Synopses & Reviews
The internationally bestselling memoir hailed as “haunting and unflinching” (Washington Post), “unforgettable” (Publishers Weekly), and “stunning” (Booklist).
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.
Review
“A stunning memoir of cultural trauma and personal identity.”—Booklist, starred review
“An authentically shocking memoir.”—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
Praise for the original German edition
“In her book, Jennifer Teege manages to find the balance between coming to terms with her past and embarking upon a new, liberated identity.”—Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
“Jennifer Teege’s book is an important document—proof that history never ends.”—Profil magazine
“A bold confrontation with a personal and German history.”—Brigitte
Review
“Jennifer Teege’s new memoir traces the pain of discovering her gandfather was the real-life ‘Nazi butcher’ from Schindler’s List”—People magazine
“A stunning memoir of cultural trauma and personal identity.”—Booklist, starred review
“An authentically shocking memoir.”—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
“In honest, direct, and absorbing prose, Teege and coauthor Nikola Sellmair confront highly personal repercussions of the Holocaust. . . . The book’s real triumph is in its nuanced, universally appealing portrait of an individual searching for her place in the world. Just as Teege’s chance encounter with a library book led her to question the fundamental assumptions of her life, so too the reader. . . will be forced to reconsider the wide-ranging impact of past injustices on present-day relationships.”—The Jewish Book Council
Praise for the original German edition
“In her book, Jennifer Teege manages to find the balance between coming to terms with her past and embarking upon a new, liberated identity.”—Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
“Jennifer Teege’s book is an important document—proof that history never ends.”—Profil magazine
“A bold confrontation with a personal and German history.”—Brigitte magazine
Synopsis
The New York Times bestselling memoir hailed as haunting and unflinching (Washington Post), unforgettable (Publishers Weekly), and stunning (Booklist).
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 Plaszow, 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 Plaszow 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 Plaszow.
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."
Synopsis
An international bestseller—the extraordinary memoir of a German-Nigerian woman who learns that her grandfather was the brutal Nazi commandant depicted in Schindler’s List
Jennifer Teege is 38, married, a mother of two, and ten years into a career in advertising when by chance she pulls a book from the library shelf about her grandfather, Amon Goeth. She never imagined its contents would profoundly change her life and lead her down a painful path of self-discovery.
Amon Goeth was the brutal Nazi concentration camp commandant who oversaw the clearing of the Krakow ghetto in 1943 as well as the Plaszów concentration camp; he shot hundreds of people and was personally responsible for the deaths of thousands more. Millions of people worldwide know of him through Ralph Fiennes’ chilling portrayal of him in Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List. Guilty of genocide and war crimes, Goeth was hanged in 1946. Teege is his African-German granddaughter.
Goeth’s partner Ruth, Teege’s much-loved grandmother, committed suicide in 1983. Teege is their daughter’s daughter, given up for adoption when she was four weeks old; her father is Nigerian. Raised by foster parents, she grew up with no knowledge of the family secret. Now, it unsettles her profoundly. What can she say to her Jewish friends, or to her own children? Who is she—truly?
My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me is Teege’s searing chronicle of grappling with a haunted past that is suddenly, irrevocably hers. Research into her family takes her to Poland and to Israel, where she had lived for several years in her twenties, and learned fluent Hebrew. Her story was co-written by award-winning journalist Nikola Sellmair who also supplies historical context in a separate, interwoven narrative. Step by step, horrified by her family’s dark history, Teege builds the story of her own liberation
About the Author
Jennifer Teege worked in advertising for 16 years before becoming an author. For four years in her twenties she lived in Israel, where she became fluent in Hebrew. She graduated from Tel Aviv University with a degree in Middle Eastern and African studies. Teege lives in Germany with her husband and two sons. This is her first book.Nikola Sellmair graduated from Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich and has worked in Hong Kong, Washington, DC, Israel, and Palestine. She has been a reporter in Hamburg at Germany’s Stern magazine since 2000. Her work has received many awards, including the German-Polish Journalist Award, for the first-ever article about Jennifer Teege’s singular story.