Stefanie Zweig facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Stefanie Zweig
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Stefanie Zweig, 2012
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| Born | 19 September 1932 Leobschütz, Germany |
| Died | 25 April 2014 (aged 81) Frankfurt, Germany |
| Occupation | Author |
| Language | German |
| Nationality | German |
| Notable works | Nowhere in Africa |
| Partner | Wolfgang Häfele |
Stefanie Zweig (born September 19, 1932 – died April 25, 2014) was a German Jewish writer and journalist. She is most famous for her novel, Nirgendwo in Afrika (which means Nowhere in Africa). This book, published in 1995, was a huge success in Germany.
The story in Nowhere in Africa is based on Stefanie's own childhood in Kenya. Her family had to leave Nazi Germany to escape danger. In 2001, a movie was made from the book, and it won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Stefanie Zweig's books have sold over seven million copies and have been translated into fifteen different languages.
Contents
Early Life and Journalism Career
Stefanie Zweig was born in Leobschütz, Germany. This place is now called Głubczyce and is in Poland. She is not related to the famous Austrian writer, Stefan Zweig.
In 1938, when Stefanie was five years old, her family had to leave Germany. They were Jewish and needed to escape the persecution by the Nazis. They moved from a comfortable city life in Breslau (now Wrocław) to a difficult farm in Kenya, Africa.
Life in Kenya was tough for her parents. But Stefanie, who had been shy, became more outgoing. She learned to speak Swahili, the local language. In 1941, her family received a sad postcard from Stefanie's grandmother. It said, "We are very excited, we are going to Poland tomorrow." Stefanie's father explained that her grandmother was being sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. This camp was run by the Germans in Poland, and many people died there.
While in Kenya, which was a British colony, Stefanie went to an English boarding school. During World War II (1939–1945), her father became a British soldier. In 1947, her family, including a new baby brother, moved back to Germany.
Returning to Germany
The family's original home was in Upper Silesia, in eastern Germany. After the war, this area became part of Poland, and Germans living there had to move. Stefanie's father was offered a job as a judge in Frankfurt, in western Germany. This was part of a plan to remove people connected to the Nazi party from important jobs. Only Germans who had no ties to the Nazis could be judges.
Stefanie went to the Schiller School in Frankfurt. Since she had mostly spoken English in Kenya, she had to learn German again. She later wrote that it took her a few months to get rid of her English accent and learn to read and write in German. She still felt more comfortable counting in English and loved English books like Alice in Wonderland.
Starting a Journalism Career
After finishing school in 1953, Stefanie Zweig became a journalist. She worked as an intern and then an editor for a newspaper called Abendpost in Offenbach. This newspaper was a tabloid that served the Frankfurt area.
From 1959 to 1988, Stefanie worked for Abendpost and its next version, Abendpost/Nachtausgabe (Evening Post/Night Edition). From 1963, she was in charge of the arts section. When Abendpost/Nachtausgabe closed down in 1988, Stefanie became a freelance journalist and writer. Looking back, many people felt it was a good thing the newspaper closed, as it allowed her to focus on writing books.
Writing Books
While working as a journalist, Stefanie Zweig also wrote books for children. Her first children's book was Eltern sind auch Menschen (Parents are people too), published in 1978.
Her first novel about Africa was for young adults. It was called Ein Mundvoll Erde (A Mouthful of Earth) and came out in 1980. This book tells the story of a young person's strong feelings for a Kĩkũyũ boy. The book won several awards, including the Glass Globe from the Royal Dutch Geographical Society.
The Nowhere in Africa Story
Stefanie Zweig shared in an interview that the success of Ein Mundvoll Erde made her want to write a novel for adults. She realized she had a bigger story to tell. So, Nirgendwo in Afrika (Nowhere in Africa) was published in 1995. Stefanie simply described it as "the story of a brave father who taught his daughter not to hate."
This novel, which is based on her own life, describes the Redlich family's experiences in Kenya. It covers their time from when they arrived from Germany in 1938 until they returned to Germany in 1947. The book became a bestseller in Germany and started her career as a novelist. She went on to write more than a dozen other novels.
Her next novel, Irgendwo in Deutschland (Somewhere in Germany), published in 1996, is a follow-up. It describes the Redlich family's life back in Germany from 1947 until the father's death in 1958.
Later, Stefanie Zweig wrote a series of four novels called the "Rothschildallee" series, published from 2007 to 2011. Her family home in Frankfurt had been on this street for a long time. In 2012, she published her memoir, Nirgendwo war Heimat: Mein Leben auf zwei Kontinenten (Nowhere was Home: My Life on Two Continents).
Impact of Her Work
Overall, Stefanie Zweig's books have sold over seven million copies and have been translated into fifteen languages. The 2002 movie version of Nirgendwo in Afrika was directed by Caroline Link. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the German Film Award for Best Fiction Film, and many other awards. Even though the film brought Stefanie Zweig international attention, she was not directly involved in making it.
Marlies Comjean has translated two of her novels into English: Nowhere in Africa and Somewhere in Germany. Besides writing books, Stefanie Zweig continued her work as a journalist. Until 2013, she wrote a column called Meine Welt (My World) for the newspaper Frankfurter Neue Presse.
Stefanie Zweig passed away on April 25, 2014, after a short illness. Her partner, Wolfgang Häfele, had passed away in 2013. She chose to be buried in the Neuer Jüdischer Friedhof (New Jewish Cemetery) in Frankfurt.
See also
In Spanish: Stefanie Zweig para niños
