'My grandfather was a Wehrmacht soldier. It left him a broken man'

More Germans are trying to discover what their ancestors did in the second world war - and if they were involved in its crimes. Jessica Bateman reports from Munich

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A group of Wehrmacht soldiers socialising during the second world war. Getty

(Getty)

Frauke Gerbig, 66, clearly remembers the first time she asked her grandfather what he did during the second world war.

She was 16 years old and had just watched a documentary about the Holocaust. In response, he ran out of the room, crying. The only information Gerbig could gain from her family was that he had served in the Wehrmacht - the Nazi-era German army - and had been a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union. "The narrative was always that he was a victim," she said.

Over the years, there were hints that his relationship with the regime's ideology may have been more complex. "When I was 21 I went to volunteer on a kibbutz in Israel and he refused to speak to me, because he hated Jews," Gerbig said.

The sense of guilt that her family could be linked to atrocities gnawed away at her. But even after her grandfather’s death, she was the only one in her family who had any interest in seeking out more information. "They just don’t want to know," she said.

One day early this month, she stood in a classroom at Munich city library for a seminar she hoped could finally bring some answers. She and 13 others, many clutching folders full of family papers and photographs, were attending a workshop by the historian Johannes Spohr on how to use the country’s public archives. As they took turns to share their motivations for researching their family histories, Gerbig felt a little less isolated. "It was so comforting to hear other people have struggled with these discussions in their families, too," she said.