LESUNG: Lorenz Hemicker - Mein Großvater der Täter

In the organizer's words:

A moving book about how a crime shapes a family over generations.
Look forward to an exciting evening with Lorenz Hemicker on his title "Mein Großvater, der Täter" at your Hugendubel bookstore in Berlin Steglitz.

In the late fall of 1941, the SS and their helpers murdered over 27,000 Jews in the forest of Rumbula. The pits in which the people were shot were constructed by SS officer Ernst Hemicker. He is never convicted for this. Decades later, Lorenz Hemicker grows up with a vague idea of the crime his grandfather was guilty of. He only knows a few sentences that his father repeats to friends and acquaintances at every opportunity. When they both want to travel to Latvia to find out more about Ernst Hemicker's deeds, his father dies unexpectedly. For Lorenz Hemicker, this turning point marks the beginning of a year-long search for traces of his grandfather. It takes him to the site of the massacre, to Holocaust survivors in Riga and into the depths of German World War II archives. In the process, a picture emerges of a man who - like many others with him - goes from being an everyman to a perpetrator and whose deeds accompany his son and grandson like a shadow long after his death.
A moving, captivatingly told investigation - right into the heart of the questions of German guilt and the knowledge of it in families.
Moderator: Rainer Schmidt


Information about the author Lorenz Hemicker:
Lorenz Hemicker, born in Gummersbach in 1978, studied communications and political science in Aachen. After working for the security policy magazine Loyal (2008-2014) and the political editorial department of FAZ, he has been head of FAZ.NET since July 2023.


Look forward to a historical evening with Lorenz Hemicker on Thursday, 13.11.2025, from 8.15 pm in your Hugendubel bookstore in Berlin Steglitz!

Price information:

Normal price 12€, 30% discount with customer card.