“She sees me as a friend, as equal.”
Ummuahmed about support structures
Ummuahmed fled the war in Syria in 2012, together with her family. Since then they live in Istanbul and run a small shop there.…
Archive
“Today, I cannot say about Istanbul that it’s a home.”
Ummuahmed about Istanbul and her concerns for her children
Ummuahmde fled the war in Syria in 2012, together with her family. Since then they live in Istanbul and run a small shop there.…
“They are so hard there with those poor wretches that I need to pull myself together if I am not to burst out crying—and they have to be hard, otherwise there wouldn’t be something for everyone.”
Joseph Roth on the Deutsches Hilfskomitee
The Austrian writer Joseph Roth (1894–1939) did not wait long and left Berlin shortly after Hitler’s seizure of power. By February 1933, he was…
“This immigration was not simply an immigration. It actually became one over the course of time”
Hannah Arendt About the Difference Between Immigrants and Refugees
In a radio interview from 1959, Arendt speaks about the political and legal situation of refugees in the 1930s and the differences between immigration…
“My friend and I didn’t even know what was happening to us, why we were there, what we were doing here.”
Aliou B. about his long flight from Guinea to Germany
Aliou B. left Guinea alone at the age of thirteen. On his way via Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Libya, he experienced hunger, mistreatment…
“Paris was so beautiful. I had found friends and now I had to leave. My head told me how fortunate I was, but my heart rebelled.”
George Edel about the stay in Paris
George Edel, a Jewish doctor from Vienna (who converted to Christianity), tells of his flight from Zagreb to Paris and of his stay in…
“Ok, I’m becoming a New Yorker, I guess. That feeling is so good.”
Eric about Refugeedom, Homesickness and Mother tongue
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive team, Eric, a political refugee from Venezuela, talks about being a refugee and homesick in New…
“The Jews are not the only ones they are out to get. […] The onslaught this time is against European civilization, against humanity, whose proud champion you are.”
Joseph Roth on Identity
The Austrian writer Joseph Roth (1894-1939) did not wait long and left Berlin shortly after Hitler’s seizure of power. By February 1933, he was…
“God in heaven – this is probably what hell looks like!”
Pinkhas Shvarts on the attempted flight from Warsaw
On the night of September 5 to September 6, 1939, only a few days after the German attack on Poland, a group of Jewish…
“I am better American, than many who are born here.”
Hilda Epstein’s gratitude to the USA
Hilda Epstein was a German nurse born in Karlsruhe into a religious Jewish family. She learned infant care in Heidelberg, and later moved to…
“Stambul, on the other hand, is a hope because it is a single field of rubble from which some magnificent jewels stand out.”
Letter from Martin Wagner to Walter Gropius, May 1935
In this letter, the former Berlin city planner Martin Wagner, who went to Istanbul exile in 1935, reports on his first time in Istanbul,…
“…I’m used to a cold supper with cold cuts and I’m sticking with it”.
Impressions of Ernst Hirsch about the recruited professors in Istanbul
In March 1933, Ernst Eduard Hirsch was dismissed from his position as a tenured judge in Frankfurt am Main and as a private lecturer…
“Every step in the system just reminds you that you’re not welcomed. The system is not designed to support…”
L. from Egypt: You are not welcomed
In the interview, the queer activist, human rights journalist and refugee L. [1. they wish to remain anonymous] presents their reflections on the topics:…
“First of all: the legalization issue.”
Benshalom’s Days of Distress and Nights of Hope
Benzion Benshalom tells of the hardships of everyday life of the refugees in Vilnius and their worries about the measures taken by the Lithuanian…
“I belong to this city
although I was born elsewhere”
although I was born elsewhere”
I Belong to this City
Issam Alnajm’s poem is an ode to Bochum, where Issam found a “new home” after his arrival in Germany in 2015.
Charter of Palermo, 2015
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Charter of Palermo
International human mobility. From the migration as suffering to mobility as an inalienable human right
“I felt such a mixture of emotions: relief, happiness that I had finally made it here, but shame that my mother and stepfather had to see me like this in the detention center.”
Isabel Vásquez Escape from El Salvador to the USA
Isabel Vásquez is from Cantón El Rosario, Santa Ana in El Salvador. She fled to the U.S. with her 9-year-old daughter when she was…
“If one is determined to resist the regime in one’s own country while living abroad, then one must disguise oneself vis-à-vis one’s own diplomatic representation in the host country, the more perfect the better.”
Margarethe Schütte-Lihotzky and the Communist resistance in Istanbul
As a convinced communist, progressive architect Margarethe Schütte-Lihotzky came to Istanbul in 1938 to teach at the Academy of Fine Arts. In this passage…
“In May ’36, at the time of the strikes, I found myself a member of the strike committee along with two other women.”
Worker Solidarity and Discrimination in Paris 1936
Fé Garcia Petit tells of workers resistance, solidarity and sexism.
Nobody’s Land
Report about the “Nobody’s Land” close to Suwałki
Report compiled by Moses Beckelman, Lithuanian delegate of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, about the “Nobody’s Land” within the Suwałki Triangle, 10 November…
“Istanbul is a wild bazaar, a wild chaos of color, languages, food, everything mixing! It was like an early version of New York.”
Edith Hillinger on her childhood in Istanbul and how it shaped her art
Edith Hillinger, born in Berlin in 1933, fled with her parents from Nazi Germany to Istanbul in 1937. Her father Franz Hillinger worked in…
“I don’t know how many governments became right-wing since I moved to Europe.”
Nazeeha Saeed’s worries about Europe’s shift to the right
Nazeeha Saeed, a journalist from Bahrain who lives in Paris and Berlin in exile since 2016, tells about her worries in face of Europe’s…
“In any case, I want to leave here if at all possible. Though, it is quite comfortable”
Erich Auerbach: Where to after the end of the war?
Berlin-born Romance philologist, literary and cultural scholar Erich Auerbach (1892-1957), now considered the founder of the discipline of comparative literature thanks to Palestinian postcolonial…
“My world here is almost too beautiful. Too beautiful for my difficult tasks.”
Between Bosphorus and Plum Blossoms: Letters from Bruno Taut to Tokugen Mihara, April 28, 1937
The German architect and urban planner Bruno Taut had come to Turkey from his first exile in Japan in 1935 as the head of…
“to save my life from the persectuion of Nazis”
Franz Hillinger’s “Certificate of Eligibility”
After he was prohibited from working in Nazi Germany in 1937 because of his Jewish origins and his social democratic commitment, Franz Hillinger fled…
“It feels a little bit like you’re somehow making other people’s flight experience less important, when you call yourself a refugee.”
