I Must Belong Somewhere

'An extraordinary family tale of survival' Sunday Times

Jonathan Dean's great-grandfather, David Schapira, fled the Russian threat in Ukraine for Vienna in 1914. Blinded in the First World War, he survived to find love and start a family, only to be sent to a concentration camp during the next war. David's son, Heinz, was also a refugee. In 1939, aged 16, he embarked on a nail-biting journey to London, to escape his fate as an Austrian Jew.

Drawing on David's memoir and Heinz's wartime diaries, Dean visits the places that changed the course of his family tree - Vienna, Cologne, Ukraine - where he finds history repeating itself and meets a new wave of people leaving loved ones for an uncertain future.

I Must Belong Somewhere is an unforgettable family tale of exile and survival, and a powerful meditation on what it means to be a refugee today.

“Jonathan Dean's remarkable family saga would make the producers of Who Do You Think You Are? weak at the knees.”

An extraordinary family tale of survival and perseverance over two generations . . . Jonathan Dean's remarkable family saga would make the producers of Who Do You Think You Are? weak at the knees - SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE

Humane and curious ... an admirable family memoir - Guardian

Powerful - I PAPER

Jonathan Dean is Senior Writer for the SUNDAY TIMES Culture, regularly interviewing the world's biggest stars. He has written for the paper's News Review, Style, Magazine and Travel sections, on subjects ranging from Remembrance Day to holidays in LA, and contributed to the POOL, GQ, SHORTLIST, the INDEPENDENT and RED.

'An extraordinary family tale of survival' Sunday Times Jonathan Dean's great-grandfather, David Schapira, fled the Russian threat in Ukraine for Vienna in 1914. Blinded in the First World War, he survived to find love and start a family, only to be sent to a concentration camp during the next war. David's son, Heinz, was also a refugee. In 1939, aged 16, he embarked on a nail-biting journey to London, to escape his fate as an Austrian Jew. Drawing on David's memoir and Heinz's wartime diaries, Dean visits the places that changed the course of his family tree - Vienna, Cologne, Ukraine - where he finds history repeating itself and meets a new wave of people leaving loved ones for an uncertain future. I Must Belong Somewhere is an unforgettable family tale of exile and survival, and a powerful meditation on what it means to be a refugee today.

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