Book launch | Our Grandfather and Auschwitz: Time to Break the Silence

Two sisters discover their grandfather’s Nazi past through a book written by an Auschwitz survivor. They follow the trail and delve into the history of the persecution of Jews by the Nazis in the occupied Netherlands.

Did their grandfather himself torture or kill people? Did he know what was happening in Auschwitz? Did he later regret his actions? How were perpetrators like him dealt with in post-war Germany?

In the course of their years of research, the sisters come into contact with descendants of victims and develop their own approach to dealing with guilt within the family. They will be talking about this at the book launch, where the actor Olaf Reitz will read selected passages from the book.

“Two sisters find their grandfather’s name in a book by an Auschwitz survivor. They set out to investigate – and uncover what many Germans still repress to this day: their ancestors’ complicity in the Holocaust.”
Nicola Meier, Süddeutsche Zeitung

“Using the example of their grandfather, the book highlights how Nazi perpetrators in post-war Germany benefited from the machinations of the ‘terrible lawyers’, who went on to pursue successful careers.”
Ingo Müller, author of the book Furchtbare Juristen

Almuth Salentijn is managing director of the Bergisch Institute for Local Government Studies and a lecturer at the KGSt in Cologne. After studying law and completing her legal traineeship, she went on to obtain a Master’s degree in Administrative Sciences in Speyer. She began her professional career in the legal department of Wuppertal City Council, held various management positions, and headed the Central Administration and Human Resources Department as well as the Mayor’s Office.

Ute Sterris headteacher of the Adelheidisschule in Bonn and works as a headteacher coach for all types of school. She studied German, Mathematics and Music to become a primary school teacher and completed a supplementary degree in Intercultural Education at the University of Münster. After working in various roles at primary schools, she moved to La Paz, Bolivia, in 2010 for two years and taught at the Colegio Alemán. This drew on her own experiences: From 1977 to 1984, she lived in Egypt and – like her sister Almuth – attended the German School in Cairo.

As a speaker, actor and theatre maker, Olaf Reitz moves between the studio, the stage and public spaces, consistently working on the fringes. Not in the sense of a niche, but in the sense of a border zone – between literature and performance, between stage and street, between voice and space – it is precisely these interstices that interest him. Where language meets architecture. Where a text suddenly inhabits a street corner. Where a voice is more than just a sound. More at olafreitz.de

The book will be published in October 2026 and will then be available from the Fritz Bauer Forum shop and at the event.

An event organised by the Fritz Bauer Forum