K. on the designation “Kontingentflüchtlinge”
K. talks about the term “contingent refugees” and her own experience of flight from her childhood perspective.
“I don’t always like to play this role: The role of the victim”
Alaa Muhrez’s Experience of Discrimination in Working Life
First Alaa Muhrez and her husband moved to a village near Leipzig, then they moved to Berlin. Alaa describes experiences of discrimination that she…
“…back then being a refugee or a torture survivor was kind of like an appealing thing for a lot of viewers”
Sami from Syria: With support or without?
In this interview, the political refugee and activist Sami[1. name changed] from Syria, presents his thoughts and experiences on the topics: Support Networks for…
“No matter where I travel,
I go to Nowhereland”
I go to Nowhereland”
Not a Children’s Song
Poem by Mascha Kaléko
“People judged me for speaking my language at home with my children. But it’s their mother tongue!”
“Why are people so interested in where you’re coming from?”
Nazeeha Saeed, a journalist from Bahrain who has been living in Berlin since 2019, talks about what opportunities the new home gives, how one…
“On the other hand it is quite possible that the book owes its existence to just this lack of a rich and specialized library.”
Mimesis’ Epilogue
Berlin-born Romance philologist, literary and cultural scholar Erich Auerbach (1892-1957), now considered the founder of the discipline of comparative literature thanks to Palestinian postcolonial…
“The war came without much fuss […] it was as if it wanted to say: I am coming to prove to you that you can rely on me.”
Hans Sahl on internment and landscapes of memories
Hans Sahl (born Hans Salomon, 1902-1993) was a literary, film and theater critic during the Weimar Republic and, as an anti-fascist writer, translator and…
„Art remains for ever and ever highest expression of human feeling and therefore the sharpest sword against all devils in man’s soul.“
View to the Bosphorus – Thoughts to Japan: Letter from Bruno Taut to Mihara, August 8, 1938
The German architect and urban planner Bruno Taut had come to Turkey from his first exile in Japan in 1935 as the head of…
“With that Leica and the small enlarger we had bought in Paris, we had the audacity to open in our room ‘Studio Stein’.”
Fred Stein’s letter to friends and relatives
In a letter from 1946, Fred Stein describes the flight story of his family in detail to his friends and relatives. After Fred and…
“The first months absorbed all our strengths to build a new life.”
Elsbeth Weichmann: Paris, a New Beginning
Social Democratic politician Elsbeth Weichmann (1900-1988) describes her arrival and the first months in the French capital in 1933, after she had to flee…
“I still maintain today that each of us, I do not exclude myself, has taken away some damage. A trauma that for some is so bad that they end up in a sanatorium somewhere, or worse: suicide.”
Hilde Marx: Flight as a break in life
Hilde Marx (born November 1, 1911 in Bayreuth) was a German-American poet, writer and journalist. She is one of the authors whose writing career…
“What shall we do? Where shall we go?”
Herman Kruk about the German invasion of Vilnius, 22 June 1941
On 22 June 1941, Herman Kruk writes about the National Socialists’ invasion of Vilnius and his decision to stay in Vilnius despite all.
“Home is where your books are, where your future is.”
Languages and Books as Home
H. comes from Somalia and lives in Italy today. Together with other Somali refugees he took part in a round table discussion of the…
“I feel like a bird in exile, I no longer belong to a country, I fly from country to country with my thoughts, feeling longing for how I am in each country.”
The longing of the bird
In her essay, Alaa Muhrez not only describes her own reflections on the topics of “homesickness”, “identity” and “exile”, but also takes up the…
“One group of 120 fled from Roumania on a smaal vessel which was shipwrecked near Istanbul on October 4th.”
Letter about the plight of Romanian Jews in Turkey, 1942
Henrietta K. Buchman, secretary of JDC’s Poland and Eastern Europe Committee, informs Charles Sonnenreich, President of the United Romanian Jews of America, of the…
“Just the ‘sickness’ stayed.
The ‘home’s’ away.”
The ‘home’s’ away.”
Homesick, for What?
Poem by Mascha Kaléko, written in Israel in 1960’s
“I didn’t take the decision like that, freely.”
Majid about his escape from war in Sudan and the hard flight to Istanbul
Majid Bolat comes from the Darfur region in Sudan and belongs to the ethnic group of the Fur people. He fled to Turkey via…
Nepenthe
Nepenthe
Maaza Mengiste’s short story describes traumatic experiences of flight with many mythological allusions.
“Still out of work. We eat very insufficiently.”
Paul-Adolphe Löffler on the Precarious Living Conditions of Foreign Workers
In diary entries from 1929 and 1934, the writer and journalist Paul-Adolphe Löffler (1901-1979) described his living conditions, characterized by precariousness and unemployment, which…
“In a year’s time I might be a Berliner.”
Mahdi A. on Berlin
Mahdi A. describes his initial helplessness after his arrival in Berlin, what the city means to him now and his plans for the future.
“I am poor, I cannot help with money, but I would like to help with what I can, I would like to train the women, I would like to give courses, without payment of course. If only I had a suitable room, because in our “home” I can not ask anyone. Help me to find a room, I said to the secretary, unaware that she knew my name from over there, even if she did not know me personally.”
Hertha Nathorff’s nursing course for women
Hertha Nathorff, née Einstein (1895-1993) was a German pediatrician, psychotherapist and social worker. Until 1934 she worked as a senior physician at the Red…
Biographical Workshop in Palermo
Giocherenda’s Biographical Workshop in Palermo
In June 2019, the organization Giocherenda held a three-day storytelling workshop with young refugees in the Centro Astalli, Italy’s Jesuit Refugee Service, in Palermo.…
“I have never led a refugee existence.”
Käthe Berl’s life in New York
Käthe Berl was a well-known Austrian-American artist born in 1908 in Vienna into a Jewish family. Her family did not survive the Holocaust. Käthe,…
“Soon enough one remembers that one is nothing more than a sinful refugee and…”
Herman Kruk on sarcasm in the wash house run by and with refugees
Herman Kruk was a refugee from Warsaw who wrote reports on the refugee situation in Vilnius for the Yiddish magazine Folks-gezunt (Public Health) of…
“To keep alive in it another German cultural tradition is perhaps to be called the main task of the Academy…”
Thomas Mann, The German Academy in New York. nd
In this text, written by Thomas Mann (1875-1955), he explains his opinion about the foundation of the German Academy in New York in connection…
“By now I was already a skilled refugee, so I decided to go to ‘TOZ’.”
