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Nowhere in Africa #1
Nowhere in Africa: An Autobiographical Novel
Stefanie Zweig, Marlies Comjean, Marlies I. Comjean (Translator)
3.71
1,428 ratings124 reviews
Nowhere in Africa is the extraordinary tale of a Jewish family who flees the Nazi regime in 1938 for a remote farm in Kenya. Abandoning their once-comfortable existence in Germany, Walter Redlich, his wife Jettel, and their five-year-old daughter, Regina, each deal with the harsh realities of their new life in different ways. Attorney Walter is resigned to working the farm as a caretaker; pampered Jettel resists adjustment at every turn; while the shy yet curious Regina immediately embraces the country—learning the local language and customs, and finding a friend in Owuor, the farm's cook. As the war rages on the other side of the world, the family’s relationships with their strange environment become increasingly complicated as Jettel grows more self-assured and Walter more haunted by the life they left behind. In 1946, with the war over, Regina's fondest dream comes true when her brother Max is born. Walter's decision, however, to return to his homeland to help rebuild a new Germany puts his family into turmoil again.
Visit the Web site for the film at www.nowhereinafrica.com
GenresFictionHistorical FictionGerman LiteratureKenyaRomanHistoricalClassics
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302 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
Original title
Nirgendwo in Afrika
Series
Nowhere in Africa (#1)
Setting
Kenya (, 1938)
Characters
Walter Redlich, Jettel Redlich, Regina Redlich, Owuor
This edition
Format
302 pages, Hardcover
Published
March 15, 2004 by University of Wisconsin Press
ISBN
9780299199609 (ISBN10: 0299199606)
ASIN
0299199606
Language
English
More editions
Kindle EditionEdiciones MAEVA2012
PaperbackWilhelm Heyne Verlag GmbH & Co KG2000
PaperbackWilhelm Heyne Verlag2002
PaperbackNokta Yayınları2003
HardcoverLietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla2013
PaperbackAmber2004
Kindle EditionUniversity of Wisconsin Press2014
PaperbackUniversity of Wisconsin Press2007
HardcoverАзбука-классика2009
PaperbackEditions du Rocher2002
HardcoverWeltbild2004
PaperbackNet2006
HardcoverAtlas1996
PaperbackHeyne2007
HardcoverLangen Müller2012
PaperbackHeyne2002
HardcoverLangen/Müller2000
PaperbackMaeva Ediciones2013
2012
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About the author
Stefanie Zweig38 books20 followers
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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.
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3.71
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Steven Langdon
Author 10 books46 followers
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November 20, 2011
The Oscar-winning movie of the same name (Best Foreign Language Film 2002) pointed me to this excellent novel. Walter and Jettel and their daughter Regina are Jewish refugees forced by Hitler into precarious exile in rural Kenya, where they endure an often humiliating interaction with the colony's white settler community -- yet discover ongoing and deep friendships with various Kenyan Africans. This is especially true for Regina, who is soon speaking several indigenous languages as well as Swahili. The book is beautifully written, rich in striking metaphors, presenting Regina's perspective as she experiences the shifting cultural worlds with which she must cope, from the joyful freedoms of a child's farm life to her constrained English boarding school to the complex dynamics of a Nairobi set of flats where her parents quarrel. The 2002 movie diverged widely from the book in its plot and in its focus on Jettel, who plays much less of a role in the book compared to Regina and her father. But the atmosphere of exotic exile in a harsh but lovely land, constantly traumatized by the tragedies in their German homeland, permeates both the book and the movie, giving each their powerful impact.
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Ebru Çökmez
261 reviews62 followers
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July 27, 2017
film izlerken ağladığım çoktur. kitap okurkense çoğunlukla tutabilirim gözyaşlarımı.
bu kitabı okurken tutamadım. her bir an, her duygu, öyle güzel, öyle sıcak aktarılmış ki, kendimi kitap boyunca Afrika'daki sığınmacılar arasında buldum.
yanlış anlaşılmasın trajedi yüklü bir roman değil. Yazarın çocukluğuna dair bir özyaşam öyküsü ve elbette ki çocuğun bakış açısıyla anlatıldığından, zor koşullara, ebeveynlerinin hezeyanlarına rağmen mutlu ve umutlu öykülerle dolu.
