Stephan Abarbanell

Stephan Abarbanell (born 1957 in Brunswick, Germany, and grew up in Hamburg) - studied Protestant theology and general rhetoric. While Abarbanell is a Protestant minister, his extended family has a Jewish branch, and some members were affected by the Holocaust, which likely informs his writing on these topics.

His novel, Displaced (originally titled Morgenland in German), the main character, Lilya Wasserfall, is a young Jewish woman and a member of the Haganah. The novel is set in Jerusalem in 1946 and war-ravaged Europe, focusing on the immediate aftermath of World War II and the situation of Jewish displaced persons (DPs). The book explores themes of loss, homelessness, the search for identity, and the efforts to establish a new Jewish state. It delves into the plight of Jewish survivors who have no family or home to return to in Europe. The core plot involves Lilya’s mission to find a missing Jewish scientist, Raphael Lind, whose brother (an author living in Jerusalem) believes he is still alive despite reports he died in a concentration camp. She travels as a member of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, an aid organization for Jewish survivors. Abarbanell has published several other German-language novels touching on Jewish/Israeli themes – including a biographical novel about Paula Ben-Gurion – which have not been translated into English. [Google/AI]

Abarbanell, Stephan, (Displaced: A WWII Holocaust Literary Thriller – The Hunt for a Missing Scientist) [hc, Harper, 2017] 978-0062484475 [pb, Harper Paperbacks, 2018] 978-0062484499