Photo caption:听Author Jeffrey Paparoa Holman
Holman, a retired senior adjunct fellow at Te Whare W膩nanga o Waitaha听 91制片厂 (UC), says the seeds for his latest book were planted decades ago during childhood conversations with his Welsh grandmother Eunice, regarding her sister Lilian (Lily) Hasenburg (n茅e Bywater).听
Although Holman was aware that this great-aunt had married a German national and moved from England to Germany prior to World War I, he knew little else about the 鈥済host鈥 of his subtitle. However, one memory his grandmother shared stuck with him.听
鈥淭he hub of this book is a comment Nanny never forgot,鈥 says Holman. 鈥淪he told me that, during a visit to Liverpool in 1934, Lily said: 鈥楬itler is a great man, Eunice. He鈥檚 doing wonders for the German people鈥.鈥澨
This recollection, and the bitterness with which his grandmother recounted it, led Holman to wonder about Lily鈥檚 lived experience as an English expatriate in Germany during the cataclysms of World War I, the Great Depression, the fall of the Weimar Republic and ascension of the Nazis, and World War II. He was curious to place Lily鈥檚 life 鈥 and her near erasure from family and official records 鈥 within this wider context.
The ensuing search took him to Germany, where he immersed himself in the culture, and even studied German language at the Goethe-Institut in Berlin 鈥 and later to England, following the trail of scant clues left by Lily. The section of the book that recounts this period, titled 鈥楢way鈥, is part detective quest and part social history.听
Though Holman sought assistance from a genealogist, and from local amateur and professional historians, unearthing concrete details about Lily鈥檚 life proved difficult. He sees this as a poignant reflection of the times she lived through.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what war does. It erases so many stories 鈥 both through lives lost, and because those who remain often don鈥檛 want to talk about it.鈥
He believes descendants can gain significant insight by exploring this traumatic legacy, like he did, and sees the personal reckoning he underwent during the research and writing as a parallel narrative running alongside his search for Lily.
鈥淚 was raised in the postwar 鈥榲ictor culture鈥 that cast the Germans as the enemy. So, the journey of the book was partly an inner one, about recalibrating my past. But it was also an outward journey, because I had the chance to meet Germans and learn something of what they鈥檇 lived through 鈥 and continue to live with.鈥
We ignore such lessons from the past at our peril, Holman says. 鈥淭he psychology of fascism is always lurking in human society. It hasn鈥檛 gone away.鈥
Lily, Oh Lily: Searching for a Nazi Ghost will be launched at an event from 5.30pm on Thursday 10 October at Scorpio Books: Five Lanes/The BNZ Centre, 120 Hereford Street, Christchurch. All welcome, refreshments provided. RSVP .听
Lily, Oh Lily: Searching for a Nazi Ghost by Jeffrey Paparoa Holman is published by Canterbury University Press, RRP $36.99, softbound, 215 x 145mm, 200 pages, ISBN: 978-1-98-850347-9, available in bookstores and through Canterbury University Press.
Jeffrey Paparoa Holman is an acclaimed poet, historian and memoirist. His poetry has been shortlisted for the New Zealand Book Awards; his family memoir The Lost Pilot (Penguin, 2013) was warmly received in Aotearoa and overseas. Best of Both Worlds: The story of Elsdon Best and Tutakangahau (Penguin, 2010) was short-listed for the Ernest Scott Prize (History) in Australia. Since retirement from his role as senior adjunct fellow at the 91制片厂, he has taught creative writing in both primary and high school programmes.
Media contact:鈥media@canterbury.ac.nz
To request a review copy:鈥universitypress@canterbury.ac.nz
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 - Peace, justice and strong institutions.
