Home Is Somewhere Else

Book excerpt: 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.