Connecting the dots - things I didn't know about the grandfather I never knew

[abaris]

My father was remarkably silent on his father, who died in 1936, when dad was just 13. I only knew, he worked as one of the managers at a long gone insurance company called Phoenix. He also, as I gathered from photos, liked his winter vaccations to Abbazia and the occasional gambling trip to Monacco. So, he seemed to have been well off, especially at a time when most everybody was busy making ends meet.

I also knew, he was an avid painter. We had a number of his pictures in our house, before it burned down and they all got destroyed. He was no professional, but he was clearly talented. And the most important thing, he painted his parents and other relatives, I know absolutely nothing about.

Now, I stumbled over an article, that the old Phoenix building in Vienna is to be repurposed. And the company, who's doing that, was investigating the history of the building. My father only told me, the company went broke, but not the circumstances. 

This is what they found, or better, rediscovered, since it was already known. I only didn't bother to try and connect the dots. I always was under the impression, the company was already broke, when the stock market crashed in 1929.

https://second.wiki/wiki/phc3b6nix-skandal

I don't know, if my granddad was in any way involved or under investigation, but it strikes me as curious, he died in the very same year of a massive coronary. He was just 47 years old at the time of his death. So, it seems to me, the fall of his company was instrumental in his demise.

[Dom]

Sure sounds like it. I don't know much about my paternal grandfather either.

[Kim]

People can be very close to a scandal, profit from it, even diligently work towards it's success, only to find after the fact, it is all a lie.  

Also, within "traditional business practices", it's been quite common to turn the blind eye to indiscretion.
***

It must have been horrible for your father, abaris. His silence probably just made it emotionally easier for him to deal with the whole situation. He probably wanted to spare you the traumatic thoughts he had to struggle with.

[abaris]

It must have been horrible for your father, abaris.  His silence probably just made it emotionally easier for him to deal with the whole situation.  He probably wanted to spare you the traumatic thoughts he had to struggle with.

I guess, it's more on the lines of me never really asking him. Dad was very open, concerning his early life. He freely told me, how he mourned when his father passed. He also told me, how enthusiastic (he was half jewish) he observed Hitler entering Vienna and always warned me to fall for appearances. He always used stories from his life to bring me up, just as the Civil War of 1934, when his parents wanted him to stay at home, which he ignored and came between the lines, when returning home from playing with his friends.

I don't think, he wouldn't have been open on this with me either. I just never asked. I simply accepted the narrative being with me since early childhood.

[Kim]

Wow - so, your dad was there during the Anschluss. As an adult, I would have picked his brain for every detail! However as a kid, I probably wouldn't have recognized the importance of such an event.

Maybe, that's how a lot of the family history was viewed. If the children didn't ask, information wasn't offered. That's how it is on my mom's side of the family.

[Unsapien]

That's a fascinating story, my father had interesting stories of my grandparents as well.
I was on ancestry.com for awhile back about 10+ years ago on a free trial & I found out some interesting things. Makes me want to sign up again and do a little more digging.

One thing that annoys me greatly is that I have a huge number of old photos that I've inherited from my parents but there aren't any names or dates or explanations of where they were taken.

[abaris]

Wow - so, your dad was there during the Anschluss.  As an adult, I would have picked his brain for every detail!  However as a kid, I probably wouldn't have recognized the importance of such an event.

Maybe, that's how a lot of the family history was viewed.  If the children didn't ask, information wasn't offered.  That's how it is on my mom's side of the family.

No, it was offered freely. It was used to bring me up by precedence. Especially my father always wanted me to make up my own mind on what to think and what to do. But he always offered anecdotes from his own life.

I believe, it was when my last grandma died in 1976, he told me, what he had done to mourn his father, when he was the same age as I was when losing grandma. He said, he took a long walk on his own, mourning him.

He also used the story of Hitler coming to Vienna to tell me to never fall for appearances and appearances alone.

I don't know, if I could have had a better dad when it came to values and the soft sell of following certain values. I eagerly adopted his points of views, since they weren't shoved down my throat, but offered as advice from experience. He always was a humanist, going by live and let live.