Drawn from Life
A German-Polish search for the past
When grandchildren start making enquiries
Their families are linked in a fatal way: his German grandfather was an SS member in Poland, her Polish grandfather was killed in Auschwitz; now these two grandchildren are married to each other. Uwe von Seltmann opens Pandora’s Box and starts to make enquiries: did his grandfather meet the grandfather of his wife Gabriela and was he involved in his death? In his search for answers, letters and testimonies from the time lead him across Europe, to the scenes of Nazi crimes, and to Holocaust survivors and former perpetrators. In a moving and harrowing way, he describes how old sores are reopened in both families and how things that had long been suppressed are recollected.
Uwe von Seltmann, born in 1964, first worked as a correspondent in Vienna, Austria, as well as in Berlin and Dresden in Germany after studying theology, followed by seven years as the chief editor of several Protestant weekly newspapers. Since 2008, he has mostly been living in Krakow, Poland, as a freelance publicist. He has published eight books, and was most recently the co-editor of Living With and Without God.
When grandchildren start making enquiries
Their families are linked in a fatal way: his German grandfather was an SS member in Poland, her Polish grandfather was killed in Auschwitz; now these two grandchildren are married to each other. Uwe von Seltmann opens Pandora’s Box and starts to make enquiries: did his grandfather meet the grandfather of his wife Gabriela and was he involved in his death? In his search for answers, letters and testimonies from the time lead him across Europe, to the scenes of Nazi crimes, and to Holocaust survivors and former perpetrators. In a moving and harrowing way, he describes how old sores are reopened in both families and how things that had long been suppressed are recollected.
Uwe von Seltmann, born in 1964, first worked as a correspondent in Vienna, Austria, as well as in Berlin and Dresden in Germany after studying theology, followed by seven years as the chief editor of several Protestant weekly newspapers. Since 2008, he has mostly been living in Krakow, Poland, as a freelance publicist. He has published eight books, and was most recently the co-editor of Living With and Without God.
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