How would you cope if your father were an infamous Nazi? Would you disown the man or accept him? Would you respect him as a father but not a person? Or would you just change your name and try to forget the past?
In “Children of Nazis” author Tania Crasnianski explores the impact of being the child of a high-ranking member of the Third Reich, showing the vastly different ways children dealt with their fathers’ legacies.
Brigitte Höss with her father, Rudolf
It is unlikely that readers will have heard of any of the Nazi progeny examined in the book, but they will certainly recognize the names of their fathers: Heinrich Himmler, Herman Göring, Rudolf Hess, Hans Frank, Martin Bormann, Rudolf Höss, Albert Speer and Josef Mengele.
These were National Socialists who were responsible for some of the world’s most reprehensible crimes. But according to the author, they still strove to provide their kids with normal and happy childhoods.
Heinrich Himmler, chief of the SS and architect of the Holocaust, would regularly call home to talk to his young daughter, Gudrun, and would even send her flowers and chocolates. Herman Göring commissioned elaborate dresses for his daughter, Edda, whom he always kissed goodnight before going to bed.
Herman Göring with his daughter Edda
But after the war life changes dramatically for these well cared for children. Overnight, their fathers go from heroes to villains, and they need to wrestle with the consequences of having had a Nazi for a father.
Some of the children are refused entry into schools due to their last names; some are victims of schoolyard bullying. Edda Göring and Gudrun Himmler actually lived in an Allied prison for several years, not because they were jailed there but because their mothers were so desperate and fearful after the war that they begged the warden for shelter.
The book is at its most interesting when the children reach adulthood and are forced to come to grips with the enormity of their fathers’ crimes. The children cope in strikingly different ways. Gudrun Himmler, Wolf Hess and Edda Göring defend their fathers; Niklas Frank denounces his; Brigitte Höss tries to forget her past; and Martin Bormann Jr. and Rolf Mengele think their fathers are abominable but still accept them as their blood.
Ironically, the chapters that deal with the children who clung to the notion that their fathers were somehow conscionable people are easier to digest. We somehow “understand” that Wolf Hess wanted to hold onto the belief that his father was a crusader for peace and Gudrun Himmler never could admit her father was guilty. These children find comfort in their delusions.
Much more difficult to process are the chapters about the children who struggled to reconcile the men they knew as fathers with the monsters those men were. Reading about these children forces us think about how we would have reacted in their shoes.
Brigitte Höss, left
For example, Brigitte Höss knew that her father, Rudolf Höss, commandant of Auschwitz, was guilty. His crimes caused her so much distress that after the war she left Germany, settled in anonymity in the U.S. and made a vow never to speak of her history with anyone.
So why, knowing that her father was so evil, does she sleep with his wedding photo over her bed? Apparently, she simply cannot forget that her father was very kind to her and her family.
“He was very good to us,” she has said of him, recalling how he had played with her and her siblings, read fairytales to them and took them to ride horses.
Rolf Mengele, with his father Josef
And then there’s Rolf Mengele, son of the infamous Nazi doctor, Josef Mengele, the “Angel of Death.” Rolf Mengele has said that his father’s actions horrified him and that his own personal political views were “diametrically opposed to that of my father’s.” Yet even after Rolf confronted his father about his ghastly crimes (the two met as adults once, in Brazil in 1977), Rolf still couldn’t find it in himself to tell Nazi hunters where his father was hiding. Asked why, he said, “I would never betray my father. No one in the world can ask me to do that.”
Making sense of the complicated coexistence of love, disgust and other emotions that lived inside some of the children in respect to their fathers can be difficult, but Crasnianski does try.
She quotes, for example, Martin Bormann Jr., who had an interesting theory on why he was able to feel love toward his father. Citing the Bible, Bormann said, “The Fifth Commandment demands only that children love and respect their parents, as parents, and not individuals exercising a role in society.”
Though Crasnianski works hard to try and help us understand her subjects’ complicated feelings, some of the questions raised in the book still never get answered. That’s because she mostly didn’t speak to her subjects. In fact, the only Nazi descendent who granted her an interview was Niklas Frank, son of Hans Frank, general governor of occupied Poland. Unsurprisingly, the chapter about him is very rich and completely answers why he took the stance he did on his father.
Hans Frank, left; Niklas Frank, right
In one particularly illuminating passage, Frank tells the author, “It wasn’t long before I saw photos of the camps on the front pages of the newspaper: piles of naked bodies, skeletons in rags and children holding out their tiny wrists to show their numbers. ... They were the same age as me, they were being held so close to the castle in Poland where my father was stockpiling his gold and where I was acting like a prince in my pedal car. It was a horrifying realization.”
