Imagine, unable to sleep, watching a World War II documentary about the architect of the Holocaust, only to discover you are the Nazi’s bastard grandson.

Henrik Lenkeit was shocked to learn of his connection to Heinrich Himmler.

Henrik’s grandmother, whom he knew by her married name, was Himmler’s secretary when they began a torrid affair that led to two children, one of whom was Henrik’s mother.

Himmler kept in daily contact with his favourite mistress, Hedwig Potthast, until the final days of WWII.

As the allies closed in on Berlin, Himmler left Hitler to his fate and escaped to the British lines, disguising himself as a simple soldier. When caught, he died from a cyanide capsule he had hidden in his mouth.

Himmler was not only the chief architect of the Holocaust, which killed up to six million Jews, he also oversaw Hitler’s Eastern Front strategy that led to the death of tens of millions of people.

Henrik Lenkeit, a Free Church pastor and couples’ counsellor who grew up in northern Germany, said he realised he had been lied to all his life. He said the discovery was psychologically devastating but he believed it was his responsibility to speak out against antisemitism, decrying everything his grandfather stood for.

Lenkeit now lives in southern Spain with his Mexican-born wife and three children.