I found out my husband of nearly two decades was married to someone else and had ties to the NAZI PARTY after he died

A woman who discovered her husband of almost two decades had secretly married someone else after his death (meaning she may have to sign her home over to his first wife) has revealed how she uncovered his immense web of lies.

When Laurinel Owen, now 68, married Klaus, an Oxford-educated nuclear physicist and divorced father of two who was 17 years her senior, in 1991, she thought she would finally find happiness.

For eighteen years, she and her husband, whose name has been changed for privacy reasons, lived a quiet and happy life together on Long Island, New York.

But after he passed away in 2009, Laurinel’s whole world was turned upside down after she discovered some horrifying secrets her husband had been keeping from her.

She found a stash of vulgar pornography in his closet and uncovered a horrific connection between his family and the Nazi party.

But the biggest revelation of all? He had been married to another woman throughout their relationship.

This meant that their marriage was not legal and she was no longer a beneficiary in his will. The other woman was entitled to half of his assets, including Laurinel’s house and savings.

Not only was Laurinel struggling with the realization that her husband was not who he said he was, but she now also faced the risk of losing her home and all the money they had worked so hard for.

She became embroiled in a years-long lawsuit against his wife as her mental health deteriorated.

Now Laurinel, who recently released a book about this devastating ordeal called Strings Attached: A Memoir of Betrayal, Bigamy, and Self-Discovery – spoke exclusively to DailyMail.com about it.

Laurinel met Klaus in 1981, when she was a young, aspiring cellist who had just moved to Johannesburg, South Africa, after securing a position with the National Symphony Orchestra.

The then 24-year-old musician remembers looking out into the audience and seeing the same man attending her shows “week after week.”

‘Me and my [stage] “My partner, who was also a young woman, would always look at the men in the audience,” she explained.

When Laurinel Owen (seen when she was younger), now 68, tied the knot with Klaus in 1991, she thought she had reached her happy ending

‘And there he was. He was all alone. Always. Week after week after week.’

Laurinel said that she and Klaus eventually met andWe clicked right away.

They started dating shortly after. In retrospect, she says, there were no “red flags” in those first, hectic months of their relationship.

“We spent so much time together. He was an Oxford-educated PHD nuclear physicist. You don’t expect people like that to be such great liars,” she explained.

“I thought, ‘This is the man of my dreams.’ He was everything I ever wanted in a partner. I was completely in love.”

After a year together, Klaus, who told her he was a divorced father of two, proposed to Laurinel. She was convinced she had found her soulmate and said yes.

He then invited her to join him on a family holiday to the coast of South Africa so she could meet his children, a trip that would completely ‘shatter’ their perfect romance.

Upon arrival at the glamorous holiday destination, A woman opened the door and introduced herself as Klaus’ wife.

‘I was like a deer in the headlights. Everything I had had come [know] “was suddenly broken,” Laurinel told DailyMail.com.

Laurinel explained that when she confronted Klaus about it once they had a moment alone, he insisted he “never loved his wife.”

She added that he told her “all kinds of stories” about how “bad” his marriage was, which made her “feel sorry” for him.

“His reaction was completely calm,” she mused. “He told me not to worry. I was filled with disbelief.

“Like, ‘How could this happen to me?’ But I was so young and naive. I wanted to believe everything he said. I just didn’t have the wisdom or the experience.

He had totally [manipulated me]… He told me all sorts of stories, as I’m sure many men who are good liars do.’

Despite the terrible discovery that her boyfriend had lied to her and his wife, Laurinel decided to stay with him.

“I was desperately in love. Looking back now, it was my insecurity that without him I was nobody,” she added.

Over the next few months, Klaus continued to lie to Laurinel. He told her that he was in the process of getting a divorce from his wife, but he came up with more and more excuses to explain why the divorce was taking so long to be finalized.

Laurinel (seen when she was younger) and her husband lived happily together in New York for 18 years. But after he passed away in 2009, her world was turned upside down

She discovered a whole host of horrifying secrets her husband was hiding from her – including the fact that he was actually married to another woman. She saw when she was younger

‘No matter how many times I asked him what was wrong, he always came up with an answer. [excuse or] “Promise,” she continued.

He said the divorce courts are only open every other Tuesday, so he just waited.

“Then the date came and his lawyer was sick. He always had a reason.”

Eventually, she said she was “so fed up” that she decided to leave Klaus, quit her job, and move back to the U.S. She told him, “Come find me when you’re divorced.”

Nine months later, in May 1987, Klaus visited Laurinel in America and insisted that he was officially separated from his wife.

“I wouldn’t have come if I hadn’t been divorced. This subject is too painful, so don’t ever ask again,” he told her.

Laurinel finally thought she had found her well-deserved happiness, telling DailyMail.com: ‘It finally felt like he had chosen me.’

In 1991 they tied the knot and for 18 years their marriage seemed perfect.

But after he died in 2009, she discovered some lies that left her wondering: Who was the man she married?

First, Laurinel discovered that Klaus’ father was a Nazi murderer who was laundering “money for Hitler” from the US.

He eventually fled America after the FBI began to suspect him of being the “head of the American Gestapo,” according to newspaper clippings from the 1930s obtained from her local library.

In addition, she found in his closet a box full of “pornographic articles,” including one about “the lustful effect of urination on the opposite sex.”

Now, Laurinel (recently seen) has spoken exclusively to DailyMail.com about the devastating ordeal

She also discovered a “strange” book he was writing that was filled with “sexual adventures” in which he portrayed himself as a “hero.”

“He wrote a novel with his best ideas from physics, because he thought they were so advanced that the physics community could not accept them,” Laurinel said.

“So he was going to write a mystery and put these ideas into it. But I found it and it was just a compilation of sex scenes and adventures with himself as the hero. Kind of weird.”

But the biggest shock came after the funeral, when Klaus’ daughter told him that he had never really divorced his first wife.

Laurinel recalled hearing the news: ‘It was a total betrayal. My first reaction was, “Who is this guy I’ve been with for 27 years?”

“My second thought was, ‘Who was I not to see this and not to go through this?’ There was a lot of shame and guilt.

She released a book about her journey, called Strings Attached: A Memoir of Betrayal, Bigamy, and Self-Discovery, which she hopes will help others who have been “betrayed.”

“I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole because I tried so hard to get out of it, but it left me feeling so useless.”

Laurinel explained that during their nearly twenty-year marriage, she paid for almost everything, while Klaus put almost all of his income into a pension fund.

But now she was told that she might never see the money again, and that his first wife might get it.

Because Klaus was still married to someone else, the other woman was now entitled to half of his property, including their home.

She fought hard in court for years and eventually reached a settlement with Klaus’ wife, but she said the ordeal had sent her “into a downward spiral.”

“You can’t imagine what I had to go through to prove that I had paid expenses along the way. I had to prove everything,” she said.

‘And I kept finding so much of his financial infidelity. I was in such a state of fear, constant fear.

“I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t get over it. I wasn’t even given a chance to grieve.”

Eventually, she realized she “needed help” and began therapy. Although it “took a long time,” it helped her heal.

Laurinel is now convinced that she “had to go through it to grow” and she hopes she can help others by talking about it.

“That’s why I wrote this book,” she continued. “There are a lot of people being betrayed and I want people to know that there are others.

‘I want to support others who have been deeply betrayed and feel traumatized.’

When asked why Klaus did what he did, she replied that she would never understand it, but added, “If he hadn’t died, I would have killed him.”