VENKE: Surviving the naked truth about my father

by Venke Fehlis

Overview

In this gripping narrative, Venke takes readers through her traumatic forty-year search for the truth about her parentage and the shocking discovery that her father was Heinrich Fehlis, the feared chief of Gestapo in Norway, and her mother, his young Norwegian mistress. Over the years, her mother ekes out snippets of information, an array of distortions, half-truths, and outright lies. In her quest, Venke finds out that her father committed suicide rather than be captured, and her mother was confined to an insane asylum after attempting to kill herself and young Venke. She tracks down a half-brother from the family Fehlis left behind, meets her father’s widow, and develops a warm bond with this side of her family. All the while, the relationship with her abusive, narcissistic, and alcoholic mother continues to deteriorate. In the end, Venke comes to terms with the consequences of her search: that her father was a Hitler henchman who callously sent men to their deaths and earned the reputation as the Desktop Executioner. VENKE is an admirable memoir that makes plausible the chilling account of her findings and humanizes what we might otherwise deem as unspeakable—essential reading for anyone interested in the atrocities of World War II and how it affected individual lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781736622315
Publisher:	Wuppertal Press
Publication date:	08/27/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Venke Fehlis was born January 30, 1945, in Oslo, Norway. Her fondest, early childhood memories were those spent in an old cabin owned by her aunt and uncle in the snowy mountains outside Oslo and visiting her grandmother’s family farm in wintertime where she enjoyed horse-drawn sleigh rides. As a twenty-year-old, Venke emigrated to New Canaan, Connecticut, as an au pair, where she met her future husband. Eventually, they married, started a family, and built a factory in South Norwalk that manufactured steel waste containers. Thirty years later they sold the company for twelve million dollars. Afterwards, Venke launched a spa center in Greenwich, Connecticut. In 2012, the Norwegian book (published by Historie & Kultur AS), Gestaposjefens datter (The Chief of Gestapo’s Daughter), chronicled Venke’s life. It was a collaborative effort between her and Nina Drolsum Kroglund. Venke is now retired and lives in a small town in southern California. When she’s not at her writing desk, she enjoys playing bridge.