Somewhere in Germany

Nowhere in Africa #2

by Stefanie Zweig, Marlies Comjean (Translator)

Somewhere in Germany is the sequel to the acclaimed Nowhere in Africa , which was turned into the Oscar-winning film of the same name. This novel traces the return of the Redlich family to Germany after their nine-year exile in Kenya during World War II. In Africa, Walter had longed for his homeland and dreamed of rebuilding his life as a lawyer, yet ultimately he and his family—wife Jettel, daughter Regina, and baby Max—realize that Germany seems as exotic and unwelcoming to them in 1947 as Kenya had seemed in 1938. Hunger and desperation are omnipresent in bombed-out Frankfurt, and this Jewish family—especially Regina, who misses Africa the most—has a hard time adjusting to their new circumstances. Yet slowly the family adapts to their new home amidst the ruins. 

In Frankfurt, Regina matures into a woman and, though her parents want her to marry an upstanding Jewish man, her love life progresses in its own idiosyncratic fashion. She develops a passion for art and journalism and begins her professional career at a Frankfurt newspaper. Walter at last finds professional success as a lawyer, but never quite adjusts to life in Frankfurt, recalling with nostalgia his childhood in Upper Silesia and his years in Africa. Only his son Max truly finds what Walter had hoped a new homeland in Germany. 

Although the Redlichs receive kindness from strangers, they also learn anti-Semitism still prevails in post-Nazi Germany. They partake in the West German “economic miracle” with their own home, a second-hand car, and the discovery of television, but young Max’s discovery of the Holocaust revives long-buried memories. Rich in memorable moments and characters, this novel portrays the reality of postwar German society in vivid and candid detail.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Germany, German Literature, Biography Memoir, Fiction

261 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Zweig is best known for her autobiographical novel, Nirgendwo in Afrika (Nowhere in Africa, 1998), based on her early life in Kenya, which was filmed and won an Oscar in 2002 for "Best Foreign Film".[1] Her family, being Jewish, fled Nazi Germany, for Africa. They went from an urban life in Breslau (now Wrocław) to a farm in Kenya in 1938 when she was five. She attended an English boarding school while there.[2] In 1941, the family received a postcard from her grandmother saying "We are very excited, we are going to Poland tomorrow", which implied Auschwitz. Zweig has returned to Kenya twice since leaving in 1947 at the age of 15. She found the farm had been destroyed.

Her teenage years in Germany were recounted in the autobiographical novel Irgendwo in Deutschland (Somewhere in Germany). Her father was given work as a judge in post-World War II West Germany, partly because there was no need to "denazify" him.

Her first African novel was Ein Mund voll Erde (A Mouth Full of Earth) in 1980. It won several awards, and describes an infatuation with a Kĩkũyũ boy.

She had a long career as an arts editor on a Frankfurt tabloid. In later life, she began writing children's literature and then began her novels. Although she is a best-selling author in German, she is not well known in the English-speaking world, except for Nowhere in Africa.

Reviews

[Reba GG · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing text. What a portrait of a teen-to-young Jewish woman returning to Germany after the war. She returns with her family, who had emigrated to Kenya. Autobiographical fiction is a new genre for me and this story, the sequel to Nowhere in Africa, is precious and poignant.

To hear about this time, in her perspective, and in the nuances of everyday life, is so eye opening. We see the evolution of her relationship with her father, who featured in the first book, and who drove the return to Germany. We see the transformation of Germany, and her father as a Jewish lawyer in post-war Germany.

We see her coming of age, and her struggles to navigate between her life experiences in Kenya and the country she barely knows as her country of Germany. We see how her mom, her brother, her maid, neighbors, and the community around her navigate. We see the role of social guilt and shame and the legacies of war.

