arts in exile

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• 8 March 1939

  The Jewish religious community in Vienna cautions against emigration to Bolivia
  The reason given to justify this warning is that the public mood of the endemic population might swing against the emigrants. The entry of Jewish emigrants has been accompanied by a debate marked by racist arguments since 1938, clearly aimed at Jewish immigrants.
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  The Nazis call on the population of Checheslovakia to keep calm after the Wehrmacht invasion

  Bundesarchiv, Plak 003-030-013, graphic designer: not stated

  15 March 1939

  The German Wehrmacht marches into Czechoslovakia
• 20 March 1939

  "Degenerate art" is burnt in Berlin
  Several thousand paintings and sculptures, as well as drawings and prints, are burned the main fire station in Berlin-Kreuzberg because the Nazis consider them to be “degenerate art”. 
• 3 April 1939

  The Kantate im Exil by émigré German composer Hanns Eisler, written in exile in 1937, has its premiere in London.
• 14 April 1939

  Escape to Life, by siblings Erika and Klaus Mann, is published. The book aims to provide an overview of German emigration and its effect not just on German and European culture, but also American culture.
• 23 April 1939

  Adolf Hitler orders the confiscation of art masterpieces in German-occupied territory.
  Following Nazi victory, the works are to be exhibited at a so-called “World Art Museum” in the Austrian city of Linz. 
• 3 May 1939

  Bolivia halts intake of refugees for six months.
  To date, Bolivia had saved the lives of more refugees than any other country in South America, most of them Jewish. The country is interested above all in immigrants who could bring progress by contributing their know-how.
• May 1939

  The Museum of Modern Art in New York stages the exhibition Art in Our Time featuring works which had been banned by the Nazis.
• 17 May 1939

  Jewish migration to Palestine restricted.
  Despite the fact that Palestine has been an exceptional case until now in terms of immigration opportunities, the British Mandate government limits the number of certificates for issue. 
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  Reich Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop with his Italian counterpart Galeazzo Count Ciano

  Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-18223, photographer: Pahl, Georg

  22 May 1939

  The German Reich and Italy renew the "Rome-Berlin Axis" with the "Pact of Steel".