No Fixed Abode: A Jewish Odyssey to Africa

by Peter Fraenkel

Overview

In this memoir, Fraenkel writes as a member of an enclosed minority: German Jew within a predominantly Lithuanian Jewish community which was part of a white settler community, itself a minority in a predominantly black African territory. A young settler reprimanded him for stepping out of the way of an African family on a narrow bush path: "Walk straight on. They must know who is the master in the land." Fraenkel found himself whistling the Nazis' anthem "Clear the streets for the brown battalions. The storm troopers are marching." He was coming to learn the importance of not conforming.

"A vivid account of a childhood in a middleclass, non-observant Jewish family in Nazi Germany, forced to emigrate to Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia) in 1939." -- Trevor Gundry, Jewish Chronicle

"Peter Fraenkel... and his family emigrated in 1939 from Breslau to Northern Rhodesia, where he forged a successful career... in the Central African Broadcasting Service. Fraenkel was thus given the opportunity of using his undoubted skills as a broadcaster to help in the education of black people, using new methods of mass education... his sojourn in Northern Rhodesia came to an end in 1957, a few years after the country was refashioned by the British government as the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland -- a big mistake, Fraenkel thinks, and one that wasn't undone until much later when the independent state of Zambia was created. His love affair with Africa came to an end, and he felt impelled to leave, because of his 'dislike of racist politics in this bastion of white privilege'... Peter Fraenkel's account of the 20 years in Northern Rhodesia is absorbing... there are riveting chapters on his activities as a somewhat subversive broadcaster, working together with like-minded whites and Blacks... The book is written in a very lively manner and there are countless anecdotes, many of them in direct speech... I recommend it strongly." -- Leslie Baruch Brent, Association of Jewish Refugees

"The book bursts with life. Countries like these Central African territories are... far more exciting than countries with a settled structure. Here a new society is emerging. This excitement is lost in official reports and academic studies and one of Fraenkel's achievements is that he conveys it in full measure. I know of no book which more vividly describes the variety and throb of a modern African township." -- Max Gluckman, The Observer

"He brings out the formation of the new African metropolitan and rural societies... I know of no book which describes this surging varied vitality so well." -- Africa

Product Details

BN ID:	2940157507145
Publisher:	Plunkett Lake Press
Publication date:	04/03/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Peter Fraenkel was born in 1926 in Breslau (now Wroclaw) into a German Jewish family of lawyers. The family succeeded in emigrating only days before the outbreak of World War II. Most countries had by then closed their doors and they found themselves in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). There followed years of poverty with Fraenkel senior making a meager living as a dry cleaner. “N.R.” did, however, turn out to be better than anticipated. One of the unforeseen outcomes in this racist society was that whites rallied in support of fellow-whites: the colonial government lent Fraenkel funds for his university studies even though he was still classified as “enemy alien”.

After graduation from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa in 1949, he joined the Central African Broadcasting Service, the first radio station to concentrate mainly on educational programs in African languages. However, as racist white-settlers movements appeared to become dominant, Fraenkel uprooted himself again in 1957 and moved to England where he joined the BBC as a scriptwriter. Later he became Greek Program organizer, Head of East European Services and, finally, Controller of European Services. In retirement he worked on AIDS prevention campaigns.

Fraenkel translated and edited the memoirs of his great-great-grandfather B.L. Monasch, a 19th century publisher/printer of Jewish books of devotion. His own writings include Wayaleshi, about broadcasting in Africa; No Fixed Abode and several radio plays submitted to the BBC under a nom-de-plume to obscure his seniority in that organization.