It’s a burden many carry in silence: discovering a dark family history linked to the atrocities of the Nazi regime. Generations after World War II, descendants are grappling with the legacy of thier ancestors’ actions, a reckoning frequently enough delayed by unspoken truths and familial reluctance to confront the past.
You might assume it’s easier to distance yourself from events that happened decades ago, but the emotional weight can be immense. I’ve found that the process of uncovering these truths is rarely straightforward, and frequently enough begins with a sense of disbelief.
Many individuals report that it took longer to identify their grandparents as individual perpetrators or collaborators. Of course, few families have a direct lineage to figures like Himmler, making the connection less obvious for many.
“If I stop and think about it, he was a monster, and I carry the blood of a monster,” shares one individual, henrik Lenkeit, reflecting on his grandfather’s past. “My faith is what has kept me going. Without it, I might be in a psychiatric hospital.”
