Home Is Somewhere Else: Autobiography in Two Voices (S U N Y Series, Margins of Literature)

By Desider Furst and Lilian R. Furst

Book Overview

Following the Nazi annexation of Austria in March of 1938, Desider Furst, his wife, and his daughter suddenly found themselves hunted outlaws, holders of a German passport branded with a red "J" for Jewish. They escaped from Vienna and eventually settled in England, where they spent the war years as "enemy aliens." In 1971 they emigrated once more, this time voluntarily, to the United States. Home is Somewhere Else is a dual-voice, autobiographical narration by father and daughter, recounting the family's displacements, obstacles, and repeated reversals.

The experiences documented here are typical of many Central Europeans whose lives were radically and painfully affected by the Nazis. This book's originality lies in its narrative format and its revelation of what befell the "lucky" ones merely on the margins of the Holocaust.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0791419703
• ISBN13: 9780791419700
• Release Date: July 1994
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.1"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Home is Somewhere Else

A unique approach to the genre of "escapee" literature. Accounts of wartime experiences of the Furst family vascillate between now late father, Desider, and daughter, Lilian, and are centered around the cities which represent the changing fortunes of the family. This is a personal family drama that floats along the borders of history and draws the reader into a subdued and melancholic vision of the post-war Jewish family.