The man, now 71, targeted his daughters, grandsons, nieces and nephews.
He also molested family friends and used a position of authority in a church group to molest three African refugees he took on excursions.
The grandfather, who has three prior indecent assault convictions and changed his name after allegations of sexual abuse were made against him in the 1990s, was sentenced to 14 years in prison today.
He abused his first victim, an 11-year-old boy, when he was aged 21 in 1958.
He later molested the man's son in the 1970s.
The grandfather's abuse, which included fondling children and performing oral sexual acts on them, ended last year when he was arrested after being caught on video.
In a victim impact statement read to the Victorian County Court today, one of his daughters said she was deeply regretful she did not expose her father earlier.
The grandfather pleaded guilty to 21 sex offences, including a count of incest and 19 counts of indecent assault.
Hunched over in a wheelchair, he shook uncontrollably throughout the judge's sentence.
"Clearly, these are crimes of the utmost repugnance, not only because of the harm they cause, but also because they transgress fundamental social rules relating to the protection of children and families,'' judge Wendy Wilmoth said.
"You have committed a gross breach of trust, in offending against them as you did.''
The grandfather began targeting his own family in 1971 when he sexually abused a nephew who visited him during holidays, the court was told.
He also targeted the boy's brother and another nephew and niece.
The court heard that in the late 1970s he abused his own children, beginning with his middle daughter who was less than five when he molested her in the family home.
He also molested his youngest child in the 1980s, starting when she was just four years old, the court was told.
After a gap of 20 years, the grandfather again began abusing children in 2006 when he molested his grandson, aged six, in the bath.
He also abused two Ethiopian refugees aged 11 and eight, who he took on church-based excursions, the court heard.
On a separate excursion he molested an 11-year-old refugee boy from Sudan.
He was caught last year when the father of his two-and-a-half-year-old grandchild suspected he was molesting the child while minding him.
The father installed a video surveillance device and caught the grandfather performing a sex act on the toddler.
The court heard the grandfather, an illegitimate child, suffered a traumatic upbringing growing up in wartime Germany.
In a report to the court, a psychologist said the grandfather endured a painful circumcision when he was aged five or six that had "sexual overtones'', which may have had a developmental impact on him similar to child abuse.
The court heard the grandfather, who has been assaulted in prison and has recently undergone surgery for prostate and bladder cancer, was unlikely to survive his minimum of nine years in prison.
"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"
.........Sarah Tofte
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