NSDAP membership database reveals ancestors, but denial persists

The online release of the NSDAP membership card index in late February has enabled many Germans to search for their ancestors. The author finds her paternal grandfather joined on May 1, 1933, just before the Nazi party paused admissions until 1937. He was an engineer who built bridges for the Nazis and died early in the war from kidney disease, considered a follower. In contrast, her maternal grandfather, Hanns E. Ludin, served as Nazi Germany's envoy to Slovakia, responsible for deporting Slovak Jews, and was hanged as a war criminal in Bratislava in 1947. The article questions the impact of such personal research in the era of the AfD, arguing that asking 'How would I have behaved back then?' is the wrong question, as denial of truth persists even when confronted with evidence.