Simon Peter Gruber

Simon Peter Gruber was a former National People’s Army colonel-turned-terrorist mastermind and the older brother of Hans Gruber. He is the main antagonist in Die Hard with a Vengeance, where he pretended to be seeking revenge against John McClane through a series of elaborate riddles and tasks, when this was really a distraction from a robbery of bullion in gold bullion from the New York Federal Reserve Bank. In East Germany, Simon was in charge of an infiltration unit where he trained German soldiers to speak English and mimic American accents. His work with the East German army likely caused the bitter sibling rivalry between the two brothers, as Hans was from West Germany, perhaps separated from Simon by differing political beliefs or the construction of the Berlin Wall or inner German border, which separated the two countries, possibly splitting the siblings up.