The Nazi’s Granddaughter

How I Discovered My Grandfather Was a War Criminal

By: Silvia Foti

Narrated by: Gabrielle de Cuir, Stefan Rudnicki

A deathbed promise leads a daughter on an incredible journey to write about her grandfather who was a famous war hero. But this journey had a terrible destination: the discovery that he was a Nazi war criminal.

Silvia Foti’s mother was dying. Wanting to preserve family history, Silvia’s mother asks her to write a book about Foti’s grandfather, Jonas Noreika, a famous WWII hero. Foti’s grandmother tries to intervene - begging her granddaughter not to write about her husband. “Just let history lie”, she whispered.

Foti had no idea that in keeping her promise to her mother, her discoveries would bring her to a personal crisis, unearth Holocaust denial, and expose an official cover-up by the Lithuanian government that resulted in an internationally followed lawsuit.

Jonas Noreika was a Lithuanian known as General Storm. He led an uprising that won the country of Lithuania back from the communists, only to have it fall under Nazi control. He was an official during the Holocaust and chief of the second largest region in the country during the Nazi occupation, yet he became a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. Foti set out to write a heroic biography about her famous grandfather. But as she dug ever deeper, she “encountered so much evidence proving my flesh and blood ‘hero’ was a Jew-killer, even I could no longer believe the lie”.

The Nazi’s Granddaughter is Foti’s firsthand account of her journey, which began as an act of family pride and ended with uncovering the secret her family, and an entire nation, had kept hidden for 79 years. It addresses:

• How should our family’s past, shameful or noble, shape our identity?
• How could one man be revered as a hero, having a grammar school named after him, and yet be a villain responsible for the deaths of thousands?
• Why are some European countries still in denial about their role in the Holocaust?
• How was this kept secret until now?

©2021 Silvia Foti (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

Courage in Her Search for Truth

She showed amazing courage in continuing to search for the truth about her grandfather. After she began to uncover unsettling truths she continued because she believed that Lithuania and the world deserved to know the truth of what her grandfather did. Absolutely a must read.

Interesting, but repetitive

I will finish this book, half way through it, but am finding it very repetitive. We now know Grandpa was a Nazi collaborator and orderer/killer of the Jewish population; sided with whomever gave him the best deal: Soviets, Lithuanian partisans or Germans. This was established fairly early on in the book, and obviously, his wife, her grandmother knew it too, by her early remarks, her antisemitic commentary about Jesus, etc. I'm not sure why the story is told in such excruciating detailed info when the evidence looked pretty clear from the start. Maybe I'll figure it out as the story goes on. Frankly, what was more interesting is a Youtube video of the documentarian who developed J'Accuse, a documentary about the slaughter of Jews in Lithuania during WW2, developed by a Lithuanian Jewish gentleman brought up in Africa, who used a lot of Sylvia Foti's research to complete his documentary. His story of the antisemitic pogroms in Lithuania are shocking, and her grandfather was a major player. I think her book could have been told in half of the chapters, but I'll continue to trudge on. I know she suffered a lot of criticism and ostracism in the Lithuanian community in Chicago and abroad, and good for her for telling the truth, but the truth was apparent a third of the way through the book.

So riveting, I finished in 2 days!

The topic was incredible, the writing was captivating (I finished the unabridged version in 2 days), and the narration wonderful!!! The strength Sivia Foti showed to overcome all the obstacles faced to finish this book is mind-boggling - thank you!

Gets pretty dark, as you can imagine.

This is the story of a Lithuanian war hero who also happened to be complicit in some heinous mass murders, and yet was subsequently himself a victim of a heinous mass murder after the war. Like his evident victims, he was buried in a mass grave.

In summary, war is Hell, and to have been caught in Eastern Europe between the forces of both Hitler and Stalin during the war and its aftermath was probably as hellish a circumstance as any in history.

Kudos to the author for sharing her uncomfortable personal journey of discovery. It’s not a cheery tale, but you wouldn’t expect anything with “Nazi” in the title to be cheerful, now, would you?

About that- I don’t think the author’s grandfather was really a Nazi, but rather a collaborator. I’m not sure why he’s called a Nazi in the title, except maybe to draw attention. (It worked- I came upon this book after using “Nazi” in a keyword search,)

Those were dark days indeed, and I feel the author has done her best to come to terms with the ghosts of the past. It was an interesting read.

More WW II History I Didn't Know

This book is excellent. It is well written and well narrated. It delves into an area of WWII history I never knew. I highly recommend especially if you are a WWII buff.

To be told your Grandfather was a hero but to be the only one willing to disclose the truth was brave and courageous.

I really liked this selection. I’ve always enjoyed titles about World War Two and lately I’ve been finding books from unusual perspectives and this book aligns with that. I found this book to be so interesting and informative. These are the stories that are slowly getting lost. I thank the author for taking the time to dig through the history to uncover the truth. God bless you and all those who suffer.

interesting historical info

Such an interesting record of how one woman, raised to believe that her grandfather was a hero, uncovers the awful truth

A Compelling Story Well Told

In preparation to interview the author, Silvia Foti, I purchased her book and then realized how difficult it was to figure out place names and people's names given my unfamiliarity with the Lithuanian alphabet and language. Being able to listen to this wonderful narrator glide through the text added enormously to my understanding of the written text. Silvia Foti's journey of discovery took two decades of research and upended what she believed she knew about her grandfather and what happened in Lithuania during WWII and the Holocaust.

I highly recommend this audio version of a gripping story well told.

This POV a First For Me

I could not finish this book sadly. The narrator’s accent was so off putting. She ruined it for me. I don’t know why someone would choose a narrator who has an accent that makes them sound uneducated. It sounds as if she is reading the material, but she is someone who struggles with reading. I know it’s a Chicago area accent but it just not palatable for a performance of any kind.

Bravely groundbreaking

The author is able to write so many stories into one that the style in which this is written would make any topic enticing. The fact that she courageously exposes the truth while unabashedly discussing her own vulnerabilities cannot be duplicated. Timely in its release as society has begun accepting and demanding to expose untruths, this book should be heralded, praised and shared.