The children of Nazis who had some serious crosses to bear, growing up after Germany’s defeat. While they had it better than their parents’ victims – they got to live, after all – it was difficult growing up in the shadow of monsters. Many turned their backs upon their Nazi relatives, while others spent their lives defending their relatives and attempting to whitewash or downplay their crimes. Following are forty fascinating facts about the descendants and relatives of Nazis after WWII.
40. The Goebbels’ Luckiest Child
Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister and devoted disciple, was a loving father. Until he wasn’t. As Germany crumbled and Hitler hunkered in a bunker in a besieged Berlin, Goebbels insisted that he share his master’s fate. So he joined the Fuhrer, along with his fanatical Nazi wife Magda and their six youngest children, ranging in age from 5 to 13. When Hitler committed suicide, Joseph and Magda Goebbels poisoned their children, then killed themselves. One child who survived was their eldest, Harald Quandt, a Luftwaffe lieutenant who caught a lucky break when he was captured by the Allies in 1944 and was thus safe in a POW camp when his parents carried out their familial murder-suicide pact.
