How many of you are familiar with the story of Jennifer Teege? I just came across an article about her and it’s tripped me up. She’s a German woman whose mother had an affair with a Nigerian student in the 70s, got pregnant, and then gave Jennifer up for adoption. Her mother was in fact Monika Hertwig, daughter of Nazi commander Amon Goeth (portrayed by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List). Jennifer didn’t learn that Amon was her grandfather until she was 38, when her mother released a book in 2002 titled But I have to love my father, don’t I? In September of this year, after coming to terms with the truth, Jennifer released her own book called Amon: My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me.
Just looking at her picture beside his (taken minutes before he was executed for war crimes) and seeing how much they look alike is just eerie. At 35 Amon Goeth was the captain of a concentration camp where he periodically would hunt Jews from the balcony of his house for sport. He’d shoot workers without warning, simply because he felt like it. He was dismissed as captain partly for stealing and partly for treating the inmates of the camp too poorly. When Nazis are penalizing you for cruelty…damn. Shit is just off.
Identity is such a fragile thing, and here we have a woman who has had to grapple first with being adopted, then with being biracial, and now with being related to someone who did all those things… one of the most evil men to walk the planet…wow. It’s a fascinating and disturbing story that I just had to share.