ABSTRACT
It was a difficult birth, continuing over a period of three days. Goethe entered the world almost lifeless, ‘quite black’ as his mother said later. This meant, in fact, blue, through respiratory deficiency and interruption of the circulation; asphyxia is the medical term. There was no doctor present, only a midwife, who is said to have been clumsy, and the grandmother, who stood behind the blue check curtains of the bed; these curtains could be drawn. The child was shaken and rubbed under the heart with wine. ‘Ratin, he is alive,’ cried the old woman as the infant opened his eyes, very large dark brown, almost black eyes, as they were later described.