This is an amazing story and one of the most unique narratives I’ve ever read. To have a first person female account told in an interesting personal story format is amazing. Ive spent a lot of time in East Africa, and this weave between Kenya and Germany, post war and late colonialism is powerful. I am so grateful for her writing.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book immensely. The book explores a deep subject: a Jewish family leaving Africa, where they had sought refuge from Nazism, and returning to post-WW II Germany, to confront not only the horrible fate dealt to them and their families there during those times, but also the extreme hardships of day-to-day life in a destroyed society, where everything was lacking in those years of the late 40s. In ways, it seemed an impossible subject to deal with, but the author succeeded for me, in a very credible way. Perhaps also because I spent many years living in Africa myself and also lived in Germany in the early 60s, I appreciated the way the author captured the ways of thinking and interpreting life that she learned in Africa and wove them into her and her family's views of life back in Germany. It was as if the lessons of Africa never left them and helped them through both the difficult and the good times. The book is not only interesting from this historical and very personal perspective, but also because it is literary - lyrical at times. Indeed, the prequel to this book (Nowhere in Africa) was the same way and this second book made me appreciate the first one even more.

[Mark Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had watched the movie "Nowhere in Africa," so I knew the premise - that the Redlich family had gone to Kenya to escape the Nazis in WWII Germany. I enjoyed the depiction of post WWII Germany, and many things that I hadn't known about. Certainly the tension between those who claimed not to have known what had happened to the Jews, and the Jews, didn't go away immediately. It must have been a very trying time, and I don't think that I would have been brave enough to return to Germany at that time.

I expected the book to be an autobiography of Regina, but in fact it focused mostly on the father, Walter. I did not like that character. Although he showered his family with compliments, he also denigrated his wife and daughter. Women have "long hair, little intelligence," and "now my son Max will see how much better it is to live without women." Walter constantly said these types of things, and that's why I have it only 3 stars. The life depictions could not overcome that for me. It was too much of an homage to Walter. I would have liked to know more about Regina and her life, especially after she left school. But everything we learned about her was how she related to her family, and especially her father. We didn't learn much about her.

I was originally interested in reading "Nowhere in Africa," but I don't think I will now. The movie was enough.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhere in Germany is the story of a family, in particular their teenaged daughter, after their return to Germany in 1947--having fled from Nazi Germany as persecuted Jews. Each member finds their adjustment to life in Germany again bittersweet, difficult, and full of anxiety--especially as they encounter unrepentant Nazis and anti-Semitism, as well as the difficulties of rationing and being in a society overwhelmed by devastation. I found the first half of the book to be far more compelling than the second, where it seemed to have lost its focus.

[Alice Lubrecht · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book but was challenged to be reading it on Saturday the 27th of October as a gunman decided to shoot up a synagogue. It is a poignant tale of a Jewish family returning from self exile in Kenya after WWII and news events magnified the issues with me as I read it.

[Kathy Felgenhauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing autobiography of the return to Germany from Africa - I appreciated hearing part two of the story of the Redlichs. As with Book 1 - not a page turner but thankful to have have stumbled on them in the library and to have read both

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb! Exquisite prose, beautiful imagery.

[John Benson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a sequel to the book, NOWHERE IN AFRICA, and tells of the Redlichs move from Kenya back to Germany after being Jewish refugees in Kenya for 10 years. It brings out their uneasy relationship with the post-war Germany. While the first book really held my interest, the story line seemed more disjointed and it was harder to follow. The daughter's deep love for her father, her uneasy relationship to Germany, and her deep love for her time in Africa continue in this book.

[S R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't love it. I loved the movie "Nowhere in Africa" which is book one. This book picks up where the other book ended. I don't know if it was the translator or what, but I found the thoughts were run-on sentences. The only thing I found of interest was the description of the poverty directly after WW2 in Germany. I also do not understand how any Jew could return to Germany after the war.

[Jasmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sequel to 'Nowhere in Africa' was great. It was so interesting to learn about the conditions in post-war Gemany.

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much quicker to read than the first. The translation seemed to flow better. Good book!

[Feodora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eine wunderbare Fortsetzung von Nirgendwo in Afrika

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and highly personal. One of the best accounts of post-war life in Germany I've come across.

[Janet Gutierrez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but not as good as her other book Nowhere in Africa.

[Eline · Rating 3 out of 5]

niet altijd even logisch. vertaling hapert soms