Beckcr in his 76th year, with the I I volumes of the Handbuch der Humangenetik at the left end of the top shelf.
the so-called coal vacations during the winter. These were occasioned by the fact that towards the end of the war no more coal was available to heat the school rooms. From my 4th year in high school (1918) until graduation (1927). I attended the Johanneum Realgymnasium in Hamburg. One event which occurred during my first year in that school is worth recounting. After the November revolution of 1918, the new city regime had ordered that the black-red-gold flag should be hoisted on the roof of the school. Among the students of the higher classes, this caused a strike; soon all the students were assembled in the schoolyard, and only after this "flag of the revolution" had been lowered was it possible for instructions to continue. With rare exceptions, the political orientation of our teachers was Deutsch-National, in other words, they belonged to the party of the right. Our parents "of course" also were Deutsch-National and loyal to the emperor. The Weimar Republic was rejected, the treaty of Versailles was called "a treaty of shame," and the collapse of the home front on account of the pacifist propaganda of the left (the later stab-in-the back legend) was held responsible for the humiliating outcome of the war.
High school left no deep impressions on me except for the fact that during the last year I had to take a course in inheritance and racial hygiene.
OTHER INTERESTS
During my 12th year I developed interests in the history and topography of Hamburg. At 14 or 15 years this became converted into a deep interest in geology. I