The Florida Holocaust Museum and Boxser Diversity Initiative Partnered Events January 24, 2022 [St. Petersburg, FL] — The Florida Holocaust Museum in partnership with Boxser Diversity Initiative will host two interactive discussions featuring International Best Selling Author, Jennifer Teege on Tuesday, March 22, at The Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg with a virtual live stream option, and Wednesday, March 23 at Temple Beth Sholom in Sarasota, Florida. Both events will be held at 6:30 PM in person with limited seating, following COVID protocols with social distancing. Masks are required. The FHM will also provide an optional live stream, virtual program via their Facebook page www.Facebook.com/TheFHM My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me, an international bestseller, is a book born of a shocking discovery: At age 38, married with two children, Jennifer Teege picked up a book by chance at Hamburg’s main library and discovered that her grandfather was the brutal Nazi commandant of the Plaszow concentration camp, portrayed so memorably by Ralph Fiennes in the film Schindler’s List. These discussions are free and open to the public. For more information please visit The Florida Holocaust Museum’s website: www.thefhm.org/events or The Boxser Diversity Initiative Website www.boxserdiversityinitiative.org. For more information about the Sarasota program, please contact Meg Gilbert, Head of Administrative and Outreach Support, The Boxser Diversity Initiative at (646) 386-6579. This event is sponsored by: The Boxser Diversity Initiative and Florida Humanities. Event community partner: The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), St. Petersburg and Manasota chapters. Event Locations |
The Florida Holocaust Museum55 Fifth Street SouthSt. Petersburg, FL 33701Phone: (727) 820-0100www.TheFHM.org | Temple Beth Sholom, Sarasota1050 South Tuttle Avenue, Sarasota, FL 34237Phone: (941) 955-8121https://templebethsholomfl.org/ |
About the AuthorTeege’s mother was German; her father was Nigerian. Unable to raise a newborn child, her single mother placed Teege in a children’s home when Teege was four weeks old. In her early childhood, Teege had only intermittent contact with her mother and grandmother; that ended when Teege, age 7, was adopted by a white German family, where she was raised in a loving home. Later, in her twenties, Teege struggled with depression. She went to college in Israel, where she learned fluent Hebrew and earned degrees in Middle Eastern and African studies. She returned to Germany where she began a career in advertising and started a family of her own. Already coping with the trauma of rejection by her birth mother, Teege now faced other cruel facts: that she had to learn about her biological family’s secret from a book; and that a monstrous man, Amon Goeth, reviled for decades as “the butcher of Plaszow,” was her biological grandfather. Was it possible she might resemble him? She fell into a deep depression, unable to function as a mother. After many months of therapy, Teege was eventually able to live fully in the present once again. She set off to visit the sites of her grandfather’s crimes, to seek a greater understanding of her biological family and, if possible, some sense of closure in relation to his victims. She made contact with her biological mother and father and finally shared her story with her Israeli friends. The result is her memoir, My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me, written with award-winning journalist Nikola Sellmair, who also supplies historical and other context in a separate, interwoven narrative. After her emotional pilgrimage, Teege says, “I’m no longer a prisoner of the past. I know now that I am not to blame, and the guilt no longer weighs heavily on my shoulders. There is no Nazi gene: We can decide for ourselves who and what we want to be.” http://www.jenniferteege.com/ About The Boxser Diversity InitiativeThe Boxser Diversity Initiative promotes diversity and inclusion to encourage a better understanding of the diverse groups — racial, religious, and gender — in Southwest Florida that embrace the mission of diversity, inclusion, and community. The initiative has brought global speakers, commentators, and scholars to the Sarasota / Manatee area. www.boxserdiversityinitiative.org. About The Florida Holocaust MuseumOne of the largest Holocaust Museums in the country, and one of three nationally accredited Holocaust museums, The Florida Holocaust Museum honors the memory of millions of men, women, and children who suffered or died in the Holocaust. The FHM is dedicated to teaching members of all races and cultures the inherent worth and dignity of human life in order to prevent future genocides. For additional information, please visit www.TheFHM.org |