She decided to investigate and, using documents, letters and interviews, she uncovered the story her family had kept hidden. Katrin Himmler's book is important: in its meticulous detail, we see the enduring truth of the phrase "the banality of evil". You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

This edition of private Himmler documents found in Israel was made in close cooperation with the filmmaker Vanessa Lapa. Her most disturbing discovery was that her grandfather had directly caused the deportation and death of a Jewish engineer, a Major Schmidt, deputy manager of an engineering firm, who had been protected because of his expertise.I found her revelations about other members of the Himmler family who were also loyal, card carrying Nazi's to be very interesting as well. Once upon a time the Himmlers were just a normal German family, middle-class, hard-working, well-educated.

It took courage and imagination for Katrin to confront the assumptions and half-truths that had taken root in the family . About the Author: Katrin Himmler is the great-niece of Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, Gestapo and leading organiser of the Holocaust. Writing to Heinrich, Ernst dismissed his usefulness, knowing that he would then be reclassified and deported to a labour camp. Having seen Germany prosper and then disintegrate during the years between the wars, they would have felt Hitler had help make Germany strong again. I commend her for moving forward and telling the back story to Himmler that no one other then a relative could possibly tell.That she was able to take on the challenge of writing about a relative which most people would never admit to, and to do so in such a candid and objective manner is admirable. I would say this is a must read ,and could be used in schools as part of the curriculum when teaching what intolerance leads to , Fascists whichever colour , pray on ignorance and the ignorant to further their ends ,it should be noted that both the Hitler family and the Himmler family were both Catholic and much of their influences originated from that belief system , it is shown that Heinrich in particular was very pious ,although not necessarily the dominant one in his early life , he very often scolded his brothers for minor insurrections and also had an inferiority complex due to being weak due to illness ,he was also very poor at sport as a result , I think in later life he just wanted to Be Somebody ,and with the ingrained militarism and religious background of the family we all know which path he chose . The shame seems understandable from Katrin Himmler's own father's perspective as he is one of the children born to these brothers. I wanted to give my son as much information as possible, so that when he starts asking questions about my family, at least I can answer him. She told an interviewer: "When my husband and I had our son, it became clear I had to break with the family tradition of not speaking about the past.

It seems a metaphoric turning of her back on the dark heritage she can never escape from - but she and her partner have agreed that they are determined to make their child understand where he comes from. You get a vivid sense of a particular kind of German conservatism and of how, weirdly, it found an outlet in the upstart, part-pagan thuggery of Nazisim . While Heinrich's path led him to unspeakably depraved actions, his brothers and his father believed in the Nazi party, participating without coercion willingly joining the Party and advancing in it without Heinrich's overt aid. I think Katrin Himmler has been very brave to tackle this subject , imagine having had Heinrich in YOUR family ?Her book traces the lives of the three Himmler brothers (the eldest was Gebhard Himmler), the sons of a respected secondary school headmaster in Munich. There are parallels , extremism ,this time of a religious nature is rearing its ugly head again throughout the world ,again ordinary well educated individuals are having their minds poisoned by a few who simply want power for themselves ,collectively we have the power to nip it in the bud and banish it forever , but do we have the courage ?