16. Derek Niemann’s Shocking Discovery
Derek Niemann, a British author who writes gentle books about nature, received a shock when he discovered a family secret during a trip to Germany. While visiting Berlin with his wife, he decided to look up the house where his German-born father had grown up during WWII. When he Googled the address, he came across a page with information such as “SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Niemann… crimes against humanity… use of slave labour“. As he told a BBC interviewer: “I can remember falling back in my chair, going next door, and saying to [my wife] – I’ve just found my grandfather“.