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My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me

A Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi Past

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My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me

Written by: Jennifer Teege, Nikola Sellmair
Narrated by: Robin Miles
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About this listen

The internationally best-selling memoir hailed as "authentically shocking" (Library Journal) and "an important document - proof that history never ends" (Profil).

When Jennifer Teege, a German-Nigerian woman, happens to pluck a library book from the shelf, she has no idea that her life will 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 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.

©2013, 2015 Rowohlt Verlag GmbH, Reinbek bei Hamburg. © 2013, 2015 by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair. Translation © 2015 by Carolin Sommer (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
20th Century Historical Judaism Wars & Conflicts Military Holocaust War Prisoners of War
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What listeners say about My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me

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Well done.

Very well told, a difficult secret became reality. Grappled with and documented so well by the author, and well performed by the narrator.

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A very brave woman…

Jennifer is making it right; by facing the demons of her ancestor. I don’t think I have ever heard a holocaust story from the perpetrators side. She shows such courage sharing her knowledge of her grandfather’s identity. She takes the steps of healing and forgiveness. I am glad she decided to share her family’s story.

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Expected more from the book

The book was based on the author’s real life story. Her life was shuttered once she discovered that her grandfather was a well known Nazi butcher in a concentration camp in Poland. Even though the book tackles the tough questions and it is interesting in many aspects, I found it didn’t moved me enough as I had expected. I think the book needs a better editing to improve the flow of the story, and in some instances a deeper understanding of the actions of the protagonist.

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