Speaker explores family’s Nazi past

The author of the internationally bestselling memoir, My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family’s Nazi Past will speak in Scottsdale on Jan. 30 at 7:30 pm in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

When Jennifer Teege, a German-Nigerian woman, randomly picked up a library book from the shelf, her whole life – her whole sense of self – changed forever. Recognizing photos of her mother and grandmother in the book, she discovered a horrifying fact they had kept from her: her grandfather was Amon Goeth, the vicious Nazi commandant so chillingly depicted by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List – a man known and despised the world over.

Although she was placed in an orphanage and then adopted at a young age, as a child Jennifer Teege had some contact with her biological mother and grandmother. Yet neither revealed their family legacy. At age 38, Teege began to learn the scope of her grandfather’s crimes – he was known as the Nazi “butcher of Plaszów concentration camp”. She realized that if her grandfather had met her – a black woman – he would have killed her.

Teege’s Arizona visit is sponsored by Generations After, a program of the Phoenix Holocaust Survivors’ Association, and the Martin Springer Institute at Northern Arizona University where she will also speak on Jan. 28.

Her Valley appearance will be held at Congregation Beth Israel, 10460 N 56th St., Scottsdale.

Seating is limited. Tickets are available at phoenixhsa.org or by calling 480-792-6736. General tickets are $10; tickets for students and members of Generations After, PHSA and CBI are $7.

There is no charge for Holocaust survivors, but reservations are required.

Teege’s Arizona presentations will be conducted on stage in conversation with Dr. Bjorn Krondorfer, director of NAU’s Martin Springer Institute and son of a German World War II soldier, and Janice Friebaum, chair of Generations After and daughter of a Holocaust survivor.