Raven Mother War, family and inheritance: a memoir

In a powerful work of memoir, history and biography, Jane Messer retraces the tragic and hopeful steps of her Jewish German grandmother, Bella. From pre-war Berlin to Tel Aviv to Melbourne, Messer follows Bella’ s journey and tries to understand her choices, including why she abandoned her son Michael in England before the war. Along the way, she speaks with historians in Germany, peace activists, scholars and refugees in Israel and Palestine, and, constantly, to her beloved father. Shifting between the personal and the historical with lyrical precision, Raven Mother grapples with the grand scale of global events and the intimate struggles of family and memory.

Jane Messer is the accomplished writer of novels, short stories and essays, is a regular contributor to The Conversation, and is a former Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Macquarie University. She is the founder and director of StorySALOON, a live show and podcast dedicated to Australian short stories. As the daughter of a refugee, she finds herself compelled to write about fractured lives, marginal people and migration, and in Raven Mother takes on the complex task of exploring both Jewish and Palestinian histories of displacement and exile

At the beginning, I Part 1, Grave Relatios A history of my family Walking in Berlin A bit of a Jew Family traits Pestalozzi-Frö bel Haus World War 1 and the Spirit of 1914 Spring arrival in Berlin Rubble women Part 2, Bella’ s Letter Finding Goethe The worst of mothers Translations Berlin Porn Film Festival My Germany A silk collar and a tattoo Reading Goethe The monkey out of her cage Rolf and the 5767 Part 3. The Streets Get Bloodier The river The slap The torn page The children’ s war A bad year to be in Berlin From Bunce Court to Melbourne The fortunes of war Part 4. Three Continents The land of promise The land called Palestine Post Ottoman Al-Thawra al-Kubra Arrivals and departures and the Arab Palestinian No World War Two Part 5: What is lost was needed Now: Jerusalem and the archives My Jaffa apartment ‘ A Palestinian Day Out’ What is lost was needed Part 6. The Found Letter Walter Strauss Ruth’ s request Return from Israel The found letter ‘ My Story’ And now References