The Alexandria and Mediterranean Research Center organized  a book launch at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Conference Center on Monday October 15th, 2012 at 7.00 pm.
The book is entitled “Alexandria was our Destiny”   and is based on the Memories of Marie-Luise Nagel.  The authors are Annelies Ismail and Mona Gabriel.
The book tells us about Marie-Louise Nagel’s ancestors who came to Egypt from Central Europe during the nineteenth century, attracted by the new opportunities created during Mohamed Ali’s era and by the inauguration of the Suez Canal.  This book firstly traces how two families – the Nagels and the Giurgeviches -  settled in Alexandria for several generations, becoming part of that vibrant cosmopolitan city.  In the second part, the authors recount Marie-Louise Nagel’s own life story against a backdrop of historical events which changed the destiny of the city and the foreign communities which once thrived in it. Today in her early nineties, Marie-Luise Nagel is the only survivor of her family still living in Alexandria, as her relatives all left in search of a new future, scattered across the globe.