Charles Berlitz

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Charles Frambach Berlitz , actually Charles Louis Frambach, Jr. (born November 20, 1914 in New York , † December 18, 2003 in Tamarac , Florida ) was an American writer and linguist , who in particular through his books on borderline scientific topics and unexplained Phenomena became known.

Charles Berlitz (right) in conversation with Antonio Las Heras from the Argentine magazine Pájaro de Fuego

life and work

Charles Berlitz was the only son of Charles Louis Frambach, Sr. and his wife Millicent Daisy Berlitz and a grandson of Maximilian Delphinius Berlitz , from whom he inherited the Berlitz language schools , which he later sold. As a teenager, he first studied - after attending the Riverdale Country School, a private school in the Bronx - linguistics at Yale University , where he graduated magna cum laude in 1936 with a Bachelor of Arts . A brilliant linguist (he spoke 32 different languages, 12 of them fluently), he wrote several books on linguistic subjects. Berlitz was married to the Australian Valerie Seary from 1950 until his death and had a daughter with her. As a member of the US Army , he took part in both World War II and the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

The Bermuda Triangle

Charles Berlitz achieved his breakthrough as a bestselling author in 1974 with the publication of his book " The Bermuda Triangle ", of which over 14 million copies in 22 languages ​​were sold worldwide. Various information and statements published by Berlitz in it were rated by critics as highly questionable. One of his fiercest opponents in the German-speaking area is the Swiss writer and publicist Herbert Cerutti , who in 1993 accused his American colleague of de facto deceiving the public. However, Berlitz's critics could not prove deliberate false statements or falsifications of his source material. The pilot and author Lawrence "Larry" Kusche explained, among other things, that some ships about which Berlitz said they had sunk in the Bermuda Triangle had actually been lost elsewhere. According to Kush's research, others never existed and in other cases, Kush's statements suggest that Berlitz 'information on the weather for certain events was incorrect.

Unidentified flying objects

Charles Berlitz's interest in UFOs and his assumption that extraterrestrial intelligences visit our planet found their journalistic expression in the book "The Roswell Incident", which he wrote together with William Leonard Moore and published in 1980 . In it, he and Moore made the then almost forgotten crash of an allegedly extraterrestrial, unknown flying object near Roswell , New Mexico , in the summer of 1947 suddenly known worldwide. Since then, this event, which is still controversially discussed today - after the title of her book - has been generally referred to as the " Roswell Incident ".

Atlantis

In addition to the Bermuda Triangle and the UFO problem, the subject of Atlantis was a long-term focus in Berlitz 'activity as a non-fiction author, which he dealt with in at least five of his publications between 1969 and 1984. In these books, Berlitz, who was convinced of the historicity of the island kingdom described by Plato , presented a whole series of localization hypotheses . He did not consider or describe himself as an Atlantis researcher, but his preoccupation with this matter was of a journalistic and journalistic nature. Berlitz hoped that the rediscovery of Atlantis he expected would result in a. "A reassessment of our own civilizational progress" and "a new appreciation of the abilities of the people we generally call" primitive "" of the past .

Trivia

Charles Berlitz was a member of the Mensa Society and the Broward Library Foundation.

Works (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anonymus, " Berlitz, Maximilian D. (14 Apr. 1852-6 Apr. 1921), and Charles F. Berlitz (23 Nov. 1914-18 Dec. 2003), linguist, language teacher, and author ", in: American National Biography Online (accessed August 20, 2013)
  2. ↑ Daniella Aird, Charles Berlitz, 90, Famous Linguist , in: South Florida Sun Sentinel (obituaries) , December 23, 2003 (accessed: August 20, 2013)
  3. ↑ Dennis Mclellan, " Charles Berlitz, 90; Linguist and Author on the Paranormal ", in: Los Angeles Times , January 1, 2004 (accessed August 20, 2013)
  4. ↑ Herbert Cerutti, " In the Bermuda Triangle - How Charles Berlitz fools the world ", in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung Folio, 01/93
  5. ↑ D. Robson, "Charles Berlitz, An Inquiry into Journalistic Credibility", in: Pursuit , Vol. 19 / No. 1, 1986
  6. ↑ Lawrence Kusche, "The Bermuda Triangle Mystery - Solved", Prometheus Books, 1995 (first published in 1975)
  7. ^ German-language edition: Charles Berlitz and William L. Moore, "The Roswell incident. The UFOs and the CIA", Droemer Knaur, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-426-72207-0 .
  8. ↑ German-language editions: "Secrets of Sunken Worlds", Frankfurt a. M., 1972; "The Bermuda Triangle", Vienna / Hamburg, 1975; "The Atlantis Riddle", Munich / Zurich, 1976; "Without a trace", Vienna / Hamburg, 1977; "The 8th continent - cradle of all cultures", Vienna / Hamburg, 1984
  9. ^ Charles Berlitz, "Das Atlantis Rätsel", Vienna / Hamburg (Zsolnay), 1976, p. 221
  10. ↑ Daniella Aird, Charles Berlitz, 90, Famous Linguist , in: South Florida Sun Sentinel (obituaries) , December 23, 2003 (accessed: August 20, 2013)
personal data
SURNAME Berlitz, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Berlitz, Charles Frambach
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 20, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH December 18, 2003
Place of death Tamarac