The Paul Heinamann Story

In this Paul Heinamann documents his illustrious career in as a leading executive in South Africa’s corporate world, but it is far more than that.
It is also the highly personal story of his life and that of his family: his wife Melanie and their two sons, Nicholas and Jonathan.
Paul became interested in his origins and genealogy from an early age, questioning his grandmother about the family while he was still at school.
This book is the culmination of that interest, and it delves in fascinating detail into the branches of his and his wife Melanie’s family trees. In so doing, it provides an intriguing glimpse into some of South Africa’s highly complex and often swashbuckling immigrant history.
The book illustrates that while many descendants of immigrants to South Africa (and other colonial countries such as Canada, the USA and Australia) may identify with a specific “mother” country – England, Ireland, Holland, Germany and so on – in reality their bloodlines have of necessity become incredibly mixed. As Paul puts it, he is: 1/8th German Jewish, 1/8th German, 1/4 Dutch/Schleswig Holstein, 3/8th English, 1/8th Spanish/Gibraltese!
This book seeks especially to provide Paul’s children, grandchildren and future generations with an understanding of who they are, where they come from and the events that shaped all their destinies – world wars, persecution, colonial migration and much more.