Heinrich "Pop-Pop" Landgraf is the father of Barbara Reynolds, and the grandfather of Dennis and Dee Reynolds, and a character in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Background[]
Pop-Pop is known amongst his relatives as a decorated WWII war hero. What is not well known is that he served as an SS officer and may have even been a close acquaintance of Adolf Hitler. Even after the war, he remained a devoted Nazi and attempted to indoctrinate his grandchildren through a Neo-Nazi summer camp.
Season One[]
Pop-Pop mistook Charlie for Dennis and asked him to pick up some private belongings that he's had in hiding for a long time so he could be buried in them. He mentions that he was a "war hero", but that "bastard father of his" didn't tell him. It turned out that these private belongings were all Nazi memorabilia. Rather than return the items to Pop Pop, Charlie kept them, but later burned most of it due to not being able to sell them. Later, Dee visited Pop Pop. Being repulsed by elderly people, the visit made her vomit. [1x6]
Season Eight[]
Pop-Pop is in a coma, being kept alive by life support machines. As his last blood relatives, it's left up to Dennis and Dee to decide if he should be taken off life support and allowed to die. Frank, however, tries to get them to keep him alive, because he is seeking a Nazi treasure that Pop-Pop spoke of. The treasure turns out to a picture of a German Shepherd painted by Adolf Hitler, which Charlie had kept on the wall of his apartment until Frank had forced him to take it down. During the course of their deliberations on whether or not to keep Pop-Pop on life support, Dee and Dennis discover a home movie that shows him taking them (when they were 9 years old) to a Neo-Nazi summer camp, thus confirming that Pop-Pop remained a Nazi long after he came to America. [8x1]
Trivia[]
Pop Pop as a Nazi
- In Season Eight, he was named after John Landgraf, the president of FX Network.
- Glenn Howerton, who plays his grandson Dennis, portrays Pop-Pop in the photo that shows him young and in his Nazi uniform.
- In Season Eight Pop-Pop was confirmed to be Barbara's father. [8x1]
- If Pop-Pop is Barbara's father, then he would also be Donna's father and thus Gail the Snail's grandfather, too. This contradicts The Lawyer saying Dennis and Dee are Pop-Pop's only surviving blood relatives. One possible explanation is that Barbara and Donna were only half sisters and had different fathers, however the most likely explanation is a simple continuity mistake.
- Close inspection of Pop-Pop's Nazi Uniform reveals that he was part of the Schutzstaffel or 'SS'. Noting the SS runes on his collar, the Silver Totenkopf or "Death's Head" skull on the cap. His rank marked by the three diamond pips and two aluminium braids on his collar and distinctive black uniform show that he was a low ranking gestapo officer or "Obersturmführer".
- In the Season Ten episode "The Gang Group Dates," Dennis' imaginary dog is named Henry, which he says is after his grandfather. Henry is the English form of Heinrich.