What does guilt do to us and our families?
In late autumn 1941, the SS and their helpers murdered over 27,000 Jews in the Rumbula Forest. The mass graves where the victims were shot were constructed by SS officer Ernst Hemicker, who was never convicted for his crimes. Decades later, Lorenz Hemicker grows up with a vague awareness of his grandfather's atrocities, knowing only a few sentences his father repeated at every opportunity. When both plan to travel to Latvia to learn more about Ernst Hemicker’s actions, Lorenz's father suddenly and unexpectedly dies. This turning point marks the beginning of Lorenz Hemicker’s years-long search for traces of his grandfather. His journey takes him to the massacre site, to Holocaust survivors in Riga, and into the depths of German World War II archives. The search reveals a man who, like many others, transitions from an ordinary person to a perpetrator, leaving a shadow over his son and grandson long after his death. A moving and gripping investigation into the heart of German guilt and the awareness of it within families.
"It is likely to rank among the best works on this subject for its relentless honesty and determination." tageszeitung
"A necessary and important book." Welt am Sonntag
