A Nazi in the Family

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by Derek Niemann, Apr 24, 2015.

  1. Derek Niemann

    Derek Niemann Junior Member

    Some of you may have read my previous book, Birds in a Cage, about POW birdwatchers. My latest book was published by Short Books last month and is called A Nazi in the Family. Here's the blurb from Amazon, should you be interested in exploring further.

    Best wishes

    Derek


    WARTIME BERLIN: The Niemann family - Karl, Minna and their four children - live in a quiet, suburban enclave. Every day Karl commutes to work, a business manager travelling around inspecting his "factories". In the evenings he returns home to life as a normal family man.

    Three years ago Derek Niemann, born and raised in Scotland, made the chilling discovery that his grandfather Karl had been an officer in the SS; and that his "business" used thousands of slave labourers in concentration camps, such as Auschwitz, Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen. Derek had known little about the German side of his family, but now a lifetime of unsettling hints and clues began to fall into place.

    With the help of surviving relatives and hundreds of previously unknown family photographs, Derek uncovers the true story of what Karl did. A Nazi in the Family is an illuminating portrayal of how ordinary people can fall into the service of a monstrous regime.
     
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  2. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Just got it in the post.
    Some very interesting photos from the Niemann family album.
    It's on my 'to read' pile now & will give a review when I'm finished.

    Any other members read it ?
    If so what did you think of the book ?
     
  3. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Finished this yesterday.
    Fascinating reading of a German family from pre-WW1 up to the recent past.
    Must have been thousands of similar stories , patriotic defeated war veteran joins Nazi Party & gets a job working in the abnormal system they created.
    The oldest son, died of wounds in April '45 , daughter marries a Tommy post war & leaves for an unhappy life in sectarian Scotland. Followed later by Derek's Dad who goes over there to work.
    His Uncle Eki stayed in Germany.
    None of the sibling's went to see their brother's grave in Iffigheim.


    Derek has done lots of research for the book, visited many places connected to his families past.
    I'd love to see more of those 400 photos he has .


    TV interview with Derek here.
    http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/update/2015-05-27/bedfordshire-man-uncovers-family-secret-whilst-planning-germany-trip/

    His page from the Guardian about it here.
    http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/mar/07/a-nazi-in-the-family
     
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  4. Deacs

    Deacs Well i am from Cumbria.

    Great to see you enjoyed the book Owen.

    Mike.
     
  5. Deacs

    Deacs Well i am from Cumbria.

    Finished this book last night and thoroughly enjoyed it, would definitely recommend it.

    Cheers Mike.
     
  6. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    A Nazi in the family
    By Andrew Bomford
    Broadcasting House BBC Radio 4
    Holocaust Memorial Day is an annual reminder of the six million Jews murdered during World War Two and the millions of people killed in Nazi persecution and subsequent genocides.

    This week I accompanied British author Derek Niemann to a meeting in London, where he talked to a Jewish audience about his grandfather, an SS officer in the concentration camps.

    It came as the most profound shock to Derek, who writes gentle books about nature, to discover a family secret which had been hidden from him for more than 50 years.

    He accompanied his wife Sarah to a conference in Berlin and decided to try to visit the house where his father had grown up during the war, in order to take some photos.

    He looked up the address online.

    "Up came a sheet which said SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Niemann… crimes against humanity… use of slave labour," recounted Derek.

    "I can remember falling back in my chair, going next door, and saying to Sarah - I've just found my grandfather."

    Sarah said: "I said, what do you mean you've just found your grandfather? And he explained. I can remember the look of complete and utter shock on his face."
    ...


    Hear Andrew Bomford's full report on Radio 4's Broadcasting House programme on Sunday 28 January at 09:00 GMT and then on iPlayer afterwards.
     

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