Zusman Segalovitsh about refugeedom in the stopover Równo
On the night of September 5-6, 1939, only a few days after the German attack on Poland, a group of Jewish journalists and writers…
“Unfortunately, the beginning of Lithuanian rule was bitter for Jews.”
Mendel Balberyszski: Pogrom in Vilnius, October 1939
Mendel Balberyszski (1894-1966) was born in Vilnius but had been living in Łódź for over a decade at the outbreak of the Second World…
“Today, I do not like to use this big and broad term, “Alwatan” homeland. Today, I am settled in a country other than the one in which I was born, and I have protection and freedom in it, and I am treated as an equal human being with others, with almost the same rights and duties.”
“Homeland” and “AlGhurba”… Re-dismantling the terminology in exile
In her essay, Nazeeha Saeed critically examines the concept of “homeland” and analyzes the connotations that can go along with it, such as loyalty…
“… you lose pieces of your name.”
When name adjustment means name loss
Igiaba Sciego, actually Alì Omar Scego, from Somalia tells about the loss of his name in Italy.
“As there are now in Vilno refugees from all Jewish centres in Poland… .”
Grant Proposal by the Komitet, 20 March 1940, Vilnius
In November 1939, a group of Polish-Jewish refugee writers and journalists formed the “Committee to Collect Material about the Destruction of Polish Jewry 1939”…
“It has always been important for me to have a good knowledge of German history and politics.”
İsa Artar’s perspective on Berlin, German politics and history
Because of his political and journalistic activities, İsa Artar came under state pressure and police observation in Turkey. Before he was sentenced to a…
“I was crying over the people that left behind me, my family, I was leaving everything.”
Leaving everything behing: Ummuahmed about her flight from Syria to Turkey
Ummuahmde fled the war in Syria in 2012, together with her family. Since then they live in Istanbul and run a small shop there.…
List of Deaths
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List of Deaths
UNITED for Intercultural Action has been “collecting reliable data on refugee deaths related to Fortress Europe since 1993 in the ‘List of Deaths’”.
“In fact, I would have turned to you first because I am convinced that you would help me to the best of your ability.”
Anna Seghers to Prince Löwenstein. September 1938
In this letter from September 1938 Anna Seghers thanks Prince Löwenstein for his help and explains how she plans to write her next book.
“…that we are healthy and alive here after all the terrible experiences and hardships of the last few years […].”
Live On
Letter from the Nothmann family from the reception camp in Berlin-Wittenau to relatives.
“The homesickness. It started to wash over me in waves, simultaneously with the realization that I’m leaving my country for who knows how long.”
Homesickness
In her essay, Kseniia Tsybulska describes her escape from Kyiv and reflects on her feelings of homesickness after her arrival. How can she live…
“That such a thing is still possible in the 20th century.”
Hertha Nathorff: Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses, 1. April 1933
In excerpts from the diary Berlin-New York Aufzeichnungen 1933 bis 1945 Hertha Nathorff vividly describes the expulsion from her homeland, which was incomprehensible to…
“We were again the refugees who had to put up with every kind of harassment.”
Hertha Nathorff’s Experiences of Discrimination in New York
Hertha Nathorff, née Einstein (1895-1993) was a German pediatrician, psychotherapist and social worker. Until 1934 she worked as a senior physician at the Red…
“Eleven people in that little place.”
Barry: Work to Survive
Barry Chukudi is from Nigeria, from Biafra. He fled to Turkey in 2013 due to the violence of the Nigerian military in the struggle…
The Development of the American Guild for German Cultural Freedom’s Statement of Purpose
“The war brought destruction and that signaled the end of our life.”
Sambus
Hamdi shares a recipe from her home country Somalia and retells her story of flight and arrival.
“These people want to silence me and that will not happen.”
Nazeeha Saeed about how her journalistic activism changed after coming to Europe
Nazeeha Saeed, a journalist from Bahrain who lives in Paris and Berlin in exile since 2016, speaks about her journalistic work in Bahrain and…
“In Europe, it will probably take a few more years – I see that more clearly here, too – until it calls us again and can use us. Everything that is ill must first recover. And it will recover!”
Letter from Martin Wagner to Walter Gropius, Jan. 1937
In his letter to the architect Walter Gropius, Martin Wagner reflects on how the Neues Bauen (New Building) can be rescued into better times…
“But I did save one thing: loose, ripped pages of my diary.”
Hertha Nathorff about home and displacement
In excerpts from the diary Berlin-New York Aufzeichnungen 1933 bis 1945, Hertha Nathorff describes her inconceivable displacement from her homeland and the destruction of…
Dismissal of Fritz Neumark from his job
Deprivation of Fritz Neumark’s professorship, 1 September 1933
Official letter from the Prussian Minister for Science, Art and National Education, dated September 1, 1933, to Fritz Neumark concerning his withdrawal from teaching…
“I just need a place to call home, get my clothes out of our luggage and make sure I cannot see my luggage for a long time … just don’t get my things out of the suitcase and be able to have a closet, a space, a spot that I can call home….”
Eric about his new start in New York City
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive team, political refugee Eric talks about his new start in New York, financial difficulties, finding housing,…
“The work that I did brought forth such immediate results and impact. Those were human lives that were saved.”
Max Diamant on Escape Aid in Lisbon
In an audio contribution from 1983, Max Diamant tells how he organized escape aid from Lisbon in cooperation with the Emergency Rescue Committee led…
Expatriation of Fritz Neumark from the German Reich, July 1040
Expatriation of Fritz Neumark from the German Reich
In July 1940, Fritz Neumark received notification in Istanbul that he and his family had been expatriated.
“It’s not easy to take away what you’ve learned in your last 20 years right away.”
About expectations and memories – and comparing and forgetting
Mohammad talks in an interview about his arrival in Germany, about expectations and memories – about comparing and forgetting. And about Berlin: a city…
Refugee children at the de Monbrison Chateau in the vicinity of Paris
Count Hubert Conquere de Monbrison and Princess Irena Paley (a niece of the last Russian Tsar, who later became Monbrison’s wife) used their castle…
My exil experience was unique and full of challenges…I have learned a lot from all these situations. To understand that when one door closes, many doors open.”
