Robert Ley, mein Großvater, der Kriegsverbrecher: Ein Abend mit Buch-Autor Axel Spilcker und Historikerin Nicola Kramer über NS-Verbrechen und Täterschaft in Familien

Robert Ley was one of the most powerful men in the Nazi state: Head of the NSDAP’s Reich Organization, leader of the German Labor Front, a fervent anti-Semite—and the grandfather of Cologne-based journalist Axel Spilcker, who also works as a freelance reporter for the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.” In his book *Hitler’s Followers—Robert Ley, My Grandfather, the War Criminal* (Kiepenheuer & Witsch), Spilcker recounts—drawing in part on unpublished memoirs by Ley’s last partner—the story of his grandfather and that of his family, who continue to grapple with this legacy to this day. 

Spilcker discusses his research and its implications with historian Nicole Kramer, an assistant professor of contemporary history at the University of Cologne. Kramer, whose research focuses, among other things, on family history, the Nazi era, and the early Federal Republic of Germany, places Spilcker’s accounts within broader societal and social-psychological contexts: How is perpetration dealt with within families? What traces do such entanglements leave behind across generations? 

Spilcker’s book comes at a time of renewed engagement with the Nazi past: Since the NSDAP membership records from the National Archives in Washington were digitized and made searchable, many families have been asking themselves which of their ancestors participated or turned a blind eye. 

The event will be moderated by Joachim Frank, chief correspondent of the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.” 

The event will take place on Thursday, November 12, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. at the Workstage of the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger,” Amsterdamer Straße 192, 50735 Cologne.

The Workstage is easily accessible by public transportation (lines 13 and 16 to the Amsterdamer Straße/Gürtel stop). Free parking is available in the employee parking lot on Amsterdamer Straße.