Hans (H.A.) and Margret Rey were brief childhood acquaintances in their native Germany. However they were reunited while they were both working in Rio de Janeiro. They were married in 1935 and moved to the Montmartre district of Paris soon afterwards. However, as the political climate in Europe was changing, Hitler was poised to take over Paris in 1940. Hans and Margret fled on homemade bicycles with hardly anything but and a handful of manuscripts (one of which starred an inquisitive little monkey named Curious George) just hours before German troops marched into Paris. They briefly lived in Brazil once again, then made their way to New York City and ultimately settled and spent the rest of their lives in Cambridge, Massachussetts.