Bright side of exile. A story of strength and survival…
In a courageous essay, Tooba Qazi tells of her childhood in Pakistan, her arranged marriage, her exploitation by her husband’s family in Manchester, her…
“What’s it worth all this rescuing? You run to the world when the world is a wild animal …”
Zusman Segalovitsh’s reflections on flight
On the night of September 5-6, 1939, only a few days after the German attack on Poland, a group of Jewish journalists and writers…
“As long as there is once again a city, a sign of home, then my world still exists.”
Rivke Zilberg: Lublin still exists
In her work “A Jewish Refugee in New York” Kadya Molodowsky presents the life of the twenty-year-old refugee from Lublin – Rivke Zilberg in…
“Understanding is key!”
“Understanding is key!”
Marrie S. talks about what education means to him and how Palermo has become his home through the people who supported him.
Letter by Isaac L. Asofsky to the American Guild
Otto Bernstein and his wife Jenny Schaffer-Bernstein both need financial support in order to flee Germany. In this letter the Hebrew Sheltering And Immigrant…
“I take the liberty of calling attention to the dreadful danger that exists in the new decrees concerning the forced deportations to Poland, and that quick help would therefore be a work of God.”
Friederike Ergas to the American Guild, January 1940
In this letter Friederike Ergas describes the living situation of her friends Jenny Schaffer Bernstein and Otto Bernstein who urgently need financial support from…
“I don’t want to fit in any of these boxes.”
Nazeeha Saeed about the Attribution “Refugee,” “Asylum,” and “Exile”
Nazeeha Saeed, a journalist from Bahrain who lives in Paris and Berlin since 2016, talks about how she came to call herself a “journalist…
“Here was a door to the future – at home a door to death, this was certain.”
New home at the Bosporus: Traugott Fuchs remembers his first time in Istanbul
Traugott Fuchs, in protest against his dismissal by the Nazis and out of political convictions, followed his teacher Leo Spitzer into exile in Turkey,…
“I never thought that there could be a lawsuit against me because of this news portal. But it happened.”
İsa Artar on his political and journalistic activism in Turkey
İsa Artar was politically active in Turkey, among other things with the Gezi protests and as editor-in-chief of a critical online platform. When, after…
“We are expellees, banished.”
Bertolt Brecht: On the Term Emigrants (1937)
Bertolt Brecht’s poem on the difference between emigration and exile
“It is nice to have a love and hate relationship with the city…”
Hasan about the Myth of New York
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive team, political refugee and scholar Hasan talks about starting over in the United States and the…
“I smelled the Euphrates while I was standing on the bridge near Potsdamer Platz. […] I was cut in half.”
On the Frontline: Walking While Cut in Half
In his poetic essay, Karam Alhamad describes his thoughts about belonging and feelings to Berlin. He feels as a Syrian in Berlin only in…
“It seems to me that the emigration of Germans to Turkey in the years following the seizure of power by National Socialism represents such an exceptional case, and a particularly fortunate one at that.”
Fritz Neumark about his multiple fortunes in Istanbul
The financial scientist Fritz Neumark (1900–1991) talks about his beginnings in exile in Turkey, his expectations and his good fortune to have been offered…
“I received my diploma at the age of eleven and a half and left immediately at twelve to look for work.”
Child Labor in Paris
Fé Garcia Petit talks about how she started working when she was twelve to support her parents financially.
“Sugihara apparently knew the fate that threatened Jews in Poland and everywhere in Europe.”
Family Weyland and Sugihara Chiune
The Polish Jewish family Weyland from Łódź survived the Holocaust thanks in part to Sugihara Chiune (1900–1986), the Japanese consul in Kaunas just before…
I am now a Palermitan!
I am now a Palermitan!
Kadija J. about the thankfulness for the support she received in Palermo.
“I liked a bit of peace and quiet, but the political situation is not like that. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Hannah Arendt on arriving in New York
Hannah Arendt tells her ex-husband Günther Anders about the circumstances of her escape from Lisbon and her arrival in New York.
“If we do not receive large grants from abroad in the immediate future, we shall be compelled to cease our welfare work.”
JDC Status Report on the Situation of Jewish Refugees in Istanbul, October 1940
In August 1940, the local office of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee summarized the situation of Jewish refugees in Istanbul and the state…
“In fact one learns to break even more rapidly in a foreign language than in one’s own.”
Broken Language
Widad Nabi’s poem about languages that shape her identity, from which she was expelled, which she fears and in which she has to settle…
“The aim and work of this encouraging, thriving American organization is to secure the freedom and continuance of a non-Party German artistic and scientific culture for the present and for the future.”
Memorandum on the Founding of a German Academy in New York. June 1936
This memorandum clarifies the creation of the German Academy of Arts and Sciences together with the American Guild for German Cultural Freedom in New…
“I might say I am falling out of love with Tehran and falling in love with New York, a place that has accepted me.”
Kian Tajbakhsh on Homesickness
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive Team, Iranian Political Exilee and Coordinator of the Committee on Forced Migration at Columbia University Kian…
“We were smuggled through the border but it wasn’t smuggled really. The border then was opened, so you can just walk out. We walked, got to the other side, we had relatives in Turkey.”
Paydar H. about his flight from Syria and the decision for Istanbul
Paydar H. is a Kurd from Aleppo in Syria. After the bombing of the city in 2013, he fled with his brother to Turkey…
“My German teacher’s grandparents were Jews. She had this whole idea of escape, of how to live in a foreign country.”
Mahdi on Support
Mahdi, who decided to flee Iran at the age of fourteen and has been living in Berlin ever since, tells where and from whom…
“We were the first of the lot which had been expelled by the Germans”
Statement No. 7: Interview with Owsiej Bułkin about his forced migration from Berlin to Vilnius, 16 November 1939
On November 16, 1939, Owsiej Bułkin was the seventh refugee stranded in Vilnius who gave a report to the Komitet tsu zamlen materialn vegn…
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Czech and German refugees in Paris, 1938-1939
These pictures show arrival and support structures for refugees from the Czech Republic and Germany in Paris in 1938 and 1939.
“And it is true that if you know how to find yourself, you can find yourself in New York.”
Barbara Khan: A Proud Refugee
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive team, refugee and South Asian LGBTQ+ activist Barbara Khan talks about her identity as a trans-refugee…
“This period of time, although my ‘unproductive’ one, is deep and very filled.”
Mascha Kalékos diary entry about the beginning of the war and her safe situation in exile
In a diary entry from September 1939, the poet Mascha Kaléko (1907-1975) reflects on the outbreak of the war in Europe and her own…
“It awakens in me the feelings of captivity and its terrible memories!”
