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My grandfather would have shot me : a Black woman discovers her family's Nazi past

The memoir of a German-Nigerian woman who learns that her grandfather was the brutal Nazi commandant depicted in Schindler's List, Amon Goeth"

Book  - 2015
929.20943 Tee
1 copy / 0 on hold

Available Copies by Location

Location
Stamford Available
  • ISBN: 1615192530
  • ISBN: 9781615192533
  • Physical Description print
    221 pages : illustrations
  • Publisher New York : The Experiment, [2015]

Content descriptions

General Note:
Translation of: Amon : mein Grossvater hatte mich erschossen.
Bibliography, etc. Note: Includes bibliographical references, filmography and Internet addresses.
Formatted Contents Note: Prologue: The discovery -- Me, granddaughter of a mass murderer -- Master of the Paszow Concentration Camp : my grandfather Amon Goeth -- The commandant's lover : my grandmother Ruth Irene Kalder -- Living with the dead : my mother Monika Goeth -- The victim's grandchildren : my friends in Israel -- Flowers in Krakow -- Further resources: Books, films and online.
Immediate Source of Acquisition Note:
LSC 33.95

Additional Information

Syndetic Solutions - Summary for ISBN Number 1615192530
My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me : A Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi Past
My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me : A Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi Past
by Sellmair, Nikola; Sommer, Carolin; Teege, Jennifer
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Summary

My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me : A Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi Past


When Jennifer Teege, a German-Nigerian woman, happened to pluck a library book from the shelf, she had no idea that her life would be irrevocably altered. Recognizing photos of her mother and grandmother in the book, she discovers a horrifying fact: Her grandfather was Amon Goeth, the vicious Nazi commandant chillingly depicted by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List --a man known and reviled the world over. Although raised in an orphanage and eventually adopted, Teege had some contact with her biological mother and grandmother as a child. Yet neither revealed that Teege's grandfather was the Nazi "butcher of Plaszów," executed for crimes against humanity in 1946. The more Teege reads about Amon Goeth, the more certain she becomes: If her grandfather had met her--a black woman--he would have killed her. Teege's discovery sends her, at age 38, into a severe depression--and on a quest to unearth and fully comprehend her family's haunted history. Her research takes her to Krakow--to the sites of the Jewish ghetto her grandfather "cleared" in 1943 and the Plaszów concentration camp he then commanded--and back to Israel, where she herself once attended college, learned fluent Hebrew, and formed lasting friendships. Teege struggles to reconnect with her estranged mother Monika, and to accept that her beloved grandmother once lived in luxury as Amon Goeth's mistress at Plaszów. Teege's story is cowritten by award-winning journalist Nikola Sellmair, who also contributes a second, interwoven narrative that draws on original interviews with Teege's family and friends and adds historical context. Ultimately, Teege's resolute search for the truth leads her, step by step, to the possibility of her own liberation.