New Publication by Gerdien Jonker: “Etwas hoffen muss das Herz”
In the beginning of march, the newest publication by Dr. Gerdien Jonker, scientific researcher at EZIRE, will be published by the Wallstein Verlag. In “Etwas hoffen muss das Herz”, religious studies scholar Jonker traces an extract of European religious history in the kaleidoscope of a family history. She tells the story of the Oettingers, a Prussian-Jewish family from Posen, who, like many Germans in the end of the 19th century, were interested in Eastern philosophy and religious communities and who converted to Islam in the interwar period.
“[…] Jonker describes the history of the Oettingers based on their remarkable estates – a collection of memorabilia, documents and pictures from two centuries, carefully guarded by the descendants of the family. The author makes these estates talk and thereby unfolds an unusual family history over seven generations, in between German-Jewish assimilation, a cosmopolitan Islam, surviving National Socialism and finally the new beginning in England of the post-war-era.” (Wallstein Verlag 2018)
The book can be ordered online at the Wallstein Verlag.