National Socalism

Father was born Swiss, his father Swiss-German (Hapsburg) and his mother Swiss-Austria/Hungary (Kyburg) parents.  So just like every other little kid on the block - he was a Swiss National in a German speaking family.  The area he grew up in was decidedly German.

Albert Plattner, center.  1937

But, unlike every other kid on the block, father was a member of the Hitler Jugend - the Nazi Youth  Movement, also known as the Kinderkorps.  Apparently, this was quite a sore point between him and his father, whom was not a German sympathizer in Germany's international problems. He had marched for Bismark and learned the futility of war in The Great War.

Father never would discuss  with me why he left home and his sisters told me that he simply ran away from home one night.  End of story.  No one knew anything else.  However, father in his highly fictional tome on his life - said that he left home when he and his father got into a fight over his political leaning and his father struck him for the first time!  (I think I shocked my aunts when I told them that should have happened years earlier in my opinion!)

It would not be hard to see how it all fell together.  Father was a closet Nazi, Germany was triumphant over the world, his math professors probably had told him of the need for his mind working with Heisenberg on Germany's ultimate weapon, and he was gone.  After, of course, a brief "discussion" with his father.

Nothing was known by his sisters or brother, of him being a Nazi; apparently this was one encounter and bit of news the father kept to himself.  What a burden that poor man must have bore to his grave!  His beloved son had run away from home to conquer the world.....

In the declining years of his life, I decided to address the issue with father on his persistent beliefs in National Socialism and directly attacked its principals and Adolf Hitler.  Oh man!  You would not have believed the reaction from that man!  He could still sing the glories of Adolf Hitler - 60 years after Hitler was dead and the Reich fallen!  According to him, any German failure was all because of those "damned meddling Americans".....

Of course, given the choice, he did surrender to the West rather than to Russia.

Narcissism

Father left an 1,100 page tome about his life for my sister and I.  It was an amazing work of fiction where his family held almost no role what so ever!  I was appalled that father could think all of his children and wives so foolish as to not remember events and intrigues.

Although it did give me some insight into him - like how he actually thought and viewed life.  Father was completely and totally self-centered.  A complete Narcissus!  I have to admit I never really understood him until I read that book and saw how he fiddled with facts and data to fit his world view.

Everything he observed, did, or was done to, was judged in accordance with how it affected him and only him.

It leaves one quite speechless.  Well at least me, because I do not view life this way at all, so it is very foreign for me to understand that some people really do think this way.

Probably the best cure is for people to learn they are not the center of the known universe - there is a higher power they are accountable to and I fear father will not fare well in that regard.

So, in studying up on narcissism, I was to learn that this is the most common form of psychopathy.  My father was a sociopath?  I had never thought of this before, but it made sense.  It explained his 8 wives and his horrible relationships with us children.  It explained his aversion to the past - he could not remember all of his lies.

And it explained something about me I had never fully understood.

Ponzi Scheme

Being aware of the legal implications of this post I will not go into details - so you will not be tempted to do, as my father figured out how to, scam credit card companies.

Father held a doctorate in mathematics which he received at 16 years of age.  Yes, he was brilliant - his IQ was documented as 195.  I only know this as the government kept really close tabs on us children, with much testing annually.  I know my IQ is only 10 points lower than his, and much higher than my sister's.  However, it was very frustrating because throughout my entire life I never could understand math.  A solid 'F' student in that most horrible of subjects.  It was not until only a few years ago I finally learned my bent was in art, not math.  Sigh.....

With father dead, someone had to go through his financial records.  My sister, whom was an accountant, could not deal with it so it fell to me.  I was stunned by the disaster I found.  Father was brilliant in math - how could he ever have created the disaster I found?

Bank accounts commonly opened and closed, dozens of credit cards and his expenses far out ran his income.  What on earth?!?!?!?!?

It took me three full weeks to understand father had created a credit card ponzi scheme.  (NO I will not tell you how he did it!)  The scheme had 16 layers to it and near as I could tell, he knew exactly what he was doing - it would take another decade before the scheme fell apart and I think he was planning on being dead by then anyway.  It completely blew me away!  Not only the fact that I could understand what he had done, but that someone could have conceived of the idea in the first place - it was brilliant!  I guess my naive honest genes came from my mother's side!

Needless to say, his entire estate was taken to resolve only a small portion of the debt he held.  As far as I know, the ponzi scheme is still running and everyone is happy.  Go figure!

However, I came home and called all of my children, pseudo-children and those I love together and told them I would personally pay for them to attend Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University - so that none of them would ever do as father had done.  Surprisingly, only two of my children, one pseudo-child and one dear friend took me up on my offer.

I attended as well and finally understood how money works - of course it was too late by then for me, I was laid off when I returned home from father's funeral.  Nothing like having your job sent to India, while you join the unemployment line.  Especially, since I finally understood how to correct my finances and in 13 months could have cleared up a lifetime of mismanagement...

The End

I had spent months planning a vacation with my father, it was to have been in May but his hospital called.  He was in ER in a coma.  I had just talked with him, only hours earlier, firming up the plans for the trip.  The doctor's suggestion, be there now.

So, through the greatest of effort I was able to arrive the next night.  My sister would be arriving the following morning.

The next day was Tuesday, and I made it to the hospital.  He was in the Critical Care Unit.  No one could actually tell me what happened other than he just started gushing blood after talking with me.  He wasn't gushing anymore: his monitors told of a failing heart, failing lungs, all of his internal organs were failing.  I left a message for my sister to come immediately to the hospital when she got off the plane.  I really did not think he had much time left.

It would have been so much easier if he could have talked.  Instead, just the sound of a respirator and clicking of an IV machine.  What can you say?  A lifetime of failed communications and denied desires to clear up, but he was not there.  The monitors continued to show the declining condition of his body for the next hour.

My sister arrived and we discussed moving him to a hospice where at least he would be well treated and perhaps even recover (you never know!).  We started to leave to go get an early lunch.

But, the nurse was about 30 seconds behind us, to tell us, he had already passed away.  They were changing his breathing tube when a massive heart attack got him.  What can you say?  At least he did not suffer the passing.....

The rest of the week was a disaster as we planned for a funeral, memorial, contacting business clients and friends.  The hardest for me was to tell his sisters, whom I love dearly, that someone whom had been their antagonist for the duration of their lives, was now gone.

Nothing about father's life was simple.
Nothing about father could be taken at face value.
Nothing about father was the truth.
And into this murky underworld of Cold War Politics, his body "disappeared"!

Had father really died?  I do not know.
Had father been taken to start a new life, with yet another name change?  I do not know.
Had father's body been taken for experimentation?  Given what the US government did to Einstein, maybe.
Had father's work rendered his body dangerous?  Could be.

Step-mother and my sister setting the wreath.

But, no matter how you looked at it, father was not whom we buried.  It sure looked like he had died though.  I was with both my grandmother and her sister when their time came.

As it was, this passing had been anticipated by him and he had taken the greatest of liberties during his final days.  Something I was to learn, not only how he thought, but how mathematics can be a very valuable tool.....