Franz Bonaparta

"People can become... whatever they want to be."

- Bonaparta to Nina (alternate quote from English Dub)

"Human beings...can become anything."

- Bonaparta to Nina (Original Japanese script)

Franz Bonaparta is a major figure behind many important mysteries in the series. He is a psychologist, psychiatrist, neurosurgeon, and children's book author and illustrator. He has also worked with the Czech Secret Police where he conducted personality reprogramming experiments, and was in charge of the eugenics experiment together with Petr Čapek, another Czech that crossed the German border, which led to the creation of the twins Johan and Anna Liebert.

Personality
Bonaparta is a quiet, intimidating man. He enjoys talking over tea and pastries, and also finds fascination in capabilities of the human mind. His editor describes his personality as cold, haughty, and self-assured. He tends to capture the darker side of humanity in his books, often portraying the theme that the monster you fear is yourself, and thus you cannot escape its grasps. One thing has remained constant is his need for control. Even after changing from meeting Viera, he did everything to hide her real identity. So that only he would know it.

Some argue that Bonaparta became good by the end of manga, since he decided to live a peaceful life and take care of his dear Wim. That was the way he found to atone for his severe mistakes. Others argue, since he ran away from his problems and left everyone behind (nor did he attempt to undo the damage from his work), he was no more than a coward who did not have the guts to fix his tragic mistakes. Or since he was detached when he admitted to Tenema that he did everything to remove any memory of the twins and their mother. And for that matter that he wanted to be the sole person that knew their mother's real name, still shows he hadn't completely reformed as he wanted control over their mother (despite it being obvious she despised him).

One thing to point out is that his eyes are half-closed for the most part of the time, which indicates that, as Johan and Roberto, he feels rather detached from reality. A possible explanation for this is that all of them don't identify with a self, almost as if they had no ego. This matches their nihilistic tendencies.

Background
Bonaparta is a German-born Czech. After World War II, when most Germans were forced out of Bohemia, he and his family remained. His ancestors resided in a small village surrounded by mountains, also known as Ruhenheim.

Biography
Bonaparta was born around the year 1930 in the town of Jablonec in the Czech Republic. When he reached early adulthood, he fell in love with a girl who lived in his town. However, his father, Terner Poppe, rushed in and stole her out from under him. Irritated by his father's actions, Bonaparta brainwashed him, stripping him of his identity to a point where he could not even recall his own name. In 1950, he left his hometown, never to return again. From there, he attended school and got degrees in psychology, psychiatry, and neurosurgery. During this time, he developed an interest for a woman who worked as an actress; she transformed on stage so dramatically that it seemed as though she possessed multiple personalities. He temporarily removed her from her position, and studied her brainwaves as a government research project. The two of them became involved in an intimate relationship, and in 1962, she bore him a son who would later be known as Jaromír Lipsky.

In the 1960s, as a part of the Czech Secret Police, he conducted personality reprogramming experiments. As one man in Another Monster put it, he was intrigued by recreating people who were already born. Around this time, he also got involved with his first book editor, and published The God of Peace in 1968. He also began reading seminars at the Red Rose Mansion.

In the 1970s, he started the eugenics experiment to create a 'perfect child.' Men and women from around the country were selected based on genetic attributes such as physical features and intellect. Two subjects selected for a pairing were Viera Černá and Bonaparta's younger half brother, a career soldier in Czechoslovakia. The two were set up at a cafe in Prague around 1972 or '73 and fell in love. After she was pregnant, the man confessed the details of the experiment to her, and the two tried to run away together, but since Bonaparta already foresaw that occurrence, they were caught in the act. The man was executed, and the woman was abducted from Brno University, the current school she was attending, and was placed under constant surveillance until the birth of her child, which actually turned out to be two children.

When the woman was being held in an isolated ward, Bonaparta slipped and made the biggest possible blunder; he fell hopelessly in love with his very own research subject. His distorted expression of love included erasing Viera's past, and all who knew her - he wanted to be the only person who could acknowledge her existence. In return, she not only rejected him, but despised him beyond belief. Even during her pregnancy, Viera sworn she'd never forgive him and vowed that even if she died her children would exact revenge. After he had kept Viera under surveillance in the Three Frogs Building for six or seven years, his feelings for his actions. In 1981, he cancelled the book readings at the Red Rose Mansion. Following that, in 1982, he poisoned the forty-two others (39 men and 3 women) involved in the eugenics experiment; those who knew that Viera existed. Whether he did it to truly repent, to prove his deranged love for their mother, or to again keep control and hide what he started is left for debate. What is known, that once again his efforts are in somewhat vain. Though Nina had recovered from her trauma, his experiments left a lasting effect on Johan and most likely helped shaped him.

He visited his editor, Tomas Zobak, one final time. First, he suggested a story about a monster who falls in love, but his love bears no fruit. After his proposition was turned down, he left. However, standing in the doorway, he turned around and said he had a story about a door that must not be opened. Zobak asked him what lay behind the door; paradise or another monster. He responded by saying that no one would never know, because the door must not be opened, therefore it wouldn't make much of a story. After that he left, and no man named Franz Bonaparta ever existed.

