The Scourge of the Kaiserbird - Paperback

by Koos Marais (Author)

In 1906 while the Namas, indigenous first people of Namibia, were engaged in a war with the German colonial Schutztruppe, the Luchtensteins, an immigrant family, arrived by ship in Luderitzbucht. They then left by ox wagon to a new home, three hundred kilometres into the interior. Ahead of them lay the treacherous sands of the Namib Desert; thirst, searing heat, freezing nights, the fury of the desert wind, wild animals - and the enemy. A Nama commando led by Cornelius Fredericks, son-in-law of Hendrik Witbooi, attacks them but Cornelius allows them to escape unharmed, only to fall victim himself to his enemies. A strong bond develops between the young Ernst Luchtenstein and the captured Nama captain, Cornelius Fredericks. Ernst embarks on a quest for a new life and meets Regina, but fate intervenes forcing him to confront his identity. He returns to Keetmanshoop, waiting for Regina to be released from internment, and becomes the unwitting custodian of the history and legacy of the Namas, and a symbol of resistance to the greatest evil of the Twentieth Century, the Holocaust.