Natali Beige was 14 years old when she discovered the medallion of the German Iron Eagle, a symbol used by the Nazi Party, in her grandfather’s drawer. “It was like a slap in the face,” she recalled. “There was something so vile about it – especially the swastika.”

Her grandfather had died a few years earlier. Beige’s grandmother tried to explain that the medallion hadn’t actually belonged to him, but to his brother, and that despite the looks of it, Beige’s great-uncle had actually opposed Hitler. He had paid for that opposition with his life, her grandmother added.

The story did little to console the teenaged Beige.

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Later on, while digging for more information about her family history, Beige learned that her great-grandmother had been a “devoted Nazi” who insisted that her grandson – Beige’s uncle – join the Hitler Youth (but thanks to a grenade accident that blew off three of his fingers, the young boy was spared that ordeal and allowed to stay home).

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