Ease tensions over Nazi relatives?

Question:

Ease tensions over Nazi relatives?

I found out a few months ago flipping through an old photo album that I am related to some Nazi war criminals (SS officers who fled after WW2 to Paraguay, Uruguay and Switzerland.) I have contact with none of them as my grandmother had gotten out of Germany just before WW2 leaving the rest of the family behind to come to America. I asked my mom who told me immediately to throw out the picture. Because of her resistance, I asked my aunt who told me there were a lot of Nazis in my family and showed me pictures. I want to know more, but it is a VERY touchy subject. I dont think this is a big deal as we had no personal involvement. Is there anything I can do to ease the tension and find out more about what my family is hiding from me? At first I was shocked, but now I'm just curious. It was a different time.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Talk to your aunt and find out their names. You can quietly do the research on them without ruffling any feathers. You might also find in your research that there were some good guys in the tree. If you make your focus on the WHOLE family and not just the Nazis, who could fault you? Genealogy is supposed to be about looking at the individuals behind us and remembering them for good or bad. We aren't bad just because an uncle 3 generations back was a criminal. Were that the case, explainthe dichotomy of the Eisenhower children who had Ike as a great grandpa and Nixon as their grandpa.

We're not bad by association; we're good or bad because of who WE are. Sometimes we're even better because of someone in our tree who did take a wrong turn. We learned from their mistakes. We changes our morals because of their immorality. We admit no right in their actions. We ARE better than they were. And we document who they were to show how far we've come from them. As you said...it was a different time.