Description

Personality

Your closest friends would describe you as: They would describe me as an upright fellow, one who would stand up for justice and what is right. Although I am beginning to withdraw into my latter years, I still have some fight left in me. I will not retire and become a recluse.
Your virtues are: I stand up for what is right. I am never late to an appointment, and I finish my tasks on time.
Your faults are: I believe I am too harsh with the new generation, especially the ones who believe their knowledge is some how superior to mine. I also cannot take defeat lightly.
Your hobbies/interests are: Hunting, growing plants, and collecting small baubles and trinkets, mainly of figurines.
Your likes and dislikes are: I like my plants. They are my prized possessions. I love my cat, Theodore. I dislike nosy and noisy people. And I detest children who don't respect my authority. But most of all, I cannot stand to be in the presence of a Russian.
Your greatest fears are: My greatest fear may be laughed at by some, but I am afraid of dying at home, in bed, without anybody in the world caring what happened to me.

History

You want my story? Well, listen then, child. This will take awhile.

I was born in Berlin, Germany, right near the end of World War II. The Germans had been all but routed, and the Russians were pushing in from the East, and the Americans from the West. As a child, the strongest memory in my mind is my mother weeping as the Russians cut down the Nazi flag, and raising their own in its place. When my mother heard Hitler and Goebbels had killed themselves, she too, hung herself from the dining room chandelier. Just in time too, as the Russians went about raping and killing all the women, men, and children. I survived by hiding in the tiny cabinet under the sink. I waited there for God knows how long, until the streets were silent. As I went outside, I was hit with the stench of death and decay, and I sat there, vomiting on the sidewalk for an hour. In the darkness of the night, I could make out figures moving in the dark, moving from body to body, occasionally hearing a scream silenced by a blade. I froze with fear, finding myself unable to move as the figures slowly got closer and closer to me.
My mouth turned try as one of them seized my coat and tried to pry it off of me. I found an ounce of strength and courage hidden within, and yanked away from him.
"This one here is still alive and kicking!" I heard. The voice was only a few years older than me.
Their leader came over and peered into my face.
"How did you survive? The Russians left no man standing." He demanded.
"I hid in the cabinet under the sink," I replied truthfully.
He pondered for a moment, then motioned to take me with them. From then on, I became a member of the gang. I remember his name, Josef. His name only. As I grew older, I grew bolder, robbing fellow Germans blind under the harsh rule of the Russians. We didn't take money, for that was worthless. We took things that were far more valuable. We took food.
I remember the first time I killed a man. It was a Russian soldier, alone at night, smoking a cigarette, keeping a watchful eye on things. We surrounded him, beat him down, took his weapons and dragged him into an alley. Using his own weapon we tortured him. He cried and begged for us to stop, but we didn't relent. More police heard his pleas and came running, and we scattered. They opened fire on us, and I remember sawing Josef getting shot in the back and falling to the ground. I turned and stopped, and brought the soldiers' weapon up to bear. I put my eye to the sights, and the sights to the Russians' head. And then his head was no more. I ran after that, terrified. I was terrified of what they would do to me if they caught me. But they did. I was held on trial for less than an hour, and was sent to the Russian Gulags.

I cannot remember any of the Gulags.

I remember going in when I was fifteen. I remember leaving when I was twenty three. In between, nothing. I left with an American, whom I suppose I befriended while we endured the Russian Hell. His name was Jacob, and he invited me over to America. I took him up on the offer, even though I knew nothing of the language, the culture, or the people. With him translating for me, I found a simple job sweeping the floors. I lived with Jacob for more than I can remember, going through the cold war together.
Even though we went through dark times, we still found happiness. Jacob met a woman, lovely human by the name of Evangeline. I was the best man at their wedding. They have three children now, a doctor, a politician, and an actress. I am their godfather.
I myself found a woman. Caroline Rose, she was called. Like me, she had been born in Germany during the end of the War, but unlike me, her parents took her to America before the Russians came in. She was the one. We were married on November 14, the day the Berlin Wall went down.

But... it was not meant to last. She had Alzheimers, a disease that was unknown back then. I watched her as she died. Slowly, she began to change. Angrier. Touchier. Prone to bouts of rage and crying. It grew worse and worse until one day, she was gone.

And so here I am. I started my own industry, producing German steel. No country can produce quality and quantity like Germany can. I sold my business when I had enough of that sort of life. With the money, I went into retirement in Munich, where I am today.

Enough! I wish to talk no more about myself. You have had enough information for your silly little survey.