Jennifer Teege (born June 29, 1970, Munich, Germany) is a German writer, speaker, and Holocaust educator best known for her 2015 New York Times bestselling memoir, My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family’s Nazi Past. Her life story explores identity, heritage, and the intergenerational impact of historical trauma, shaped by the revelation that she is the granddaughter of Amon Göth, the brutal Nazi concentration camp commandant of Płaszów, portrayed in Schindler’s List.
Teege was born to a Nigerian father and an Austrian-German mother, Monika Hertwig (née Göth). Her mother, grappling with her own father’s legacy, placed Jennifer in a Catholic orphanage in Munich at four weeks old. Teege had limited contact with her biological mother and grandmother, Ruth Irene Kalder, during childhood and was adopted at age seven by a German couple who provided a stable home. As a Black German in the 1970s and 1980s, she faced prejudice and a sense of otherness in a largely white society. Despite this, she excelled academically and moved to Israel in her twenties, where she lived for four years, learned Hebrew, and earned a degree in Middle Eastern and African Studies from Tel Aviv University. This time in Israel, where she formed deep ties with the Jewish community, later shaped her perspective on her family’s history.
Before writing, Teege worked in advertising in Hamburg for 16 years, feeling unfulfilled despite professional success. In 2008, at age 38, she discovered a library book by her mother, I Have to Love My Father, Don’t I?, revealing that her grandfather was Amon Göth, responsible for thousands of deaths at Płaszów and executed in 1946 for war crimes. Her grandmother, Ruth Irene Kalder, had been Göth’s mistress. This discovery triggered a severe depression, forcing Teege to confront her identity as a Black woman with Nazi ancestry and her connections to Israel.
To process this, Teege co-authored her memoir with journalist Nikola Sellmair, published in German in 2013 as Amon. Mein Großvater hätte mich erschossen and in English in 2015. Translated into multiple languages, the book blends Teege’s personal journey with historical context, exploring memory, responsibility, and reconciliation. She rejects inherited guilt, using her story to advocate for dialogue and understanding. Teege has since become a global speaker, addressing the Holocaust’s impact, extremism, and tolerance at schools and public events.
Her story inspired the 2021 animated short Holy Holocaust, directed by her Israeli friend Noa Berman-Herzberg, which premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival and was acquired by The New Yorker. Teege has appeared in documentaries and interviews, contributing to discussions on historical memory, racism, and identity. She lives in Germany with her husband and two sons, maintaining ties to Israel and advocating for cross-cultural understanding through her work as a Holocaust educator. Her unique perspective as a Black German with a Nazi family legacy continues to resonate, offering insights into history, identity, and reconciliation.