İkinci dünya savaşı döneminde Afrika'nın İngiliz sömürgesi altındaki güzel ülkesi Kenya'da geçiyor olaylar. Her ne kadar sığınmacı bir yahudi ailenin yaşadıklarına odaklanılmış olsa da o döneme ilişkin farklı kesimlerin hayatından da hoş ve ilginç izlenimler ediniyorsunuz.
Ülkesindeki katliamdan kaçmış böylelikle hayatta kalabilmiş Walter -Regina'nın babası- bu ülkede ikinci sınıf, dışlanmış ve yabancı hissetmekte, bütün olanlara rağmen vatanım dediği Almanya'nın hasretini çekmektedir. Bu dönemde Kenya'daki sığınmacılar sadece zulümden kaçmış Alman yahudilerden ibaret değil. Sovyet zulmünden kaçan doğu Avrupalılar ve daha önce yerleşmiş Hintliler de var. Onlar da elbette dezavantajlı kesimden.
Kenya'da herşeyin hakimi haliyle sömürgeci İngilizler. Fakat onlar da bu ilkellikte yaşamaktan memnun değiller.
Beni en çok düşündüren kendi vatanlarında sığınmacılardan bile daha değersiz olan Afrikalı yerliler oldu. Onlar şikayet etmiyorlar, ingiliz, alman...vs. sahiplerin hakimiyetinde karın tokluğuna günlerini geçirirken, tarlalarda, çiftliklerde hizmetçilik, ırgatlık yaparken türkülerini söyleyip, davullarını çalıp, habire sevişip, sahiplere yeni köleler doğuruyorlar.
özetle, belki okuduğum en iyi roman değil ama kesinlikle unutmayacaklarımdan. Filmini de en kısa zamanda izleyeceğim.
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mona aghazade
142 reviews43 followers
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September 29, 2019
هیچ کجا آفریقا
در زمره فیلمای جنگ جهانی بود که باید می خوندم می دیدم
خیلی لذت بخش بود
در زمان جنگ یک وکیل یهودی به همراه خانواده ش به کنیا مهاجرت می کنه و سعی می کنه اونجا مزرعه داری کنه
خیلی خوب می شد تفاوت ها و زیبایی های دو فرهنگ و بعد دو نسل رو متوجه بشی
این کتاب روایتگر تقریبی دو دهه است
درد اورترین قسمت ماجرا برای قسمت هایی بود که گهگدار از حال خانواده هاشون که تو المان مونده بودن خبر دار می شدن
داستان-خارجی فیلمش-را-دیدم
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Petra X
2,456 reviews35.5k followers
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May 6, 2015
This book is not so much a novel as a fictionalised account of a time in the author's life where as a little girl, fleeing Nazi Germany and their comfortable middle-class life there, she and her family ended up as non-paid farmer tenants in Kenya.
The cover of the book is an almost-perfect visual synopsis to the story.
Read it and be enchanted.
biography-true-story reviewed travel-adventure-countries
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Maria
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August 31, 2018
Me ha aparecido demasiado lenta para mi gusto....me ha costado un poco ponerme a leer
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Kim
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May 12, 2020
As the Third Reich gained power, gradually stripping away the livelihood and freedom of Germany's Jews, some people were lucky enough to escape. The unlucky ones went to countries that later fell under Germany's rule or began a journey that ended in disaster. The Redlich family was one of the lucky ones: They emigrated to Kenya and made a life there. Told largely through the eyes of Regina, who is a little girl when she first arrives in Kenya, we see her parents, Walter and Jettel, struggle with the new and difficult hand they've been dealt. First as farmers and then as war prisoners; again as farmers and finally in Nairobi, with Walter in the British army, their lives evolve during the years they spend in Kenya. To the reader's amazement, the family yearns to return to Germany, even as they hear of Kristallnacht, the closing of the borders to all refugees, and eventually "a trip to the East" taken by Jettel's mother and sister (Auschwitz).
