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Having wrestled for decades with an inexplicable sense of guilt, Angela Findlay eventually turned to her German roots in the hope of finding answers. There, she discovered three generations knotted together by events that took place in Nazi Germany: a grandfather who was a decorated general on the Eastern Front, his daughter and granddaughter - Angela herself.
In a rare confluence of memoir, psychology and historical detective story, Findlay's unflinching quest for the truth about her grandfather breaks through the silence surrounding many the Second World War's perpetrators.
In My Grandfather's Shadow explores the heritability of unresolved experiences, questions deeply held perceptions of good and bad, and uncovers the lesser-known history of the war's losers, a post-war culture of apology and atonement, and the lingering legacy of shame.
Using her own family story to explore an episode in history that continues to appal and fascinate, Findlay reveals that it is possible not only for the scars of trauma to be handed down through generations, but also for them to be healed.
About the author
Angela Findlay is an Anglo-German artist and public speaker who has spent much of her career teaching art in prisons. Her time 'behind bars' in Germany and later as Arts Co-ordinator for the London-based Koestler Arts charity informed her research into the intergenerational consequences of unresolved trauma, guilt and shame. For over a decade, she has been lecturing and writing on the topic as well as on post-war remembrance, resolution and reconciliation. In My Grandfather's Shadow is her first book.
Summary
Having wrestled for decades with an inexplicable sense of guilt, Angela Findlay eventually turned to her German roots in the hope of finding answers.
There, she discovered three generations knotted together by events that took place in Nazi Germany: a grandfather who was a decorated general on the Eastern Front, his daughter and granddaughter - Angela herself.
In a rare confluence of memoir, psychology and historical detective story, Findlay's unflinching quest for the truth about her grandfather breaks through the silence surrounding many the Second World War's perpetrators. In My Grandfather's Shadow explores the heritability of unresolved experiences, questions deeply held perceptions of good and bad, and uncovers the lesser-known history of the war's losers, a post-war culture of apology and atonement, and the lingering legacy of shame.
Using her own family story to explore an episode in history that continues to appal and fascinate, Findlay reveals that it is possible not only for the scars of trauma to be handed down through generations, but also for them to be healed.