More first-person accounts as penetrating as Frank’s would have enhanced the book. Still, “Children of Nazis” is a fascinating read and considering that the sons and daughters of the Nazi notables are now elderly, Crasnianski is able to tell the story from a unique vantage point, one that distinguishes her book from others on the subject.
(12) Tabitha Korol, January 9, 2019 12:05 AM
Their legacies differed
In the past I came across articles about some children of Nazis who were terribly guilt-ridden about their fathers. Some never married because they feared they contained his genes for evil. Others went to Israel, and at least one or two converted to Judaism, perhaps to replace Jews killed or perhaps to immerse themselves in good to make up for the evil that was perpetrated.
(11) Tracey Anderson, May 29, 2018 8:09 PM
Unchanged
..who among us today is not another sheep, reacting to the movement and noise of the herd instead of listening to the moral promptings from within which become convictions? Time moves forward but the characteristics of humanity are unchanged. Realize we die alone, the herd becomes individuals answering each why they did, unto themselves while time is suspended and measured until each why is answered, not in silence but in consciousness, inevitable consciousness.
(10) Sb, May 28, 2018 12:46 PM
Fascinating
Not a simple issue
(9) Anonymous, May 28, 2018 12:44 PM
Never Buy German
I try to the best of my ability to avoid buying anything German from a small pin to a car. It is well known that Germans make and design brilliantly made cars, and electronic products, however, the thought of buying something German and having it in my house, or the idea of driving a German car, are anathema to me. Many of my friends say the same, but often do not pay attention to some of the products they buy, that are well known, and are German made. Besides the fact that my mother is a Holocaust survivor, there is not a day that I do not think about the Holocaust. I am only one generation removed from the Holocaust, and often think of myself during that time. The horror, the terror, atrocities, and tragedy. More than that, I would never even take a flight where there is a stopover in Germany. The only way that would happen is if the plane needed to make an emergency landing. Mostly, I think to myself, that if one of the children or grandchildren worked on any product that I bought, their evil would be in my possession. While I know that the German economy will not suffer because I don't buy German products, it is my contribution, albeit it small, to the memory of 6,000,000 holy souls. הי ינקם דמם
Tatyana, January 3, 2019 4:10 PM
I think and do the same.
(8) Anonymous, May 27, 2018 3:24 PM
Mengele was a serial killer.
I was born in 1967 and it disturbs me greatly that Mengele was allowed to live in peace until he passed away in old age at his natural time. Shame on his neighbors and shame on his offspring. His son’s attitude is “It’s not my problem.” That’s your Nazi brainwashing right there. Loyalty above morality. Every single person who knew where Mengele lived and turned a blind eye is complicit.
Anonymous, January 4, 2019 12:34 AM
Mengele
He didn't pass away in peace. He was like a hunted animal after the war. Always living in fear. Always on the lookout. Fleeing more than once to a safer hideout. He was unable to see his only son, Rolf, except once.
He finally drowned in the ocean, while having a heart attack. There is no peace for the wicked.
"The mills of G-d grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine."
(7) Sara, May 25, 2018 11:36 AM
Better book on this same topic
A similar book was published in the 1990’s, which was done with first person interviews. I’ve been trying to track it down for many years. I’m sure the author of this book that you reviewed must be aware of it. If anyone can help me find the title of the book I am looking for, I would be most appreciative.
Pozarski, January 29, 2019 3:59 PM
Book no, but documentary, yes
Hitler's children an Israeli-German documentary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler%27s_Children_(2011_film)
(6) joshua, May 24, 2018 10:10 PM
Rolf Mengele - example from Chumash
Esav's greatest mitzvah is kibud Av. Rolf's statement that he would never betray his father and no one in the world can ask him to do that - well, there it is.
I don't blame him, I don't judge him (Rolf). I understand, he's just doing what Esav does best. It's enough for me that Rolf is not like his father.
G-d alone will judge, and perfectly.
Berel Fekete, May 25, 2018 6:06 PM
Mengele-Yitzchok?
Are you comparing the mitzvah of kibud av for Yitzchok Ovinu to Mengele?
Sharona, May 29, 2018 9:29 AM
Great comment. I agree
I agree
(5) David Levine, May 24, 2018 5:23 PM
A Excellent Video Disc
The disc "Hitler's Children" by Chanoch Ze'evi is also excellent here. Profiled are the niece of Hermann Goering (who lives in the western American dessert) the son of Hans Frank and the grandson of Rudolf Hoess, Commandant of Auschwitz. All of them are great contrasts to the people from whom they descend (with the exception of Ms. Goering whose father, Hermann's brother, was actually a good man). Young Hedrr Frank gives speeches to Gymnasium and Hochschule students on what went on and is quite open on his father's role in the events. A terrific scene is Hoess's grandson sitting together with Israeli students in the Auschwitz auditorium and watching them speak to him and his answers. Frauline Goering has actually withdrawn from the world.
