Sanderling

This moving biography of Florens Christian Rang (1864-1924), unpicks the lasting impact of this principled man who was a Protestant pastor near Poznan in modern-day Poland, then part of Prussia. He subsequently abandoned the church and became a friend and contemporary of several great early-twentieth-century thinkers, including Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Martin Buber and Walter Benjamin, with whom he hoped to create a movement devoted to world peace. The great barrier to Weber's understanding of her ancestor is German history since his death, summed up in a single word alluded to but not spoken until the very last pages: Auschwitz. Did Rang help to lay the ground for the Holocaust through his part in 'Germanizing' Poland? Or can his friendships with Jews be seen as a counter to those Germans who went along with the Nazis? Significantly, Rang's son - Anne Weber's grandfather - was an opportunist during the Third Reich. Weber places the story of a grandfather she never met, because he refused to acknowledge his son's illegitimate daughter, alongside that of his father to create a travel diary through time, reaching back to encounter her ancestors.

Product details

• Authors: Weber Anne
• Assisted by: Blackadder Neil (Translation)
• Publisher: Turnaround
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 21.01.2026
• EAN: 9781917378055
• ISBN: 978-1-917378-05-5
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Essays, History, PHILOSOPHY / General, Germany, LITERARY COLLECTIONS / Essays, HISTORY / General, Philosophy, Memoirs, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Translating & Interpreting, REFERENCE / Genealogy & Heraldry, Translation & interpretation, Family history, tracing ancestors, Translation and interpretation, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs, Translation and language interpretation