This autobiographical novel, written by Stefanie Zweig, is based upon her family's experience during WWII. Names have been changed and it is not clear to me how much of the book was real vs. fiction. Additionally, it was written many decades after Zweig and her family left Nairobi, and memories become warped over time; as if we are viewing them through muslin, we see the outlines and fill in the gaps. I am sure the same is true here though it feels as if Zweig attempted to fill in these gaps with descriptions of her sensory memories of Africa.
The story is a fascinating one - first, I had no idea that Jews emigrated to Kenya; second, I did not know it was a British protectorate; third, every detail of the culture in this setting was entirely new to me. I wish there had been photographs in the book - it would have been fascinating to see what was described as I had no frame of reference to understand much of what the Redlich/Zweig family experienced. However, the book suffers from pacing issues: as the end of the war approaches, the story slows down and Zweig's narrative gets stuck in long descriptive passages that often have little relevance to the story at hand.
I could not understand why the family would choose to return to Germany - and although I understand much more about the Holocaust and the motivations of individuals today than I did twenty years ago, and obviously not everyone was a willing member of the Nazi party, I cannot imagine voluntarily returning to a place that had wrought that sort of destruction on my people. Anti-Semitism doesn't simply slip away when bad people are removed from power. It may slide out of view but it tends to re-emerge. Nevertheless, this is the choice that Zweig's parents made for her family, and it is the choice of the Redlich family as well. I think that Zweig could have tightened up the back half of the book, because it is that fascinating decision to first emigrate Kenya, which is so different from the choice made by so many others, followed by the choice to return to Germany, that makes this memoir so unusual.
Worth reading; very interesting; beware of pacing in the latter half of the book.
historical-nonfiction holocaust memoirs-and-biographies
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Ringa Sruogienė
655 reviews133 followers
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March 14, 2018
Knyga, kupina garsų ir kvapų, vaikystės džiaugsmų, namų ilgesio.
Labai nuoširdi ir tuo įtraukianti.
Tiems, kurie emigravo ir išsivežė kartu labai mažus vaikus arba susilaukė jų jau svečioje šalyje, ši knyga gali atverti akis, kad Jūsų namai - šalis, iš kurios išvykote, bet Jūsų vaikų - šalis, kurioje bėga jų vaikystė. Ilgėdamiesi savo šalies ir planuodami grįžti, galite atimti namus iš savo vaikų...
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Sauerkirsche
429 reviews75 followers
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September 11, 2022
3,5 Sterne
Ein Antikriegsbuch ohne eine Kriegshandlung oder Schlachten.
Die Geschichte setzt ein, nachdem die jüdische Familie Redlich vor den Nazis nach Afrika geflohen ist. Und doch verfolgt sie der Krieg weiterhin. Sie führen einen inneren Krieg gegen sich selbst, die Schuldgefühle gegenüber den Zurückgelassenen, gegen die eigene Erinnerung, Krieg gegen die Liebe an die alte Heimat und die Eingewöhnung in der neuen Heimat.
"Du musst dir Deutschland aus dem Herz reißen" heißt es unter den jüdischen Flüchtlingen und doch schafft es Walter Redlich nicht seine geliebte Heimat zu vergessen geschweige denn zu hassen. Jettel und Walter Redlich, diesem von Verlust geprägten Ehepaar, Verlust der Familie, Verlust der Heimat, der Nationalität und Identität, gelingt es nicht sich in diesem fremden Land heimisch zu fühlen. Am Ende scheint sich Jettel zu Walter's Überraschung jedoch mehr eingelebt zu haben als beide dachten. Im Gegensatz zu den beiden Erwachsenen, lebt sich die Tochter Regina schnell ein. Sie lernt in kurzer Zeit Suaheli und Englisch, nimmt die Denkweise der Eingeborenen an und kann sich bis auf die Flucht nicht mehr an Deutschland erinnern.
