A 47-year-old German man has revealed that his biological maternal grandfather was Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful figures in Nazi Germany and a chief architect of the Holocaust. Henrik Lenkait disclosed the discovery for the first time in an interview with Sky News, describing it as a life-altering shock that forced him to confront a family secret kept hidden for decades.
Lenkait said the revelation began unexpectedly while he was watching a documentary about Nazi Germany. Curious to learn more, he searched online and came across a photograph of his grandmother, Hedwig Potthast, labeled as Himmler’s mistress. The image stunned him. He recalled her as a kind and friendly woman and said he had never imagined she could have been romantically involved with a man responsible for mass murder.
Further research confirmed that Himmler was his mother’s biological father, making the former head of the SS and Gestapo his direct grandfather. The realization prompted an identity crisis. Lenkait said he questioned everything he thought he knew about himself and his family, asking why the truth had been hidden from him for 47 years. He believes his parents concealed the information to protect him from the burden of such a legacy.
Himmler and Potthast met while working at Nazi security headquarters in Berlin, where she served as his private secretary. Their relationship began in the late 1930s and continued while Himmler was married to another woman. Letters exchanged between them show intimacy and affection, and historical records indicate Himmler acknowledged the child as his own, consistent with his belief in expanding what he saw as the “master race.”
Confronted with the genetic link, Lenkait said he struggled with fear and uncertainty over what such a heritage might mean. He stressed that he bears no responsibility for his grandfather’s crimes but said he feels compelled to ask forgiveness from the victims of the Nazi regime. He described Himmler as an “evil monster” and a mass murderer, adding that accepting such a figure as his grandfather is something he can neither change nor fully comprehend.
Heinrich Himmler, regarded as one of the central figures behind the Final Solution, oversaw the SS death squads and the network of extermination camps in which millions of Jews and others were murdered. Captured by British forces at the end of World War II, he committed suicide in May 1945 before standing trial. For Lenkait, the discovery has meant separating himself from that history while acknowledging its indelible connection to his own life.
