Born in Wales to Jewish refugees who fled Nazi Germany, Sir Michael Moritz began his career as a journalist for Time, where he wrote the first definitive history of Apple, before joining Sequoia Capital in 1986. Over nearly four decades, he orchestrated some of the era-defining investments in Silicon Valley, including Google, Yahoo, PayPal, Stripe and Klarna. Now a leading philanthropist through his foundation Crankstart and knighted for his services to the economy and charity, he remains a singular voice on global business, history and social responsibility.
In Ausländer, spurred by the discovery of papers after his mother’s death, he traces his family’s journey of escape and exile from the Holocaust – and the fate of those detained and murdered in those years. The book offers a raw and reflective exploration of identity, migration, fear and belonging, and the experience of being Jewish over the past century. Moving from the trauma of 1930s Germany to the Welsh valleys and eventually the boardrooms of California, Ausländer is an exploration of the shadow that ‘outsider’ status casts across generations and an assertion of the fragility of security.
The discussion takes place against a background of deep concern about antisemitism in the UK and ways of combating it. Following the terrorist attack in Golders Green in London, the UK raised its national terrorism threat level to “severe”. In Ausländer, Moritz asserts that “almost every day there is something that [President Donald] Trump does which makes me think of the past” and that he had applied for German citizenship; he ruled out the UK, saying to the BBC he believed that Britain was an uncomfortable place for Jews today.
Chaired by Bronwen Maddox, Chatham House’s CEO and Director, this conversation will explore how the lessons of Moritz’s family history should inform our understanding of this contemporary crisis and what must be done to protect the principles of a pluralistic society. Signed copies of Ausländer will be available for purchase at the event.
