40 Fascinating Facts About the Relatives of Nazis After WWII

1. Himmler’s Grandniece Struggled With Her Uncle’s Legacy

While Himmler’s daughter never renounced her father, his grandniece Katrin Himmler, granddaughter of the Reichsfuhrer-SS’ younger brother, spent her life trying to distance herself from her family’s Nazi legacy. That struggle found expression in her 2005 book, The Himmler Brothers: A German Family History, tracing the lives of Heinrich Himmler and his two brothers. She credits researching the book, which won acclaim, with helping her to finally come to terms with her family’s Nazi past.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Atlantic, The, October 16th, 2013 – An Interview With Nazi Leader Hermann Goering’s Great Niece

BBC – Holocaust Memorial Day: A Nazi in the Family

BBC – Nazi Relatives: The Troubled Descendants

BBC Culture – How the Children of Nazi Germany Remember World War Two

Daily Mirror, May 22nd, 2015 – ‘My Father Heinrich Himmler Was Not a Monster’, Insists Daughter of Nazi Chief on 70th Anniversary of His Death

Ha’aretz, March 7th, 2018 – My Grandfather Was Executed as a WWII War Criminal. I Know Why Germany Still Has a Nazi Problem

Independent, July 5th, 2018 – Gudrun Burwitz: Heinrich Himmler’s Daughter Who Supported Nazi War Criminals For Decades

Jerusalem Post, August 27th, 2017 – Nazi Goebbels’ Descendants Are Hidden Billionaires

New York Post, February 3rd, 2018 – How Nazi Offspring Dealt With Their Families’ Hellish Histories

Ranker – True Stories From Relatives of SS Officers