He traveled to his ancestors' homeland of Ruhenheim, where he intended to live out a peaceful life for the rest of his days under his real name, Klaus Poppe. Much unlike the man he used to be, he developed a kind heart and helped support Wim Knaup, a child who was bullied by his peers and had to deal with his alcoholic father's abuse. He even sent his son a postcard and published his final book entitled Das Ruhenheim (A Peaceful Home): It is a story about a thief who comes to village enclosed by mountains and plans to cheat money from the locals, but forgets how to steal and ends up living a quiet life while doing things for them. Life had become like a dreamy fairy tale for him... but like the characters in his books, he couldn't possibly have such a happy ending. In November of 1998, his paradise crumbled beneath his feet and his whole town fell into ruin; Johan had come seeking the revenge his mother talked about all those years ago, "Even if I die, the children growing inside of me will get my revenge. I promise you this." At the end of the three day massacre, Poppe was shot and killed by Roberto. While Dr. Tenema had shown him mercy, the twins mother refused to let it go and stated he has no clemency in her eyes.

1930
Roughly 1930- Birth

1940
1948- Fell in love with girl from his village, but lost out to his father

1949- Stripped his father of all sense of identity

1950
1950s (not sure of exact years though given his fields we can assume it was for a while)- Attended college and got degrees as a psychologist, psychiatrist, and neurosurgeon

Late 1950s- Observed the actress' brainwaves, and later gets married to her

1960
1961 or '62- Abandoned his wife and their soon to be born son

1962- His son, Jaromir Lipsky, was born

Early 1960s- Conducted personality reprogramming experiments as a part of the Czech Secret Police

Early 1960s- Got involved with his first book editor

Mid 1960s- Began reading seminars at the Red Rose Mansion

1966- Met with Fritz Verdemann's father at the Red Rose Mansion

1968- Published his first book The God of Peace under the name Klaus Poppe

1970
1970- Tomas Zobak became his new editor

Early 1970s- Began eugenics experiment in order to construct a "perfect" child

Early 1970s- Set up Viera and "Jodaddy "

1973- Published The Man With the Big Eyes and The Man With the Big Mouth under the pen name Jakub Faroubek

1974- Viera was abducted from Brno University and placed under surveillance after she and her partner tried to resist "The Program"

1974- "Jodaddy" was executed

1975- His eugenics experiment was a success; the twins were born

1976 or '77- Proposed the story idea Rosemary's Baby, but is declined by his editor

1977- Published The Nameless Monster under the pen name Emil Šébe

1980
1981- His ex-wife dies

1981- Ended the reading seminars at the Red Rose Mansion

1981 or '82- Poisoned everyone who participated in the eugenics experiment with nitric acid in their wine (only himself, Viera, Johan, and Anna survived, but he had Čapek kill four additional people to make it seem as though they were deceased too)

1981 or '82- Came to Zobak proposing a story about a monster who falls in love which was declined, then left for good after telling him about the story of the door that must not be opened

1981 or '82- Moved to the village of Ruhenheim

1989- Published the storybook Das Ruhenheim (The Peaceful Home) under the pen name Helmuth Voss

1990
Mid 1990s- Sent his son a postcard of Ruhenheim which he drew

November 1998- Was shot dead by Roberto during the Ruhenheim Massacre

"The God of Peace"

 * Year: 1968

"The Man With the Big Eyes and the Man With the Big Mouth"

 * Year: 1973

"Rosemary's Baby"

 * Year: 1976 [Declined Publication]

"The Nameless Monster"

 * Year: 1977
 * Story: It is about a monster that fell in love

Unnamed Book

 * Year: 1982 [Declined Publication]

List of Aliases

 * Franz Bonaparta
 * Emil Šébe
 * Helmuth Voss
 * Jakob Vyrobek

Another Monster

 * Main article: Another Monster chapters 29, 30 & 31 

Another Monster describes the distant relationship between Bonaparta and his father, Terner, which later turned from distant to a mutual hatred. The woman his father swept from under his feet eventually marries another man, and bears him a son -- this young man will later be the father of the twins. She wants to get her son into a military academy, but unfortunately needs a recommendation from a Czech to apply (her husband, being German, cannot provide it). The woman contacts Bonaparta, who readily supplies her with this, as he's planning to use her son's excellent genes in his eugenics experiment later.

Quotes

 * "Human beings...can become anything."


 * "This is an experiment."


 * "They don't need names."
 * "I'm not afraid to die. However, I don't know how I can atone. That's why I've decided to accept whatever happens here."
 * "If only the rain would wash everything clean. Fear, hatred, sadness... But the truth is that it does exactly the opposite. It makes things swell up even larger."
 * "Let us die... together."
 * "You two are beautiful treasures. That's why you mustn't become monsters."

Trivia

 * Fan speculation suggests that Bonaparta's character was based off of the Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, as both take an interest in the same fields of study in addition to their strikingly similar physical appearances and lust for mothers.