By students of the Kurt-Huber-Secondary School’s project class „Exile Literature“ in Gräfelfing, 2010/11

Konrad Merz (1908-1999) had to escape from the national socialists in 1934. He emigrated to the Netherlands where he made his living working on a farm, while continuing with his writing. His novel „A Man Falls Out of Germany“ is published in 1935 by Querido Publishing House and makes him known among exile circles. With the beginning of the war, the situation becomes more and more complicated − the exile becomes a trap for him and Merz has to hide from the national socialists.

Marianne Ott-Mainberg has traced Konrad Merz’s path of life with the students in the class project „Exile Literature“. During three visits in the German Literature Archive in Marbach, the heritage of Konrad Merz was investigated and interpreted for the first time ever. The project class presented the results of the work in 2011 in an exhibition at the Kurt-Huber-Secondary School in Gräfelfing. At the same time, in cooperation with the „Weiße Rose Stiftung e.V. München”, the exhibition could also be published as a leaflet in the publication series „SchülerArbeiten zur Zeitgeschichte“, which is available for download here.