Hermine on Her Brother Becoming Wittgenstein

Hermine observes the following changes in her brother ...

"Already at that time, a profound transformation was taking place in Ludwig, the results of which were not to be apparent until after the war, and which finally culminated in his decision not to possess any more wealth. ...

His second decision, to choose a completely unpretentious vocation and perhaps to become a country schoolteacher, was at first incomprehensible even to me. Since we, his brothers and sisters, very often communicated with each other in comparisons, I told him … that imagining him with his philosophically-trained mind as an elementary school teacher it was to me as if someone were to use a precision instrument to open crates. Thereupon Ludwig answered with a comparison which silenced me[,] for he said, "You remind me of someone who is looking through a closed window and cannot explain to himself the strange movements of a passer-by. He doesn’t know what kind of a storm is raging outside and that this person is perhaps only with great effort keeping himself on his feet." It was then that I understood his state of mind."

----- Hermine Wittgenstein

 Sources: Rush Rhees, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Personal Recollections, Blackwell 1981 p. 4-5; Michael Nedo, Guy Moreton and Alec Finlay, “Ludwig Wittgenstein, There Where You are Not,” 2005, at p. 39.

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Wittgenstein's Family and Cancer

From Alexander Waugh's, The House of Wittgenstein: A Family at War, pp 275-276

After telling the story of Ludwig dying of prostate cancer; of his father, Karl, dying of cancer of the tongue and mouth; of Hermine, Ludwig's oldest sister, dying of gynecological cancer; and of Paul, Ludwig's brother, dying of prostrate cancer -- Waugh writes:   

"If ever there were a case to show that cancer is a genetic disease, the Wittgenstein family should be submitted as the first exhibit of concluding proof. Eighteen months before Hermine's death Maria Salzer (Helene's daughter) was killed by cancer. [Helene is another of Ludwig's sisters -- sw] In time both Helene's daughters and several of her granddaughters as well as her great-granddaughters would be stricken by the same disease. Helene herself died of it in 1956. She had not seen her brother Paul since 1938."

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What Wittgenstein's Extended Family Thought of His Genius

... from, the House of Wittgenstein, A Family at War, by Alexander Waugh. (pp. 146-147)

Regarding the sucess of the Tractatus, Waugh writes:

"From these small beginnings was the great industry of Wittgenstein exegesis born. Thousands of books have since been written to explain the meaning of the Tractatus, each different from the last. Ludwig himself later disavowed parts of it in his posthumously published Philosophical Investigations, but still this brief, gnomic work of the First World War continues to give the philosophical world a great deal of gristle to chew upon and in this sense, at least, the influence of Wittgenstein the philosopher has been considerable.

There were of course at that time (and still are, now) many doubters -- those who roll their eyes and mutter about "the Emperor's new clothes!"  Ludwig's uncles, aunts and extended family of Austrian cousins were among those who were the least impressed. Many of them were simply embarrassed by what they perceived to be his eccentric behavior and thought it perverse that he, the dupe of the family -- an elementary school teacher -- should be honored as a great philosopher abroad. 'Shaking their heads, they found it amusing that the world was taken in by the clown of their family, that THAT useless person had suddenly become famous and an intellectual giant in England."

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