Tupoka Ogette: "Home Anyway: A Memoir"

A piece of German history as you’ve rarely heard it: Growing up in the GDR as the Black daughter of a white dissident.

“This is how my story begins. As the daughter of a white woman and a Black man. Between Sange, southern Tanzania, and Gera, Thuringia. Between a colonial past and the GDR dictatorship.”

Tupoka Ogette writes about the search for belonging, about living in contradiction, in the in-between. She tells of growing up as a Black child in the GDR, of flight and loss, of abuse, body shaming, and abusive relationships—but also of love, motherhood, resilience, and self-empowerment. About the friendships she forms and those she loses. About starting over in West Germany. And about finding calm in the storm.