In March 1939 German military forces succeeded in annexing Czechoslovakia. The many artists who, in the years previously, had fled the Nazi regime, could no longer go about their lives safely in the newly annexed nation. One of those artists was the painter and graphic artist Helmut Krommer who had fled Berlin in 1933. He recognised the explicit danger he faced in Czechoslovakia early on and left Prague.

His journey took him to Yugoslavia. In Spielberg, near the Austrian-Yugoslav border, Krommer had an encounter with the Gestapo but was lucky and succeeded in crossing the border. The artist was familiar with the country he arrived in, having travelled to Yugoslavia several times previously. Indeed, his final exhibition before leaving Germany had featured Yugoslav themes. But Krommer’s 1939 journey was anything but a research trip as he was forced to abandon his wife and two daughters in Prague. The divided family made separate attempts to flee to England.

It is quite remarkable that Krommer’s artistic creativity was not impeded during this very uncertain period in his life. A colour drawing of the coast along Dubrovnik is only one of several works created during those most difficult of weeks. Krommer captured both the scenery and people he encountered in this troubled period. But Krommer’s main concern was following his family to England. On 23 June, 1939 the London Committee of Czech Refugees granted a visa allowing Krommer to be reunited with his family in England the following month. This represented the start of the family’s period of English exile, just a few short works before the outbreak of World War II.