This is quite a remarkable memoir about a quite remarkable family. Not a very likeable one, however, and dysfunctional hardly begins to cover it. I certainly had sympathy for the author, the heir to this family, but given his background it’s surprising he made it through at all. It’s a multi-generational family saga covering much of the 20th century and moves between Latvia, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands, a particularly turbulent part of the world and where the legacy of WWII lives on. It definitely did for the author who discovered that his father had served in the Waffen-SS, voluntarily, as a Dutchman. Politics and mixed allegiances galore, shady business practices, alcoholism, poverty and wealth, abduction, abandoned wives and children – the list goes on. The family were originally rich and well-connected but the war largely put paid to that and the extended family went on to lead a peripatetic existence forging new lives in new countries whenever circumstances demanded. Their story is often distasteful and the author’s father in particular was a truly nasty piece of work. This is not a in any way a nostalgic and melancholy memoir about growing up in tumultuous times, but an exposé of the shadier side of family life. Quite fascinating.

Author #Alexander Munninghoff writes a compelling story of experiences with Nazi Germany.And how he (his father)was not interested in the family business and rebelled against his controlling father.This makes a interesting read for anyone who enjoys European history.
Thank you,
#Netgalley,#Alexander Munninghoff and #Amazon Crossing

<b>3.5 stars</b>

I was drawn to this book because I wanted to know what would make a Dutch boy raised in Latvia want to run off and fight for the Nazis in World War II. That's exactly what Frans Munninghoff, the author's father, did when he was a teenager. I learned a couple of things. One was that early in the war, certain Baltic countries were more afraid of Soviet Russia than they were of Hitler. They thought Germany was going to be their savior, preventing Stalin from swallowing them up.

The other thing I learned was that Frans Munninghoff was just a spoiled boy who detested his Dutch heritage and wanted to get back at his father for forcing him to be educated in the Netherlands. It turns out that being in the Waffen SS was just the beginning of his life as a ne'er-do-well. He spent his whole life cheating people, cheating <i>on</i> people, and never having to pay any real consequences for his actions. His father was an extremely wealthy businessman and saw to it that Frans never really suffered as he should have for his Nazi affiliation.

The "heir" in the title is the author, Alexander Munninghoff. This is another one of those stories where a boy is only of value because he stands to inherit the family fortune. Beyond that, no one cares much about what happens to him. In some ways I found his story more interesting than his father's. He had no stability and not a whole lot of love in his upbringing, and he could easily have turned out to be a shiftless scam artist like his father. It's admirable that instead he went on to create a successful, accomplished life for himself.

The book is quite well written, as memoirs go, although it suffers at times from overtelling. I found it difficult to keep track of all the family members and friends and their nationalities and how they fit into the narrative. Still, it's well worth reading if you want to see how the iniquities of the fathers are visited upon their offspring to the third and fourth generations, just as it says in scripture.

An interesting look at how WWII affected this wealthy family.
Born to a Nazi father and desperate mother, it seems as though the person with the greatest impact on this young mans life was his often-time ruthless grandfather, known as "Old Boss"

An interesting story that spans across three generations,

This was a fascinating multi-generational history of the Münninghoff family, beginning with the author's grandfather, a Dutch national who spent decades in business in Latvia, where his family was raised, only to return to the Netherlands at the outbreak of World War II. The oldest son, and titular "heir" (the author's father), was not interested in the family business, rebelled against his controlling father, and was drawn to Nazi Germany. This wealthy, multi-national family's experiences during the war years and afterwards makes interesting reading for anyone who enjoys European history. There is even a brief cameo by John and Robert Kennedy as teens, when they are visited by the teenage "heir" when he visits England in the 1930s.

This book is an interesting perspective on WWII. I found the writing/translation as a whole to be a bit dry for my taste, and I had a hard time getting into it, but once I was, I was wholly invested. I was VERY invested in this man's reckoning with his family's history. This is a book that will make you angry but also break your heart. Outward appearances aren't everything, a lesson that carries through today. If you are at all interested in WWII, add this one to your list if only for the unique perspective alone.

Safety, comfort, privilege - there wasn't much the Old Boss's money couldn't buy, except for happiness. This memoir read like the love child of historical fiction and a daytime drama (and I mean that in a good way). I couldn't put it down. As someone who has read quite a bit about WWII, both fictional and not, I found myself surprised at how far the Munninghoffs' wealth, combined with some business acumen and political influence, took them. While all of Europe was starving, this family lived in comparative decadence. Even post-war, they seemed to escape virtually unscathed from the misery and anger that lingered. Of course, this was all outward appearance. Inside the walls of Briva Latvija, a wholly different story was writing itself. It was one even the Old Boss couldn't control.