Ausländer

Ausländer casts a unique shaft of light into the darkest years of European history, and a profoundly moving, personal story of disaster and triumph unlike any other you will read. * Andrew Marr, writer and broadcaster *
A book that stands alongside Edmund de Waal's The Hare with Amber Eyes and Philippe Sands's East West Street as a deeply personal immersion into the horrors of the Holocaust -- Kathryn Hughes * The Sunday Times *
A magisterial act of filial piety. Michael Moritz encodes and decodes his emotional DNA - and what that means for his reading of the world now. It is rare to be invited to see our world so fully through someone else's eyes. * Neil MacGregor, former director of the British Museum and the National Gallery *
The best memoirs are deeply personal but connect to the universal. ... Ausländer more than meets this mark -- Richard Waters * Financial Times *
A restlessly enquiring and at times strikingly poetic book, sounds a warning against the totalitarian temptation * Spectator *
Compelling ... a shout from history that we cannot ignore right now -- Hugo Hamilton * The Irish Times *
An outstanding examination of how tragedy reverberates across generations * The Economist *
Moritz is that rare thing: a reliable journalist and witness. His book is a triumph ... A beautifully written memoir * Jewish Chronicle *
'Michael Moritz's career as a tech investor has been astoundingly successful, a classic version of the American Dream. Yet this powerful memoir is focused on his Ashkenazi Jewish roots and his enduring sense of being a "foreigner," whether growing up in gritty South Wales or reaching the top in glamorous Silicon Valley. Alienated by recent political developments on both sides of the Atlantic, he articulates a sense of homelessness that many readers will recognize. Once a journalist, he writes with elegance but also with disarming candour.' * Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, and author of The House of Rothschild *
This might be one of the most important books you read this year ... poignant and powerful * The Courier *
When Michael Moritz was diagnosed with a genetic disease, it launched him on a bracingly honest search into his heritage. It's an inspiring and unsettling family and religious tale, but also something larger: a guide to how we all struggle to figure out what we must embrace and what we want to banish from our past. * Walter Isaacson author and biographer of Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Albert Einstein and Leonardo da Vinci *
Set against the upheavals of Trump's America, this memoir offers a meditation on memory, identity and the fragility of democracy - and the author's fear of antisemitic rhetoric becoming a permanent fixture in the English-speaking world * Financial Times *
Both a Holocaust story and an examination of the present * Money Week *
What distinguishes Ausländer is its refusal to separate historical catastrophe from the intimate textures of family life. Moritz writes with restraint and clarity, allowing small details to carry enormous emotional weight. The book moves fluidly between past and present, showing how trauma is inherited not only through stories told, but through those left unspoken ... A deeply moving and elegantly written exploration of survival, identity and remembrance, illuminating how the past continues to shape who we are. * The Voice *
This book deals with some very large issues and an under-examined corner of Wales' experience too. I can't recommend it too highly. * nation.cymru *
A wonderful poignant telling of a life and a family * Jewish Tribune *