Two Lives

Die bewegende Geschichte des Großonkels und der Großtante von Vikram Seth. Er: ein junger indischer Medizinstudent in Berlin; sie: die Tochter der jüdischen Familie, bei der er wohnte. Erst als beide zu Flüchtlingen wurden, fanden sie zusammen und überlebten.

The remarkable story of Seth's great uncle and aunt. His great uncle Shanti left India for medical school in Berlin in the 1930s and lodged with a German Jewish family. In the household was a daughter, Henny, who urged her mother 'not to take the blackie'. But a friendship developed and each managed to leave Germany and find their way to Britain as the Nazis rose to power. Shanti joined the army, while Henny made a life for herself in her adopted country. After the war they married and lived in north London. This book encompassing many of the most significant themes and events in the 20th century, whose currents are reflected in the lives of Shanti, Henny and their family: from the Raj and the Indian freedom movement to the Third Reich, the Holocaust and British postwar society.