On April 13, 2003, Mola Martin Ngeka Luma, one of the most prominent and most venerated sons of Fako of our times, died in Douala after a protracted illness. His death brought to a close one of the most fascinating lives of our time; that of a little Bakweri kid who grew up in Nazi Germany with a Jewish family and later became a minister in the Government of Ahmadou Ahidjo in Cameroon.
According to Mola's biography as presented by his son Peter Luma at his funeral:
The Late Hon. Dr. M.N.LUMA was born on 10th September 1927 at Tongo. His father Nako LUMA died three months before he was born while his mother Sarah Ngombe died six months after his birth. Hon. Dr. Martin Ngeka LUMA was adopted later in his life by a childless German Family ,the Reinholds. In 1929 he was taken to Germany by his adopted parents.
Unfortunately for Him the Funk Rheinholds were Jews and were Holocaust victims, but he was rescued and brought back to Cameroon by Theodore Bleich of the Bleich Banana Plantations. He did his primary education at Bremen in Germany and on his return to Cameroon went to Kumba, where he completed his secondary Education.
Mola Luma's subsequent education and stellar political career in pre- and post-independent Cameroon is amply documented elswhere. However, very little is known about his life in Nazi Germany. Before his death, Mola Luma told this story to Prof. N.N Susungi in a series of videotaped interviews. The attached document is a summary of that story which we hope, will eventually be the subject of a full-length book. A compelling and fascinating story indeed!!!
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NICE STORY!!!
Posted by: Anis | Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 09:00 PM