Diary of arrival
Kefah Ali Deeb came to Berlin from Syria in 2014. In her text, she describes the first few weeks after her arrival, which were…
Questionnaire from the German Consulate General in Istanbul to Fritz Neumark, May 1938
Questionnaire from the German Consulate General in Istanbul to Fritz Neumark, May 1938
During his exile in Istanbul, Fritz Neumark received a questionnaire from the German Consulate General in Istanbul reflecting Nazi racial policies. Whether he filled…
“I was allowed to leave for the funeral of my aunt and decided not to return.”
Benno Simoni’s life in partitioned Berlin
Benno Simoni describes how he grew up and lived as a Jew in the GDR and – until the building of the Berlin Wall…
“The undersigned committee is instructed to prepare the foundation of an association of all German emigrants”
Founding Committee of the Association des Emigrés Allemands en France
On June 10, 1933, refugees from Germany decided to found the Association des Emigrés Allemands en France (Association of German Emigrants in France) in…
“The other very particularly important difference was that I wasn’t going into the unknown and having to look for something out there somewhere, but had already found a temporary job…”
No Aimless Escape – Ernst Eduard Hirsch as a Privileged Emigrant in Istanbul
Ernst E. Hirsch reflects on his privileged emigration to Istanbul with the help of the Notgemeinschaft deutscher Wissenschaftler im Ausland (Emergency Society of German…
“So I must try, as difficult as it is, to find something suitable abroad”
Auerbach’s Efforts to Emigrate
Berlin-born Romance philologist, literary and cultural scholar Erich Auerbach (1892-1957), now considered the founder of the discipline of comparative literature thanks to Palestinian postcolonial…
“We have lost trust in life and people because there is no system to protect us and to make us feel like humans among humans.”
Parwana Amiri’s Letter to the World from Moria
In this open letter from the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, Parwana Amiri, a young Afghan refugee, describes how the fear,…
Bulletin N 2 of the JDC in Vilnius, 15 March 1940
Bulletin No. 2 of the Joint in Vilnius, 15 March 1940
Internal communications between the Vilnius delegation of the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the New York Headquarters.
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Fred Stein’s view on Paris in the 1930s
Fred Stein (1909-1967) began to make photography his profession after his escape from Nazi Germany to Paris in 1933. With a sensitive eye and…
“NY is like a very big Berlin – that’s fine with me, even though I had become a die-hard Parisian in the last few years.”
Hannah Arendt on Paris, New York and Berlin in comparison
In this letter to her ex-husband Günther Anders from May 1941, Hannah Arendt gives an overview of her arrival experience in New York.
“It was a unique chance, but it meant that one had to leave with nothing but a toothbrush since there existed no means of transportation.”
Hannah Arendt on fleeing from the internment camp
Hannah Arendt describes the circumstances of her escape from the internment camp Gurs.
“The economic issues forced us to move abroad and find a job to survive. There is war in my country and war conditions forcibly moved us to elsewhere.”
Nacibullah about his reasons to leave Afghanistan and his way to Turkey
Nacibullah left Afghanistan as a 16-year-old in 2018 without his family. Two central reasons forced him to flee: existential economic hardship and the war…
My home – an unfulfilled dream
My home – an unfulfilled dream
Khatereh Rahmani describes her attempt, despite separation from her family and uncertainty about the future, to build her new life and everyday life in…
“When I came here I expected so much.”
Interview excerpt
Interview excerpt
Diawara B. on disappointments and support
Diawara B. talks about the shocking experiences he made after his arrival in a reception camp in Sicily and the support he received on…
“It was one of those moments where I thought, maybe I just won’t get up? Maybe I just won’t go on?”
Pinkhas Shvarts about bombings during his flight
On the night of September 5-6, 1939, just a few days after the German attack on Poland, a group of Jewish journalists and writers…
List of 27 Refugees in Vilnius
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List of 27 Refugees in Vilnius
This list documents a selection of names, “nationalities”, arrival dates and places of origin of refugees who arrived in Vilnius in 1939.
Appointment as professor of Fritz Neumark
Appointment as professor of Fritz Neumark to the academic chair in Istanbul
On September 21, 1933, Dr. Fritz Neumark was appointed to the University of Istanbul, three weeks after his letter of dismissal due to the…
“Still, still, still we experienced Paris.”
Mascha Kaléko about her flight from Germany
In a diary entry of 27 January 1939, the poet Mascha Kaléko (1907-1975) traces her escape from Germany to New York in the autumn…
“Hamburg is my city, but Germany is not my country.”
Hussam Al Zaher on the difference between Hamburg and Germany
In an interview, Hussam Al Zaher, founder of the kohero magazine (former ‘Refugee Magazine’), talks about the importance the city of Hamburg has for…
Passport of the German Reich for Fritz Neumark
Passport of the German Reich for Fritz Neumark
Even in exile, holders of a German passport could not escape anti-Semitic persecution. Fritz Neumark, for example, had to have a “J” stamped into…
“I was an Istanbul, Middle Eastern leftist; I became a Berlin, European leftist. I have no hope for the future of the world (people?), but my commitment and my belief in my movement and my ideology are unbroken.”
4 seasons of migration
Erdal Yılmaz, his name has been changed, talks about his life in Istanbul and uses his own experience to deal with different phases of…
“But the refugees status is not so comfortable, everyone gets uncomfortable, even depressed, anxious. This is something, that we also have, but we are going to adjust and to adapt ourselves to the new life here in New York.”
Support is Key: HIAS and Columbia University in New York City
Abdul S. – name changed, is an exiled professor of epidemiology at Kabul University of Medical Science and the first Afghan scholar to accept a…
“We have never been ‘refugees’ as we are now.”
Mascha Kaléko about serious material concerns as a refugee in New York, 1941
In a diary entry in New York on June 20, 1941, the poet Mascha Kaléko (1907-1975) describes the many, mainly material, worries as a…
“Hate is even more magically powerful than love.”
Joseph Roth: Money Issues
The Austrian writer Joseph Roth (1894–1939) did not wait long and left Berlin shortly after Hitler’s seizure of power. By February 1933, he was…
“When Łódź was behind me, I removed the yellow star – there, it was not required to wear it anymore.”
Protocol 79: Interview with Chaim-Leyb D. about his flight through Poland to Vilnius, December 1939
On 21 December 1939, Chaim-Leyb D. was interviewed by the “Committee to Collect Material about the Destruction of Polish Jewry 1939” about his flight…
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Everyday life of Jewish refugees in Vilnius, 1939
Photo series by Bolesława and Edmund Zdanowscy
“They treated us like criminals.”
