Jennifer Teege

My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me

20th Annual Holocaust Memorial Lecture
Monday, September 18, 2017
7 p.m.
Mabel Brown Room
Lloyd P. Young Student Center
Keene State College

Jennifer Teege is the author of a New York Times bestselling memoir hailed as “unforgettable” (Publishers Weekly) and “a stunning memoir of cultural trauma and personal identity” (Booklist). At age 38, Jennifer Teege happened to pluck a library book from the shelf—and discovered a horrifying fact: Her grandfather was Amon Goeth, the vicious Nazi commandant depicted in Schindler’s List. Reviled as the “butcher of Płaszów,” Goeth was executed in 1946. The more Teege learned about him, the more certain she became: If her grandfather had met her—a black woman—he would have killed her. Teege’s discovery sends her into a severe depression—and fills her with questions: Why did her birth mother withhold this chilling secret? How could her grandmother have loved a mass murderer? Can evil be inherited? Teege’s story is co-written by Nikola Sellmair, who also adds historical context and insight from Teege’s family and friends, in an interwoven narrative. Ultimately, Teege’s search for the truth leads her, step by step, to the possibility of her own liberation. Of German and Nigerian descent, she has a degree in Middle Eastern and African studies from Tel Aviv University and worked in advertising for 16 years. She lives in Germany with her husband and two sons.