Remigration
While emigration from the area under Nazi control was a mass phenomenon from 1933 on – it is estimated that 500.000 people left – the number who returned to their home country or to a neighbouring European country is much lower, as only a few thousand came back.
Remigration to the Soviet occupation zone and the GDR
Emigrants, especially those with a communist background, returned from Switzerland, Sweden, the Soviet Union and Great Britain to the Soviet occupation zone and later the GDR. It was not possible to leave Mexico, South America and the United States until 1946.
Resistance in the fine arts of exile
Using art as a means of spiritual resistance has always been an important part of artistic expression. There was also a wide variety of resistance in the fine arts of exile between 1933 and 1945.
Resistance in the literature of exile
There were many different forms of resistance in exile literature. Some of the writers who were forced into exile used their writing as a weapon against Nazism, clearly opposing its policies.
Rio de Janeiro
Artistic diversity under difficult conditionsAs the former capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, along with the other coastal cities of São Paulo and Porto Alegre, was often the first point of contact for immigrants arriving from Europe across the Atlantic. However, most of the German exile artists settled there only temporarily, most returning after the end of the war to Europe.
Saint-Cyprien internment camp
The Saint-Cyprien camp in southern France was hastily constructed in early 1939 for Spanish Civil War refugees in the coastal town of the same name. The Mediterranean Sea provided a natural border.
Sanary-sur-Mer
the capital of german literatureThe small fishing village of Sanary-sur-Mer on the southern coast of France was discovered as a holiday resort and place of residence by European intellectuals and artists after the end of the First World War. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, the small town between Marseilles and Toulon became a major attraction for German artists.
Schauspielhaus Zurich
After 1933, many actors who had to flee Germany found a new place of work at the Swiss Schauspielhaus in Zurich. The owner of the theatre, Ferdinand Rieser, helped numerous stage artists, including Leonard Steckel, who came to Zurich with his wife, dancer Jo Mihaly, to cross the border to Switzerland.
Shanghai
For many who only left Germany in 1938, after the November Pogroms, Shanghai became the last refuge. While more and more international borders were being closed, people could still enter parts of the city without a visa until 1941.
Steinberg Verlag, Zurich 1942–1972
Founded in 1942 in Zollikon, near Zurich, by sisters Selma and Luise (Lili) Steinberg, Steinberg Verlag was one of the few publishers in Switzerland that specialised in German-language exile literature during the Nazi era (the others included Oprecht Verlag and the three publishing companies – Humanitas, Die Liga, and Diana – founded by publisher Simon Menzel, husband of the third Steinberg sister Sophie Menzel).