Itzel Tzab about her escape with two small daughters
Itzel Tzab was born in La Libertad, Petén in Guatemala.She grew up in rural poverty, where her family experienced deadly assaults by violent neighbors.…
“My life that time has just started and you know, something happens and cancels everything.”
Holidays Without Return. Dina’s Path to Turkey
Dina is 27 years old and comes from Aleppo. Here she talks about her escape, her hopes and the things she had to leave…
“I was just ignoring them.”
Majid about his experience with racism in Turkey
Majid comes from the Darfur region in Sudan and belongs to the ethnic group of the fur people. He fled to Turkey via Libya…
“I faced discrimination as a journalist and as a woman […] But it was natural for me.”
Nazeeha Saeed about discrimination against minorities in the Gulf and in Europe
Nazeeha Saeed, a journalist from Bahrain who lives in exile in Paris and Berlin since 2016, speaks about the discrimination against minorities and the…
“On Monday morning come to Taksim, here, at the same place and I will find you work.”
Majid gets a job in Istanbul and talks about the Sudanese community
Majid comes from the Darfur region in Sudan and belongs to the ethnic group of the Fur people. He fled to Turkey via Libya…
“We still work after taking down the shutters of the shop. […] And I didn’t have enough time to attend language course or something.”
Nacibullah about obstacles and pathmakers in building up a new life in Istanbul
Nacibullah came to Turkey from Afghanistan as a 16-year-old in 2018 without his family and now lives and works in Turkey without papers or…
“And that was a moment for me: I would not be able to continue my academic career in this country.”
Hasan about their decision to flee
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive team, political refugee and scholar Hasan relates the reasons for why they decided to flee. The…
“There weren’t any teaching facilities that I benefited from. I just use my own experience to learn from people that I work with them.”
Paydar: Via a job in tourism to languages and people
Paydar H. is a Kurd from Aleppo in Syria. After the bombing of the city in 2013, he fled to Turkey at the age…
“People often tell me that their relatives helped the Jews back then. Then I think ‘well, you don’t have to justify yourself to me.‘”
Germany – a new home for Jews?
In this interview, Alexandra Sadownik shares what home means to her and where she feels at home. She tells what she particularly likes about…
“I also love the banks of the Seine, I like to walk along its course. It reminds me of the Danube.”
Paul-Adolphe Löffler on Paris and Antisemitism
In undated diary entries, the writer and journalist Paul-Adolphe Löffler (1901-1979) writes about his favorite places in Paris – mostly places of the French…
“When they arrived, they realized that the ‘houses’ their husbands had told them about were in fact cellars with walls whitewashed with lime.”
“Chain Migration” to Paris
Françoise and Marie Lopez talk about the gradual migration of their parents to France.
“That it was not Germany, that was the main thing.”
Fred Grubel: Arrival in New York
Fred (Fritz) Grubel (in Germany formerly Grüber) worked in the administration of the Jewish Community in Leipzig, his responsibilities included organizing the emigration of…
“What I want to forget becomes present, the past brings me back and my country pulls at me.”
The Syrian coast in the nose
Kefah Ali Deeb came to Berlin in 2014 and spent six years writing a taz column about her old home country Syria and her…
“Tomorrow you too may yourself be shut out,
to wander and wander and wander …“
to wander and wander and wander …“
Hilde Marx: Ballad for a farewell
Hilde Marx (1911-1986) was a German-American poet, writer and journalist. She is one of the authors whose writing career was only just beginning when…
“The refugees see us as their brothers who have come to help them in times of need and tragedy.”
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Jewish Self-Help in Zbąszyń and its Legacies
A letter from Emanuel Ringelblum to Raphael Mahler
Asile de Nuit, Asile de Jour et Créche Israelites
The history of the Asile de Nuit, Asile de Jour et Créche Israelites (Jewish night asylum, day asylum and day nursery) dates back to…
“I testify that they deserve the most honorable title […] they were human beings!”
Moyshe Mandelman on the support network and solidarity in Vilnius
In the chaos of war, Moyshe Mandelman (1895-1963) made it to Vilnius in 1940. He was particularly impressed by the local Jewish aid networks…
“A little bit of homesickness is haunting all my emigration poems.”
Mascha Kaléko on emigration and homesickness in spring
In an interview with Sender Freies Berlin on 1 June 1956, the poet Mascha Kaléko (1907-1975) looks back on her first years of emigration…
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Max Diamant in Emigration
The pictures from his daughter’s private archive show Max Diamant (1906-1992) with family and friends in Paris, Mexico and Germany.
“Arriving in Vilnius was the second miracle that happened to me and my family during this terrible time.”
Mendel Balberyszski on the arrival in Vilnius 1939
Mendel Balberyszski (1894-1966) was born in Vilnius but had been living in Łódź for over a decade at the outbreak of the Second World…
A Three-Year Odyssey from Vienna through Istanbul to Haifa
In her memoir from 1984, Susanne Friedmann-Kirsch (1926–) describes her family’s flight migration – a “three-year Odyssey” – from Vienna after the Anschluss in…
Trotsky’s press statement in Istanbul
Trotsky’s press statement in Istanbul in April 1929
Soviet People’s Commissar, Communist politician and Marxist theorist Leon Trotsky spent 4 years of his exile in Istanbul before exiling to France. Trotsky originally…
“I therefore firmly believe that we will all come together again in the same work, provided we remain young enough, and do not succumb to resignation.”
Letter from Martin Wagner in Istanbul to Ernst May in Tanganyika, Dec. 1935
In his letter to Ernst May from 1935, the former Berlin city planner Martin Wagner, who went to Istanbul exile in 1935, reports on…
“I was about to say [I found refuge] for the second time…”
Kian Tajbakhsh about his Double Refuge in New York City
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive Team, Iranian Political Exilee and Coordinator of the Committee on Forced Migration at Columbia University Kian…
“Since I was at home in Vilnius, I did a lot of work organizing help for refugees.”
Mendel Balberyszski on his relief work in Vilnius
Mendel Balberyszski (1894-1966) was born in Vilnius but had been living in Łódź for over a decade at the outbreak of the Second World…
“I am aware of all the objections to a book of poems, but why should the lyrical poet never, never be able to speak?”
Request for support from Lessie Sachs Wagner to the American Guild for German Cultural Freedom, November 1939.
