Affidavit of Support for Hanns Eisler (1938)
After the Nazis seized power in January 1933, the composer Hanns Eisler embarked on a period of exile in which he was constantly on the move for five years with stops in various European countries including Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, France, Britain and the Soviet Union. In February 1935, Eisler travelled to the United States for the first time to give a series of lectures and concerts in New York.
Affidavit of Support from Thomas Mann for Heinrich Mann (1941)
When Thomas Mann went to meet Heinrich Mann at New York’s port on 13 October 1940, he thought his newly-arrived older brother to be exhausted and in need of rest. His state, however, was not only down to the physical strain of the long journey.
Akbar Behkalam: Berlin Kreuzberg, picture series (1981)
The Iranian painter Akbar Behkalam used his picture series Berlin Kreuzberg to express his sympathy with the aims of the so-called renovation occupancy movement.
Akbar Behkalam: from the Persepolis series of paintings (1977-1979)
Iranian painter Akbar Behkalam arrived in Berlin in 1976, the impressions of the despotic regime of the Shah still fresh in his mind. He soon began painting pictures of the human rights violations that had been taking place since the beginning of the dictatorship under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1941.
Akbar Behkalam: Justice in Allah’s Name, series of paintings (1984)
In the middle of the 1980s, the painter Akbar Behkalam worked on his series Justice in Allah’s Name, which deals with human rights violations in the Iran of Ruhollah Chomeini. In 1979, Chomeini toppled the monarchist dictatorship of the then Shah – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and established the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Albert Bassermann: Letter fragment (1934)
Leaving the "Guild of the German Stage" (Genossenschaft Deutscher Bühnen Angehöriger)The actor couple Else and Albert Bassermann were to give a guest performance at the Schauspielhaus Leipzig in 1934 as in previous years. From the correspondence of the literary estate it is apparent that Bassermann had written to Leipzig in the course of his preparations to say that their membership cards of the Genossenschaft Deutscher Bühnen-Angehöriger for the year 1934 had not yet arrived.
Albert Bassermann: Letter to Paul Kohner, 8 May 1939
The producer Paul Kohner, who had founded his own artists' agency in 1938, was an attentive observer of the exile German film scene in the United States. Following the start of the Second World War he became a tireless escape helper.
Albert Ehrenstein: Letter to his brother Carl (1941)
Two weeks after the traumatic voyage and arrival in New York, Albert Ehrenstein wrote this first letter to his brother Carl in London. In addition to describing the immigrant ship conditions, Albert Ehrenstein reported about his first impressions and new found freedom; about the hope to collaborate on journals and possible publications in German; and also about Switzerland and Spain, among other things.
Albert Ehrenstein: Navemärtyrer (1941)
It was literally in the last moment that Albert Ehrenstein was able to get the required visa to leave Switzerland in the summer of 1941. At the end of his journey through Spain and Portugal, he boarded a converted freighter ship, the “Navemar”, which took him to New York.
Albert Ehrenstein: Postcard to his brother Carl (1937)
During his stay in Switzerland, Albert Ehrenstein lived primarily in Brissago. From here he corresponded, among others, with his brother, who had lived in London since 1928 and had been trying to make his way as a literature agent and translator.
![Painting: Akbar Behkalam, Lebensraum [Living Space]](/KIE/Content/EN/Images/objects/behkalam-akbar-kreuzberg-01-en.jpg?__blob=thumbnail&v=4 "Painting: Akbar Behkalam, Lebensraum [Living Space]")
