
My Father's Keeper
The Children of Nazi Leaders - An Intimate History of Damage and Denial
Stephan Lebert(Author)
Abacus (Publisher)
Published on 4. July 2002
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-0-349-11457-6 (ISBN)
Description
There are and always have been ways of escaping one's own past. But there are some who have never had this chance: the children of prominent Nazis. On one hand they have the memories of the nice, kind man who was their father, on the other they are confronted with the facts of history: with the madness, the murders, the personal purgatory. The Leberts, father and son, spoke at an interval of forty years - 1959 and 1999 - to these men and women who bore a tainted name and were crushed by the burden of the past: Gudrun Himmler - 75, runs a network for old Nazis in Munich, denies her father did anything wrong; Martin Boorman (junior) - 70, believes his father was a monster; Etta Goring - 70, will hear no bad word about her father; Nicholas Frank (father was in charge of Auschwitz) believes his father was the incarnation of evil. The result is a series of snapshots of rare intensity and a demonstration of how these destinies have more to do with the twenty-first century than many would care to think.
Reviews / Votes
Fascinating. * Professor Eric Hobsbawm * Highly interesting ... what emerges not only casts light on the mentality and psychology of "Nazi children" in later life, but also on the wider issue of lingering trauma of the Third Reich. * Professor Ian Kershaw * MY FATHER'S KEEPER is a worthwhile read. * SUNDAY BUSINESS POST * It is an absorbing read, told with sympathy and discretion. * MAIL ON SUNDAY * Amazing stories * FINANCIAL TIMES *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
168 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-349-11457-6 (9780349114576)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
NORBERT LEBERT worked as journalist and freelance writer in Munich after WW2. His son, STEPHAN LEBERT, was born in 1961 and is managing editor of TAGES-SPIEGEL in Berlin. He has been awarded the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize.