decided to flee to America where Margret’s sister lived. Hans quickly cobbled together two bicycles out of spare parts for their getaway, and they escaped only hours before the Nazis invaded the city. Traveling with only a few clothes, bread and cheese and five manuscripts that included their latest book, The Adventures of Fifi, they bicycled for four days—sleeping in stables across the countryside. When they reached the Spanish border, they sold the bikes for train fare to Lisbon. While on the train, the Reys were detained when an official, hearing their heavy German accents, suspected they might be spies and searched through Hans’ satchel. Discovering The Adventures of Fifi, he understood they were children’s book authors and handed back their passports and visas and moved on.
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