Hermann Landshoff: New York, infrared photograph (1941)
In 1940/41 the photographer Hermann Landshoff, member of the Foreign Legion in North Africa at that time, managed a complex escape via the Moroccan cities of Bled and Meknès to Marseille and then to Capvern-les-Bains in the Pyrenees. From there he continued his escape through Franco’s Spain, on to Lisbon and finally to New York.
Herta Müller: Reisende auf einem Bein (1989) [Travelling on One Leg, 1998]
Reisende auf einem Bein (1989) [Travelling on One Leg] is the first volume of prose to appear in the wake of Herta Müller’s migration from Romania to Berlin. The text is the author’s literary attempt to come to terms with this upheaval.
Hilde Domin: Poem for her husband’s birthday, 1949
During their years in exile, Hilde Domin worked primarily for her husband, the archaeologist Erwin Walter Palm. She proofread his writing, translated his academic works and documented his research in photographs.
Hilde Domin’s Dominican Republic Residence Permit
Because of the war, in 1940 the couple Hilde and Erwin Walter Palm decided to leave England, their second place of exile, and flee overseas. Through personal contacts they got visas for the Dominican Republic.
ID card issued by the Oakland Defense Council for Alfred Neumeyer (1942)
Alfred Neumeyer had already made clear during his naturalisation process that he wanted to do something for his adopted country. A document from his everyday life in exile, his identity card for the “Oakland Defense Council”, testifies to that desire.
Identity card for Thomas and Katia Mann (1934)
In 1933, while in exile in Switzerland, Thomas Mann attempted in vain to renew his German passport which had expired on 1 April of that year. As the authorities insisted this would require the author to return to his home country, which he had left for political reasons, he sought to obtain a so-called tolerance permit from the police department for foreign nationals in the canton of Zurich.
Ilse Bing: New York – The Elevated and Me, photograph (1938, reprint 1988)
Along with still-life compositions, cityscapes and fashion photography, one of the main areas of photographer Ilse Bing’s artistic oeuvre was the self-portrait. Mirrors and reflections were key elements of her work.
Immigration Card for Arnold Schönberg (1935)
The immigration card dated 13 November 1935, issued at the Mexican-Californian border town Calexico, was more than just an official document for composer Arnold Schönberg – it was the key to better health. Schönberg suffered from asthma and had experienced frequent asthma attacks and serious colds since his arrival in the US in October 1933.
In Memoriam Joseph Roth [and] Ernst Toller, programme (1939)
A memorial service held by the Free German League of Culture in Great BritainIn May 1939, two important exiled literary figures died within a few days of one another: Ernst Toller on 22 May – by suicide – in New York and Joseph Roth on 27 May in Paris.
Indictment against Heinz Liepman (16 February 1934)
It is thought that the writer Heinz Liepman fled from Germany in the summer of 1933: first to France, then to the Netherlands. He was arrested there in February 1934.
