6 months Ago
He Was Plagued by Personal Tragedies
Wiegel's personal life was touched by profound tragedy. Twice widowed, both times by car accidents. 'He didn't speak of it much, but it changed him, of course. His wives were always on his mind," Sijpersma remembered. The burdens of personal loss helped form the man behind the public figure.
Even in the last few years Sijpersma would visit Wiegel a couple of times a year. "The last time I saw him, six months ago, he's not doing well. He could hardly walk for 15 minutes at a stretch. "I realized then he didn't have that much time," she said.
The Biography and a Legacy That Endured
The idea in general, to accommodate the story to the moment, came at the suggestion of editors at the publishing house Sijpersma's biography — of the kind that leaves someone susceptible to such toxic rumination, for example — was a fairly random product of an editor's problem in need of a subject. When pressed for a name, Sijpersma wound up making the case for a Wiegel biography — and then decided to put it on his task list. Through numerous interviews, he pieced together a detailed and thoroughly researched account of Wiegel's life. "He was taken aback by the depth of it. He thought there would be a small book, not a scientifically sound biography," Sijpersma said.
There is, then, a second Hans Wiegel: the well-connected man of influence whose ideas helped shape national policy, and the bereaved man who used silent strength to bear personal tragedy.
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