There was a taboo in our family that nobody wanted to talk about. Today I know the reason for the silence. My uncle, who owned a household business in Aargau, told me that our ancestor from southern Germany was brought to Utzigen Castle as a cupbearer for a Bernese patrician family.

In fact, he was a wagon maker and armourer. Benedicht Pauli, 1736-1801, is my progenitor. He had two sons: Christian, 1756-1833, who carried on the business in his father's footsteps, and Samuel Johann, 1766-1821, who also trained as a wagon maker and armourer - he was drawn to Bern, to the Aare. In the Aare, he observed the fish as they changed direction in the flowing water, moved horizontally and vertically and rotated around their own body axis.

In 1798, he was appointed artillery master of the Bernese troops. As a wagon builder, he rebuilt the artillery: The mobile part of the cannons and the heavy cannon barrel were transported separately to the battlefield and only reassembled on site. This made transportation easier and saved a lot of time. Samuel Johann fought against Napoleon's troops in the Grauholz. When he was called back to Bern with his troops, he did not yet know that Bern had surrendered. He had struck down two hussars in front of the city gates. According to the Bernese patrician archives, he is said to have fled to Geneva to avoid a trial.

War murder was a taboo in my family.

My father was born in 1890, and Samuel Johann's deeds continued into the 20th century. In fact, Samuel Johann was integrated into Helvetic by the French because they recognized his abilities and his potential.

He moved to Paris in 1803.

At the same time, he changed his identity from Pauli to Pauly.

Pauly is a gender name that also exists in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

Here he was able to put his ideas of a steerable airship into practice. He took the basis for the airship from observing fish in the flowing waters of the River Aare. Water and air, despite being different substances, behave in the same way in terms of quantum physics, and he decided on the fish shape.

These reflections by Samuel Johann confirm to me that he, like me, had reading and writing difficulties.

While still in Switzerland, he worked on plans for the dirigible airship at Hindelbank Castle. Two Helvetic officials collected money for the airship, and the two of them left for America with the money.

In Paris, he worked as an engineer on plans for the reconstruction of destroyed bridges. The reconstruction plans were designed down to the last detail.

He must have had knowledge of descriptive geometry, as the plans prove.

In 1804, Samuel Johann took to the skies of Paris several times in a dirigible airship. The problem was the steering, which was dependent on speed. Technical progress was still lagging behind in finding a solution.

Zeppelin was able