Stefanie Zweig schreibt ohne Kitsch, ohne Pathos. Die Afrikaner werden weder romantisiert noch bewertet. Sie sind einfach Menschen deren Kultur sich stark von unserer europäischen unterscheidet. Das mochte ich sehr an diesem Roman, besonders nachdem mein letzter "Afrikaroman" geschrieben von einer Europäerin ("Jenseits von Afrika") eher ein Reinfall war.
Da es sich hier um ein stark autobiographisch beeinflusstes Werk handelt, in dem Stephanie Zweig sehr viel ihrer eigenen Erlebnisse verarbeitet und festgehalten hat, fällt eine Bewertung immer etwas schwer.
Zwischenzeitlich hätte ich mir etwas mehr Fortschritt der Handlung gewünscht und war des Öfteren kurz davor die Redlichs einmal durchzuschütteln, ganz im Stil von Elsa Conrad, wenn sie sich wieder in Erinnerungen an ihre alte Heimat verlieren und sich permanent über ihr Schicksal beklagend im Selbstmitleid ertränken. Aber steht mir so etwas überhaupt zu? Nein, denn aus menschlicher Sicht kann und will ich hier nicht urteilen. Lediglich aus literarischer Sicht kann ich sagen, dass sich die Handlung zu sehr in die Länge gezogen hat und ich mir besonders im Mittelteil mehr Tempo gewünscht hätte.
Ein Buch das weniger von Afrika handelt, sondern vielmehr vom Verlust der eigenen Heimat und Identität, ein Roman der die Gräuel des Krieges verdeutlicht ohne sie jemals explizit zu erwähnen oder zu schildern.
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Nuryta
396 reviews15 followers
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August 8, 2022
Durante la II Guerra Mundial, algunas familias judías previendo lo que iba a suceder logran emigrar a diferentes partes del mundo buscando refugio. En este caso, tenemos una familia alemana judía, compuesta por ambos padres y una niña pequeña que llegan a África, con el dolor de abandonar su vida y familiares, llegando a un lugar tan diferente a lo que están acostumbrados, con problemas para comunicarse y adaptarse al lugar y sus costumbres.
El relato general nos presenta otra cara de la situación de los refugiados judíos esta vez en África, pero como en otras obras similares, destaca sus problemas de adaptación, así como los sentimientos de desarraigo y de culpa por tener la oportunidad de sobrevivir cuando tantos sufrieron el desprecio y la muerte a manos de los nazis.
En la narración confluyen personas y culturas de tres naciones (inglesa, alemana, nativa africana) que serán determinantes en la formación de Regina, la niña que nos cuenta esta historia biográfica. Es así como Regina conoce a Owuor y Kimani, quienes le enseñarán no solo algunos dialectos africanos, sino, además, muchas de sus costumbres y creencias, las cuales se irán mezclando en su cabeza con las enseñanzas alemanas de sus padres y las inglesas del colegio. La niña usa su imaginación y la lectura para vivir el presente y escudarse del dolor de sus padres y del rechazo de sus compañeras de escuela.
Me encantan las analogías de los nativos: “es bueno oler a un perro mojado cuando uno tiene los ojos húmedos”; “Solo un vencedor sabía cuándo debía sacar su mejor flecha, y el calculaba su disparo con gran precisión”; “Cruzar los dedos para proteger su cuerpo del veneno de una mentira que su boca no había podido retener”; “Tan deprisa como si lo hubieran anunciado los tambores de la selva con sus ecos hechizados” …. El dios Mungo. Para ellos era una placentera necesidad. La despedida, el que primero se va de safari conserva los ojos secos.
Cada quien, necesita un espacio y un tiempo para “enviar a sus ojos a un safari sin principio ni fin”. A pesar de los problemas, debemos dar gracias porque esta realidad que nos ha tocado es tan diferente a la época relatada.
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Shelly
818 reviews
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May 9, 2015
So good on so many levels!!!!! But one silly question bugs me.... what happened to Martin???
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 124 reviews
