It was exactly 22 days before Cuno Hoffmeister’s 65th birthday when I began my work at Sonneberg Observatory, following my studies at the University of Jena. In those days, all Sonneberg astronomers were busy preparing scientific papers which they were going to dedicate to their leader, with the exception of myself. I was not able to write a scientific paper in such a short time.

And I was quite ashamed when on the 2nd of February 1957 I had to offer my birthday congratulations empty-handed. But I distinctly remember how extremely happy he looked. Hoffmeister was near the zenith of his scientific career. New buildings and domes were planned or under construction, and the Zeiss company of Jena had promised to loan a 40 cm astrograph in compensation for the loss of a telescope to the Soviet Union as part of the reparations agreement of 1945.