The Outsiders of Uskoken Castle is a children's novel written by Kurt Kläber. The original German "Rote Zora und ihre Bande" was published under the pseudonym Kurt Held in 1941.
The English translation was published in 1967 by Doubleday (Garden City, N.Y. USA) It was translated from German by Lynn Aubry and illustrated by Emanual Schongut.[1]
The story is about the adventures of Zora and a band of children, who lived in a Uskok castle ruins on the coast of Croatia. The children steal out of necessity because they have no parents or other family to look after them. They are frequently involved in conflicts with the town residents and reject the authority of adults, except for the Fisher Gorian, who helps the children. When the old fisherman needs help the children repay his kindness by coming to his rescue.
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Kurt Held was a German Jewish communist living in exile in Switzerland after his arrest for suspicion of involvement with the Reichstag Fire. He adopted the pseudonym because Kurt Kläber was known to the authorities as a political activist, so his works could not be published under his own name.[2]
Kurt Kläber traveled to Yugoslavia in 1940, where he met Branko and Redhead Zora and her band. The book is based on his experiences with these orphaned children in the Croatian city of Senj. The castle in Senj is called Nehaj Fortress.
As in the story, the first child Kurt Kläber met in Senj was Branko. At that time Branko had recently been orphaned. Zora informed Branko that the police were investigating him in a theft of food. So Kläber was introduced to Zora. He wanted to take Branko and Zora back to Switzerland with him, but his refugee status made that impossible. Instead he wrote the story of the children with the intention of making the book a political tool to call attention to marginalized people in Europe.[3]
Zora became the central figure in the story because Kläber was impressed with the way she organized the children into a band and taught them solidarity. The boys accepted her as their leader.
The title Red Zora, refers to Zora's red hair.
The Oskoken or Uskoks in the title were a band of pirates from 16th century Senj.
The story is made up of the adventures of the children living by the rules of their community and their conflicts with the city residents.
The story begins with the introduction of some of the children. Branko's father is a traveling fiddler, so he lives with his mother, who worked in a tobacco plant until her death. After Banco's mother died he has no home. He picked up a fish he found on the ground at the market and is arrested for theft. Zora freed him through the window of the prison and took him to the castle, which the band has made their home. After passing a test of his courage, Branco is accepted into the band of outlaws along with Nicola, Pavle and Duro.
The story tells of conflicts with the city residents who persecute the band and the pranks the children play to retaliate against their enemies. In one episode the band steals a chicken from the old fisher Gorian, who is honest, poor and works hard. Branko and Zora feel sorry for him and try to repay him with chickens stolen from wealthy Karaman. Gorian catches them and insists that they return the stolen chickens. The children promise to help Goran by working for him when he is short handed. The band assists him with his conflicts with a large fishery.
The book was originally published by the Schweizer Sauerländer-Verlag in Aarau. It is still being published in German by the Patmos Verlagsgruppe in its 36th printing from 2007.
The novel was made into a film[4] and a television series[5]
The book has been translated into 18 languages, although it has never been translated into Croatian. The television series based on the book was aired on television in Croatia, but only late at night in order to prevent children from seeing it[6]