ABSTRACT
Several years ago, a Jewish refugee named Hans Heinz Altmann, who had left Germany just before the Second World War to live in Bolivia and Argentina, published a book with the moving title Muttersprache: Heimat der Heimatslosen (Altmann 1992). Translated into English, the title means approximately Mother Tongue: the Home of the Homeless. For Altmann, this refers to German, the language which is the quintessence of patriotism for German emigrants.