Most disturbing about the book is Rolf Mengele's excuse for not turning in his father although he realized what a monster he was. Herr Mengele is an attorney in Freiburg im Breisgauj. Southwestern Germany (near the Swiss and French border). I actually saw his office on Lutherkirshplatz when I visited that city in 1978. In the USA an attorney, an officer of the Court, has the legal obligation to disclose the whereabouts of a person wanted by the authorities. I don't know the rule in Germany but it seemslike a moral obligation to me.
One can order the videodisc from Maya Productions Ltd. info@cinephil.co.il. and go to www.hitlerschildren.com
Annie, May 27, 2018 4:40 AM
I agree
Yes, he was his father, but he was also a mass killer.
He (the son) committed a moral crime even it wasn't (and it probably was) a legal one. Not a good look for a lawyer.
I will never forget (excuse the tangent) reading about a woman who took part in either the 'euthanasia' or the Holocaust or both. She was asked why she had done it.
It was legal. She would have done nothing illegal because she had been brought up to know that you didn't do anything against the law, like theft from a shop, But this was legal so she did her part and didn't have any qualms about it. It was like asking me why I had worked for the Education Department. Why wouldn't I ?
I see enabling mass slaughter as just a TINY bit worse morally than stealing a chocolate bar. Call me biassed in this.
What on earth could anyone say to someone who couldn't see why one shouldn't enable genocide because it was legal but who had never stolen anything because that was illegal (not wrong, illegal) ?
(4) Anonymous, May 24, 2018 3:49 PM
right and wrong has nohing to do with family
this is absurd: "And then there’s Rolf Mengele, son of the infamous Nazi doctor, Josef Mengele, the “Angel of Death.” Rolf Mengele has said that his father’s actions horrified him and that his own personal political views were “diametrically opposed to that of my father’s.” Yet even after Rolf confronted his father about his ghastly crimes (the two met as adults once, in Brazil in 1977), Rolf still couldn’t find it in himself to tell Nazi hunters where his father was hiding. Asked why, he said, “I would never betray my father. No one in the world can ask me to do that.” << this is absolutely ridiculous. he is saying he would rather his father--a psychopath who committed perhaps the most heinous acts towards innocent children, should be allowed to remain free and enjoy his life in Brazil, rather than be turned in to the authorities.. if he stated (the son) that 'his views were diametrically opposed to that of my father’s.”, then he would have done the right thing. just as anyone related to a mass murderer should-regardless of where and when, but particularly in this gruesome case.
Anonymous, May 24, 2018 5:10 PM
By 1977, Mengele had already suffered a stroke
He died in 1979. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele)
(3) Andrea Chester, May 24, 2018 3:00 PM
Humans are complex
This reminds us of a great truth....humans are complex, multi-dimensional creatures. That fact is constantly shown throughout the Scriptures, where our great heroes had some pretty serious flaws. GOD gave us a puzzling world, indeed, with no simple, one-size-fits-all answers.
(2) MDG, May 23, 2018 9:46 PM
Is this a newly published book?
Can it be found in Libraries?
(1) Sarah, May 23, 2018 3:44 PM
Grandchildren of Nazis speak out
Today a small group of grandchildren of Nazis have sworn to break the silence of their parents. Some of these grandchildren have formed a group to speak out against their grandparents' involvement in the Nazi killing machine. They support Israel and embrace the Jewish nation. Recently several thousand of them and their supporters met at a conference in Jerusalem. They then gathered for 'March of the Living' to celebrate Israel's 70th birthday and 51 years of reunited Jerusalem. They people I spoke with do not expect forgiveness for the evil done, but refuse to remain silent in the present.
Zvka, May 24, 2018 2:35 PM
Sarah - thanks for sharing
It is heartwarming to know that so many of the "Nazi" grandchildren support Israel.
Anonymous, May 24, 2018 4:00 PM
I agree that humans are complex. One cannot possibly step into their shoes: whatever we imagine we might do or say, is just that - imagination. Kudos for those who have been able to transcend their familial evil and live positive, productive lives that contribute to Israel and Jewish lives now.
Jenny Benjamin, May 24, 2018 4:14 PM
children of Nazis too close emotionall.
The grandchildren of Nazis were not parented by them, so can be much more detached. It is so heart warming and moving to know of the thousands on 'March of the Living' This new generation is
making positive actions which must be welcome. We do not judge for the sins of their grandfathers.