Lessie Sachs Wagner (1872-1942) writes a letter to the American Guild for German Cultural Freedom to ask if they have decided to support her…
“Only when we can get back on our own two feet again, […] will the real […] refugee worries begin.”
Herman Kruk on “teething troubles” and other refugee concerns
Herman Kruk was a refugee from Warsaw who wrote reports on the refugee situation in Vilnius for the Yiddish magazine Folks-gezunt (Public Health) of…
“The population is wonderful, seriously, and understands our situation very well.”
Hannah Arendt on the situation before internment
Shortly before her internment in camp Gurs, Hannah Arendt reports in a letter to the German-Austrian philosopher, poet and writer Günther Anders about the…
“Through his name he becomes conspicuous.”
“Through his name he becomes conspicuous.”
Ilija Trojanow, who fled with his parents from Bulgaria to Germany in 1971 and whose life is marked by experiences of migration, deals in…
“…I had the feeling that I can be that in the US… like, I know what real freedom really means”
Sami about his decision to flee
In this interview, the political activist and refugee Sami[1. name changed] talks about his decision to leave Syria and come to the United States.…
“Stop stirring up hatred against refugees!”
Your reservations do not help me
Kefah Ali Deeb came to Berlin in 2014 and spent six years writing a taz column about her old home country Syria and her…
“You have one choice, you can file for an asylum on your sexual orientation and pray to God that the American government accepts it…”
Barbara Khan on Fleeing to and Arriving in New York
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive team, refugee and South Asian LGBTQ+ activist Barbara Khan relates the reasons for why she decided…
“We lost our home, which means the familiarity of daily life”
Hannah Arendt on Refugeedom
This is one of the crucial excerpts from Hannah Arendt’s essay “We Refugees” that she published in 1943 shortly after arriving in New York.
“In addition, this monstrous, irritating and fascinating city with its special atmosphere”
Lessie Sachs Wagner to the American Guild for German Cultural Freedom, April 1939
In this letter, Lessie Sachs Wagner describes her current living situation and the difficulty of finding time to focus on her work. She is…
Otto Nothmann’s Registration with the Jewish Agency for Palestine
“This asylum status was also important for me because I always felt a lack of identity.”
İsa Artar on the loss and reconstruction of his identity after flight
Because of his political and journalistic activities, İsa Artar came under state pressure and police observation in Turkey. Before he was sentenced to a…
Bulletin N 1 of the JDC in Vilno, 15 February 1940
Bulletin No. 1 of the Joint in Vilno, 15 February 1940
Internal Communication between the Vilnius Delegation of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the New York Headquarters.
“It’s like putting you in a limbo.”
Hasan: Refugee Identity and Support Networks
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive team, political refugee and scholar Hasan discusses their identity as a refugee and the support networks…
“This is Istanbul, but nicer.”
İsa Artar about Istanbul and Berlin
Because of his political and journalistic activities, İsa Artar came under state pressure and police observation in Turkey. Before he was sentenced to a…
“Jewish journalists in Vilna […] gathering the accounts of eyewitnesses of the evacuations of Warsaw, the destruction of cities and the flight from Poland”
Support for the Komitet
Joint Funding Agreement for the “Project for Investigating the Destruction of Jewish Population in Poland and its Current Situation” of the YIVO, 20 November…
“For me the language is the main part of our life in the society. “
My language
In her text, Sahar Reza describes the role of languages in her life as a refugee for almost 30 years. She describes her struggles…
“I was able to work in another city but Istanbul provided me a regular income which I could share with my family. This is the reason why I see Istanbul as per my homeland.”
Nacibullah about his relationship to Istanbul
Nacibullah came to Turkey from Afghanistan as a 16-year-old in 2018 without his family. He continues to live and work in Istanbul without papers…
“A dark future lay ahead of us, the prospect of a bitter exile and an indefinite morning.”
Pinkhas Shvarts about his arrival in Vilnius
On the night of September 5-6, 1939, just a few days after the German attack on Poland, a group of Jewish journalists and writers…
“I expected the sun, light, splendid colors from Paris. I was betrayed!”
Paul-Adolphe Löffler’s Arrival in Paris
The writer and journalist Paul-Adolphe Löffler (1901-1979) writes in his diary about his escape from Budapest to Paris and the immediate disappointment after his…
“The Jewish Youth Service undertakes to provide the son of the above-named Mr. and Mrs. Loewy with an education in an agricultural settlement in Palestine.”
Agricultural Training: Escape to the Kibbutz
The “Jüdische Jugendhilfe” (Jewish Youth Aid) was founded on 30 January 1933 out of a group of Zionist youth organisations. It organised the emigration…
“My 13-year-old sister had to support my family as interpreter when dealing with authorities in Germany.”
The first years in Germany as Jewish refugee
In this Interview, Alexandra Sadownik rembers how it was when her family arrived in Germany in 1998. For several years, Alexandra lived in a…
“Vilnius became the cradle of a new Jewish Renaissance.”
Mendel Balberyszski on the refugee situation in Vilnius, 1939
Mendel Balberyszski (1894-1966) was born in Vilnius but had been living in Łódź for over a decade at the outbreak of the Second World…
“Nevertheless, my sense of responsibility forbids me to register with you for the emergency list – I am better off than unfortunately many others, because I still have honest hope in me.”
Hilde Marx’s inquiries for support of the American Guild for Cultural Freedom
Hilde Marx (1911-1986) was a German-American poet, writer and journalist. She is one of the authors whose writing career was only just beginning when…
“So, it was quite clear that if I went back from Hong Kong to Mainland China, I would be definitely arrested and given a long sentence.”
Teng Biao on his flight to and arrival in the United States
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive Team, Chinese human rights activist and political exilee Teng Biao talks about how he arrived in…
“I said one sentence over and over again at that time, which I remember: “If you are attacked as a Jew, you must defend yourself as a Jew.'”
Hannah Arendt on her practical work in France
In her famous interview with Günter Gaus, Hannah Arendt talks about her time in Paris, where she had fled from Nazi Germany in 1933…
“Home is something that I’m longing for, that’s the only thing I can say at this moment.”
Hasan on the notion of home
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive team, political refugee and scholar Hasan discusses their relationship to their mother tongue and the notion…
“Only authorized to treat Jews.”
Hertha Nathorff loses passport and license to practice medicine, 1938
In excerpts from the diary Berlin-New York Aufzeichnungen 1933 bis 1945, Hertha Nathorff vividly describes the destruction of her life and the expulsion from…
“At the age of sixty-six, and with little physical strength, she is endeavoring to readjust her life.”
