Large numbers of exiled authors and artists in other media wrote autobiographies. Many of them described themselves in their works as “representatives of their generation” (Richard Critchfield, “Some reflections on the problems of exile autobiography” („Einige Überlegungen zur Problematik der Exilautobiographik“), Jahrbuch Exilforschung, 1984). These texts are often based on the need to contextualise the author’s own experience of exile as part of a universal description of a crisis-ridden era, something which frequently comes into conflict with a fundamental characteristic of the genre: its subjective nature and the fact that it is written from the author’s own memory.

The autobiographical works of the exiles feature a broad range of formats. They vary in the degree to which they take a documentary approach, with some of them including documents, letters and diary entries, for example. However, some autobiographies consciously frustrate the expectation that the text will focus on the author’s own immediate experiences, and work with auto-fictional elements. The boundary between autobiography and novel is in some instances permeable.

Other conventions of the genre are also subverted. For instance, the depiction of personal development during childhood and adolescence sometimes features only briefly, while analyses of historical or political themes fill the pages.

The fact that the desire for self-reassurance in autobiographical writing is something that affects not only exiled artists was already revealed in 1939 by the competition “My Life in Germany before and after January 30, 1933”, which was held by Harvard University and aimed expressly at all emigrants from the German-speaking parts of the Nazis’ sphere of influence. The competition received 250 entries – some of the manuscripts contained several hundred pages. They were written by authors and journalists, but also by doctors, teachers, lawyers and members of other professions.

Further reading:
Krause, Robert: Lebensgeschichten aus der Fremde. Autobiografien deutschsprachiger emigrierter SchriftstellerInnen als Beispiele literarischer Akkulturation nach 1933, München: edition text + kritik 2010.
Krohn, Claus-Dieter et al. (Hg.): Autobiografie und wissenschaftliche Biografik. Exilforschung. Ein internationales Jahrbuch, Band 23, München: exition text + kritik 2005.

Selected autobiographies:
Gottfried Bermann-Fischer: Bedroht – bewahrt. Weg eines Verlegers (1967)
Elisabeth Castonier: Stürmisch bis heiter. Memoiren einer Außenseiterin (1964)
Alfred Döblin: Schicksalsreise. Bericht und Bekenntnis (1949)
George Grosz: Ein kleines Ja und ein großes Nein. Sein Leben von ihm selbst erzählt (1955)
Irmgard Keun: Bilder und Gedichte aus der Emigration (1947)
Heinrich Mann: Ein Zeitalter wird besichtigt (1946)
Klaus Mann: Der Wendepunkt. Ein Lebensbericht (1952)
Hertha Pauli: Der Riss der Zeit geht durch mein Herz (1970)
Steffie Spira: Trab der Schaukelpferde (1991)
Adrienne Thomas: „Reisen Sie ab, Mademoiselle“ (1947)
Bruno Walter: Thema und Variationen. Erinnerungen und Gedanken (1960)
Eva Wysbar: „Hinaus aus Deutschland, irgendwohin …“ (2000)
Stefan Zweig: Die Welt von gestern (1942)