My Grandfather, His Resistance Against the Nazis and I

Nora Hespers grows up hearing many stories about her grandfather: resistance fighter Theo Hespers, who was hunted and executed by the Nazis. Her father tells them at every possible opportunity. Over and over. So often that Nora, a teenager, eventually stops listening. Then her father abandons the family and with him, her grandfather also disappears from her life. Years later – by now Nora Hespers is a freelance journalist working for radio and television – she is confronted with her grandfather once more. At a time, no less, when the liberal-democratic values he fought so hard for and for which he gave his life are facing a great threat. This is Nora Hespers’ point of departure for her research into her grandfather’s story. But what can we learn from the resistance of the past for our situation today?

In her book, Nora Hespers examines the life of her grandfather Theo Hespers. In addition, it is the moving story of the reconciliation with her father – fifteen years after he suddenly left his family and she broke off all contact with him. All the while, Nora Hespers makes a passionate appeal to all of us: Our democratic civil rights and liberties for which people like Theo Hespers sacrificed themselves must be defended against attacks from the right, today more so than ever.

»I read about his political activity in exile, his articles for the resistance journal. About his arrest. And then there are those letters he wrote to his family from the Gestapo prison. I have long since realised that my grandfather knows that he won’t make it out alive. He knows that he is going to die. I know that he is going to die. And then I read those lines that make me weep and petrified at the same time.

But one day, all of this will be over and there will be peace for me too. You, I hope, are going to experience that new, wonderful time that I have always been longing for, live among a happy people, peaceful, satisfied and joyous. I wish this for everyone!

Tears are dripping onto my desk. I stare at the screen and am unable to move. This state lasts for minutes. And even days later I still feel as though I haven’t fully woken up from a horrible nightmare. It would take six years for me to turn my attention to this story again.«