Alia Bhatt Opens Up About Her German Roots: 'Great-Grandfather Ran An Underground Newspaper Against Hitler'

Alia Bhatt recently opened up about her German roots and shared that her great-grandfather, Karl Hoelzer, used to run an underground newspaper against Adolf Hitler before World War II. Alia’s mother, Soni Razdan, has often spoken about her German mother and her side of the family.

In a chat with The Lallantop, Alia shared, “My maternal grandmother is from Germany. Obviously, we know the situation about what was happening in Germany then. Her father, my great-grandfather, was running an underground newspaper against Hitler.”

In an earlier interview with The Indian Express, Soni revealed, “My mother’s side of the family is from Germany. They lived in East Berlin, just before Hitler came to power. My grandfather, Karl Hoelzer, ran an underground newspaper against Hitler. He was not Jewish but he was against fascism. He was imprisoned and put into a concentration camp.”

She said, “The only reason he was not killed was because he had a very good lawyer. Finally, he was released but was asked to leave Germany. By then, World War II had started and he moved to England with his family.” Soni Razdan was born in Birmingham, England, to a German mother Gertrude Hoelzer and a Kashmiri Pandit father N Razdan.

When Alia Bhatt’s Highway was being shown at the Berlin Film Festival, Mahesh shared on Twitter, “Many years ago, in 1929 in fact, Alia’s grandmother was born in Berlin. Yes, she’s German. Sadly she had to leave Berlin in 1937. Alia’s great-grandfather was running an underground newspaper against Hitler. He was found out and imprisoned for two years. So Alia’s grandmother and her mother walked across the border to Czechoslovakia and found sanctuary from persecution as refugees in England.”

Meanwhile, Alia Bhatt and Vedang Raina are set to impress audiences in their action-packed film, Jigra, which has quickly become one of the most talked about films since its announcement. Ahead of its big screen release on October 11, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has given Jigra a U/A rating. The film’s run time has also been revealed. As per the CBFC website, Jigra has been given the U/A certification and has a run time of 155 minutes. This means the film has a duration of 2 hours and 35 minutes.