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“Do you know Peter?”
Katharina Apitius, Head of Sales EMEIR
“The Jordanian desert shimmered in the midday heat. During my business trip, I happened to strike up a conversation with a professor. ”I'm responsible for Europe,“ I explained to him. His eyes lit up with curiosity: ”Interesting!" “We also have a very strong presence in Switzerland; I'm practically married to it,” I added. The professor, who introduced himself as Ahmed, asked, “Great, do you know Peter?” A simple question, which I answered spontaneously with “yes.” Of course I knew a Peter.
Two Swiss men in the picture
When the professor led me into his study and pointed to a photo on the wall showing two young men in Switzerland, I realized that one was himself and the other was Peter, a renowned orthopedic surgeon from Switzerland whom I knew very well. Ahmed remembered that they had worked together for six months and then lost touch. “If you see him again, please give him my regards,” he asked me and gave me his contact details.
Chance brings the solution
A week later, a conference was held in the Baltic States. And as luck would have it, I met Peter there and brought the two professors, Ahmed and Peter, who were now both emeritus, together. After years apart, they were reunited by a business trip. Wilhelm von Humboldt was right: “It is basically the connections between people that give life its value.” I, too, am fascinated by these networks beyond the maps, which build bridges between stories, between cultures, and between people.