The architect Martin Wagner was removed from his position as the chief city planner in Berlin by the Nazis. His advocacy of modernist building was directly and irrevocably contrary to Hitler's understanding of architecture. Wagner was also a Social Democrat. In 1935 he emigrated to Turkey. From there, he corresponded on noteworthy stationery.

As if he wanted to show that, far from having settled on the Bosporus, he was indeed only passing through, Wagner printed “At present: Istanbul” on the pages of his letters. In a letter on one such sheet, on 12 March 1937, he expressed his indecision regarding staying or leaving in greater detail. Wagner worked at the Istanbul academy of art as a professor of urban planning. He was also employed by the city and the state. In spite of these activities, he did not come to feel at home in his Turkish exile. His searching gaze soon turned to new professional opportunities in another location.

Wagner's addressee was the Frankfurt architect Ernst May, who had emigrated to east Africa. Wagner described his indecisiveness to him. In principle, he was attracted to the idea of exile in America. May also encouraged him to go there. But Wagner doubted that he could achieve urban planning with “intelligence, soul and culture” in America. But because he aspired to such a “totality”, for the time being he could only wait. This was a challenge for Wagner, who felt so driven that he described himself as a “volcano, or better yet, world explosive!”