Title: Expelled from a beloved Country
Subtitle: German Settlers in Southern Namibia between Colonial War and World War I.
Author: Sven-Eric Kanzler
Publisher: Nature Investments (Pty) Ltd
Windhoek, Namibia 2012
ISBN 9991668594 / ISBN 99916-68-59-4
Softcover, 15x21 cm, 94 pages, numerous images and photographs, 1 map
In desperation Alfons and Stephan Schanderl look back to the shore retreating further and further until it finally disappears behind the horizon. The two brothers have just lost their existence and their new home: the farm Karios on the Fish River Canyon in the former colony of German South West Africa. After the defeat of Imperial Germany the South African Union has taken over administration of the country and thousands of Germans are deported. The biography of two German immigrants forms the basis on which this book, in a very readable fashion, interprets an important chapter in southern Namibia's history. Wherever possible the narrative is linked to the present: how South Africa's aims determined Namibia's development right up to independence, or aspects of the question of landownership which is highly topical again; how the farm Karios became part of Gondwana Canon Park and the farmhouse, built by the Schanderl brothers, came to serve as reception and restaurant of the Canon Lodge. Their life story had been published at first in German language and has been translated by Christina Rockstroh for this edition.
Preface
Strangers in the Motherland
Childhood in a Large Family
Shipwrecked at the Skeleton Coast
The Battle Against the Invisible Enemy
Turning the Desert into an Oasis
Disaster Closing in from Europe
Starting all over again
Expelled from a Beloved Country
Sell-off at Give-away Prices
The Harrowing Search for the Reason
The Schanderl Case: Rumours and Speculation
And the Facts
Putting up a Fight
Final Farewell to Karios
New Beginnings in Argentina
A Farm Left Behind in Africa
Epilogue
Bibliography
List of Persons and Places
Appendix: Graves at Oas, Bethanien and Rehoboth
Map: Karios and Surroundings
Map: southern Namibia as a whole