It began with an armchair. It began with the surprise discovery of a stash of personal
documents covered in swastikas that had been sewn into its cushion. The SS Officer's Armchair
is the story of what happened next as historian Daniel Lee follows the trail of cold calls
documents coincidences and family secrets to uncover the life of one Dr Robert Griesinger
from Stuttgart. Who was he? What had his life been - and how had it ended? Lee reveals the
strange life of a man whose ambition propelled him to become part of the Nazi machinery of
terror. He discovers unexpected ancestors in New Orleans untold stories of SS life and family
fragmentation. As Lee delves deeper Griesinger's responsibility as an active participant in
Nazi crimes becomes clearer. Dr Robert Griesinger's name is not infamous. But to understand the
inner workings of the Third Reich we need to know not just its leaders but the ordinary Nazis
who made up its ranks. Revealing how Griesinger's choices reverberate into present-day Germany
and among descendants of perpetrators Lee raises potent questions about blame manipulation
and responsibility. A historical detective story and a gripping account of one historian's hunt
for answers The SS Officer's Armchair is at once a unique addition to our understanding of
Nazi Germany and a chilling reminder of how such regimes are made not by monsters but by
ordinary people.
