Anthony Haas Photo: RNZ
Anthony Haas is the grandson of one of the very few Jews to be elected to the Bundestag, the son of a German refugee, who took up farming in Pahiatua, and a good friend of the late Michael King – author of the bestselling Being Pakeha. It was King who suggested he write Being Palangi: My Pacific Journey – which includes an introduction written by the historian before his untimely death in 2004: "Anthony Haas is a Jewish New Zealander. He too is aware of contexts in which his own people have not been wholly embraced by the old monoculture of NZ."
Being Palangi: My Pacific Journey – which, like Being Pakeha, is an autobiographical exploration of the meeting and cross fertilisation of cultures – is being launched in Wellington on Wednesday.
