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My grandfather was a Nazi.
I apologize for him
I regret
I repent
I am sorry
Friedrich “Fritz” Fehlinger (1913–1969) was involved in National Socialist student structures before and during the Second World War. According to the family records I am researching, after 1938 he worked in the German student apparatus, was sent to Brno, and was later transferred to the German diplomatic mission in Agram/Zagreb, where he worked in the cultural section. My grandmother Grete and their young son Günther lived with him in Zagreb in 1942/43.
He was later called up for military service. Family records state that he served on the Western Front, fought in the Ardennes, and subsequently became an American prisoner of war. The surviving accounts differ on the exact date of his release and return: one family version says autumn 1945, another says that he remained in American captivity until 1947 and was released in Normandy. I am continuing archival research to establish the exact military record.
I want to say this clearly and without excuses: I condemn National Socialism completely. I deeply regret my grandfather’s involvement in Nazi structures, and I apologize for this dark chapter of my family history.
I cannot change what he did. But I can refuse to hide it, romanticize it, or minimize it. I can investigate the facts, publish what I find, acknowledge the victims of National Socialism, and take responsibility for how this history is remembered.
Never again Nazism.
Never again antisemitism.
Never again racial hatred, dictatorship, political persecution, or totalitarianism.
Family history must also include the uncomfortable truth. Remembrance means responsibility.
I will continue researching Friedrich Fehlinger’s political activities, his work in Zagreb, his military service, the Ardennes period, and his American captivity, and I will correct the public record wherever the evidence requires it.
I know a place he can "correct the record".....