LITMIR.BIZ

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learned to take responsibility myself for mistakes I have made, because the consequences of my mistakes have always been borne by my parents. When my school teacher, who was a friend of the family, wanted me to repeat the third grade of elementary school, my family had no understanding for this request of my teacher; of course, I then attended the fourth grade of elementary school. However, this resulted in big problems at school. But since my family could not accept that their son repeated an elementary school grade, I was placed in a private boarding school that had much of a four-star hotel. In this school I completed two school years without repeating a grade and then rejoined the sixth grade of the elementary school in my home community. Of course, after a short time it turned out that my qualifications for high school were not sufficient, so I was again placed in a private boarding school. In this way, to the great delight of my parents, I was able to complete both elementary and high school without disgrace and without repeating a grade.

      After school, although I had expressed my exclusive interest in automotive and aircraft engineering, I had to complete a practical apprenticeship with additional commercial training in my father's food company. During those years of my apprenticeship, however, I spent every free minute in the car garage of a friend of my parents or, as a result of my enthusiasm for flying, at various airfields.

      Although I knew every component of a car and had extensive knowledge of aircraft technology, to the great delight of my parents I successfully completed my training and also received the MG sports car promised to me immediately afterwards. Since I no longer had to work daily in our manufacturing plant, I was allowed to visit our customers on my own, after a lengthy introductory period by our sales department. Despite my great sales success, I was not paid the commissions I had been promised, on the grounds that our factory would be transferred to me in a few years. Although I had enough pocket money to live well and everything else was paid, after that my ambition to be a successful salesman dwindled noticeably.

      Since I was never enthusiastic about my father's company, I had decided to learn to fly without my parents' knowledge. How I was ever going to finance this endeavor was completely indifferent to me. In fact, my father later paid the corresponding bills, which of course I could not pay, with an unimaginable fury. In a short time, I was able to successfully complete the first stage of my pilot training. When my father then also told me in no uncertain terms that my future workplace had to be in his company and that he was no longer willing to pay even one franc for my flying, I decided never to work in his company.

      Today I must confess, as I write my biography, that this was the greatest lack of sense in my still young life. If forty years ago I had complied with my parents' most fervent wish, my life would not have turned out in this chaotic state. My decision to turn my back on my father's company for all time is the mistake of my life so far, because it is impossible to build up an equivalent company again in a single lifetime. If I had had the patience to work for a few more years at that time, I am sure that all my wishes would have been fulfilled in a different way and that my plans at that time would have been realized at a later time. Thus, after these events, I continued to live in my beautiful and familiar home. And although at that time the expenses for my car and other expenses were paid by my parents and our long-time domestic servant Berta occasionally diverted smaller amounts of money from our household coffers for me, I wanted to earn some extra money outside my father's business in the short time until the long military service began. In my home community I had obtained a short-term job in a car repair shop with an hourly wage of two francs. I performed this work for six weeks to the complete satisfaction of my employer and then completed a long period of military service.

      As a result of my pilot license, to my great surprise, after completing my military service, I obtained a sales position with an American company that sold sport aircraft, aircraft components, and electronics. The next two years were complete fulfillment for me. However, since the market opportunities were too slim and the desired sales success fell short of expectations, this branch was dissolved. In the meantime, my father had realized that his son would never come back to continue the parental business with success. Then the opportunity arose to sell his block of shares to his brother and business partner. At that time, I was just happy that the issue of my succession in his company was settled for all time. However, if he had known at that time that his son would destroy his entire fortune in the following twenty years — the resulting worries also contributed to his premature death - he would certainly never have sold his company. My mother, who had to live on without an own fortune after his death and was severely marked by this fate, was supported in every way to the end of her life by my two sisters, who were happily and successfully married.

      4

      Sabrina

      After my father sold his company, my two sisters and I each received a larger amount of money as an early inheritance. With this start-up capital, I opened my first company and married my first wife a short time later. At that time, I invested a large part of my money in the purchase of an American luxury car and used the rest as a down payment for the purchase of vending machines. The contents of these vending machines consisted of food, candy, and toys that could be taken out of the machine in exchange for inserting a coin. All of these vending machines were mounted in convenient locations and required refilling and maintenance several times a week. However, the income from this business was not enough to cover our higher-than-average living expenses and the additional loan repayments for the vending machines and merchandise deliveries. This was the beginning of my lifelong tightrope walk and it came as it had to. As a blameless young entrepreneur from the best family, I was granted various bank loans and was able to continue financing my lifestyle in keeping with my status. Fully aware that a huge bang with a miserable end was imminent in the foreseeable future, I simply wanted to enjoy life up to that point. I enjoyed my long vacation trips to the Côte d'Azur and Provence with my then wife until the last moment, because I did not want to and could not do without flying, my tailor-made suits, or much else. But the success of my business fell far short of my expectations and the financial situation became more and more unbearable every day. When the first payment orders from my creditors and threats of additional criminal actions arrived, I was forced to inform my parents about this hopeless situation. Despite the greatest arguments and remonstrations, my family would not have been able to bear the shame of my bankruptcy, and so my father liquidated the shambles I had left behind and satisfied all creditors in full.

      I started a new life without debts and worries. As an employee of an American company, I sold electronic copiers for the next two years. My salary at the time had to be enough to support myself and my family, so I was forced to live a modest life.

      But this life became unbearable for me as time went on, and finally my marriage broke up after only three years. After our divorce, our two children were taken in by my parents, who in the meantime had moved to a smaller house in another community. In this new home, where I also spent a few years, my son Christoph and my daughter Nicole were lovingly and sacrificially cared for by my parents for five years, until my divorced wife remarried. Sabrina, my great childhood sweetheart and first wife, meant a lot to me, so this divorce was a real tragedy for me, from which I suffered for many years to come. I had tried everything to prevent this divorce, but since I did not have a regular income at that time and therefore was not able to guarantee the necessary financial support for my family outside my parental home, the marriage was divorced.

      Since Sabrina had entered into a new love affair with a veterinarian during the time of our separation and continued to enjoy the carefree life, I could no longer offer her at that time, my attempts to save this love were futile. Due to the pain, I had suffered and Sabrina's subsequent behavior, an enormous anger began to build up inside me, which eventually led to my refusing to pay her the alimony that had been awarded. Sabrina then filed a criminal complaint for refusal to pay alimony.

      I ignored all the requests and summonses I received from the court to take a stand on this matter, and so early one morning the police showed up at my parents' house. My mother opened the front door and since I was not "ready to go" at that early hour, she asked the officer to wait in the entrance hall for a short moment. My mother informed me about this early visit and I decided to leave our house in a hurry through another exit in order to escape this unsympathetic

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