Ausländer
One Family's Story of Escape and Exile
Will be published approx. on 1. September 2026
320 pages
E-Book
979-8-89710-193-1 (ISBN)
Description
A deeply moving and intimate story that reveals how the ravages of history that tore one family apart echo across continents nearly a century later.
"A memoir which ranks alongside The Hare with Amber Eyes."?The Times (London)
"Brilliant."?The Economist
Sorting through papers and photographs after his mother's death, Michael Moritz uncovers the history of close family members murdered by the Nazis. Exploring their journey takes him into a past of tragedy, grief and the dark shadows cast on Jewish life by the Holocaust.
Leaving Germany as child refugees, Moritz's parents escape to London before settling in Cardiff, Wales, after the war. But the idea of being a stranger or outsider?Ausländer?haunts the family; running through Moritz's childhood and resurfacing in his adopted home of California, where he has become one of Silicon Valley's most celebrated investors.
"As the shadows of Trump lengthened, the refrain I had heard from my parents rang ever more loudly ... 'If it did happen somewhere, it can happen here.'"
By turns disturbingly relevant and a haunting elegy to his family heritage, Ausländer shows what can happen to anyone, anywhere, when ordinary people hand licence to despots.
"A memoir which ranks alongside The Hare with Amber Eyes."?The Times (London)
"Brilliant."?The Economist
Sorting through papers and photographs after his mother's death, Michael Moritz uncovers the history of close family members murdered by the Nazis. Exploring their journey takes him into a past of tragedy, grief and the dark shadows cast on Jewish life by the Holocaust.
Leaving Germany as child refugees, Moritz's parents escape to London before settling in Cardiff, Wales, after the war. But the idea of being a stranger or outsider?Ausländer?haunts the family; running through Moritz's childhood and resurfacing in his adopted home of California, where he has become one of Silicon Valley's most celebrated investors.
"As the shadows of Trump lengthened, the refrain I had heard from my parents rang ever more loudly ... 'If it did happen somewhere, it can happen here.'"
By turns disturbingly relevant and a haunting elegy to his family heritage, Ausländer shows what can happen to anyone, anywhere, when ordinary people hand licence to despots.
More details
Person
Michael Moritz was born in Cardiff, Wales in 1954. A former TIME journalist and regular contributor to the FT, he is the author of several books, including The Little Kingdom, the story of Apple's years as a private business. He was a partner in Sequoia Capital for 35 years and led the business between 1995 and 2012, becoming one of the most successful investors of his generation. Together with his wife, the author Harriet Heyman, he formed Crankstart in 2001-a San Francisco-based foundation devoted to helping those who might otherwise be left behind.
