pauly was born in paris, france. he grew up, however, in la chaux de fonds, switzerland in what was called a strange "dickensian" childhood where he was forced to stay as a live-in servant to a new family. for the first 16 years of his life, pauly lived an inward life as he was mixed race in an all white town, finding solace in books/reading and model construction. at 16 he ran away and put himself through high school in wuppertal, germany after one year working with disabled people for a local church-run institution. his work led to a scholarship to the university of kiel.