Statement Regarding Alice Salomon, February 1938
Alice Salomon’s life is described in this statement and the reasons she requires financial assistance from the American Guild for Cultural Freedom. The statement…
“There is life after the flight. But the flight acts upon
oneself for a lifetime.”
oneself for a lifetime.”
“There is life after the flight. But the flight acts upon oneself for a lifetime.”
Ilija Trojanow, who fled with his parents from Bulgaria to Germany in 1971 and whose life is marked by experiences of migration, deals in…
Asylum on the Bosphorus
Asylum on the Bosphorus
In the documentary “Asylum on the Bosporus” Adelheid Scholz and Cornelius Bischof talk about their experiences with their family, in the internment camp and…
“My situation is as difficult as a situation without debt can ever be.”
Walter Benjamin on Precarity in Paris, October 1935
In a letter to the philosopher and director of the now New York-based Institute for Social Research Max Horkheimer (1895-1972), the German-Jewish philosopher and…
“Listen, in America, women work.”
Hilda Epstein’s Life in New York
Hilda Epstein was a German nurse born in Karlsruhe into a religious Jewish family. She learned infant care in Heidelberg, and later moved to…
“Nobody was renting us a house. They were saying: no house for Syrians.”
Paydar H. about his initial time in Istanbul
Paydar H. is a Kurd from Aleppo in Syria. After the bombing of the city in 2013, he fled to Turkey at the age…
“I came to New York without not knowing anyone, but I came with the specific goals to organize the community…”
Eric about the Venezuelan community in New York.
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive Team, political refugee Eric talks about his active support of the Venezuelan community in New York,…
“The refugees are guilty until proven innocent.”
Why ‘refugee’ makes me think of success. A commentary
Hussam Al Zaher, founder and editor-in-chief of kohero magazine, on public discourse around refugees in Germany, self-determination and external perceptions. The article was originally…
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Refugee education in Vilnius, 1939
Photo series by Bolesława and Edmund Zdanowscy
“Despite all the differences in their opinions, the emigrated art historians work in a common direction, which is the opposite of what is now taught in Germany.”
Anna Seghers to the American Guild for German Cultural Freedom on behalf of Lothar Freud and Lukas Lehman, October 1938
In this letter Anna Seghers vouches for Lothar Freud and Lukas Lehman to receive aid from the American Guild for German Cultural Freedom, so…
“WIZO-ALIAH would like to bring to France about 50 Jewish children from Czechoslovakia, about 13 years old.”
Hannah Arendt organizes a Kindertransport from Czechoslovakia
The Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO), the largest international charitable women’s organization in the world, in cooperation with other organizations and under the leadership…
“For the trip, my father had recommended that if we were addressed in French, we should answer: ‘No compro pan.’ Literally: ‘I don’t buy bread,’ which sounds like: ‘I don’t understand.'”
An epic journey to France
Isabel Alonso Martin tells of her arduous journey to France – transit into a new life.
“They were emigrants first and only second, what they really were”
Lion Feuchtwanger: Gloomy guests
In his novel Exile, Lion Feuchtwanger describes the grim situation of the German refugee community living in Paris.
„Which society should I integrate to?“
„Which society should I integrate to?“
Kefah Ali Deeb reflects on her arrival, integration expectations and her experiences in a refugee shelter.
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Self-help by Polish-Jewish refugees in Vilnius
Photo collection by the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
“I guess I’m willing to own the fact that I am a refugee.”
Kian Tajbakhsh about Refugeedom and Identity
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive team, Iranian Political Exilee and Coordinator of the Committee on Forced Migration at Columbia University Kian…
“I have to live day to day not knowing if I’ll be able to keep working here, even living here.”
Ismael Xol and its uncertain future
Ismael Xol was born in Xolcuay, El Quiché in Guatemala and crossed the border into the United States at just 15 years old. Ismael…
“…, I was aware immediately after their seizure of power that there were generally no prospects for Jews for a future in Germany.”
Mascha Kalékos Letter to the Federal Restituion Authority, December 1957
As part of her year-long efforts to obtain material restitution for her persecution by Nazi Germany, the poet Mascha Kaléko (1907-1975) described her attempts…
“I am Jew raised in Germany, but also a Russian.”
From Central Asia to Germany – Jewish Refugees from the former Soviet Union
In this interview, Alexandra Sadownik tells the motivations of why her family decided to migrate from Uzbekistan to Germany in 1998 and what difficulties…
“The plight of these refugees – now reduced by evacuation and death from about 200,00 to about 2,000 in number – has suddenly become extremely serious”
Confidential JDC Memorandum: Changed Situation of Russian Refugees in Istanbul, Turkey
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Istanbul became a place of refuge for thousands of Russian refugees who left the Soviet territories for political…
“…like I spent almost two years receiving calls and threats from secret services that that I would be jailed, killed, kidnapped, or raped, if I didn’t stop what I’m doing.”
L. from Egypt about their decision to flee
In this interview,the queer activist, human rights journalist, and refugee L.[1. they wish to remain anonymous] talks about their decision to leave Egypt and…
“There is only the sun.”
Fatima D. on her flight
Fatima D. tells of her escape through the desert.
“Was home there? – Is home here?”
Poem by Hertha Nathorff “Home – where?”
Hertha Nathorff, née Einstein (1895-1993) was a German pediatrician, psychotherapist and social worker. With the help of American relatives, she managed to emigrate to…
“I came here fighting, fighting, surviving.”
Adrián Cruz about loneliness and the fear of deportation
Adrián Cruz is from Guatemala City in Guatemala. He fled to the United States when he was 17 years old. He comes from a…
“So, this is the story of how I came from Afghanistan to New York”
From Kabul to New York City
Abdul S.– name changed, is an exiled professor of epidemiology at Kabul University of Medical Science and the first Afghan scholar to accept a…
“New York, after all, is still today the city with the largest Jewish population in the world, with all kinds of Jews.”
Meeting with Harry Asher in New York
Harry Asher- originally Georg Auscher – born in Vienna in 1907. In 1920 the family moved to Czechoslovakia, where his parents came from. At…
“Again and again the same question : Aryan or not?”
Hertha Nathorff: I am a human being like everyone else
In excerpts from the diary Berlin-New York Aufzeichnungen 1933 bis 1945, Hertha Nathorff vividly describes the expulsion from her homeland, which was incomprehensible to…
“There is, so to speak, a politics of the literary emigration.”
Joseph Roth on the “Politics of Literary Emigration”
The Austrian writer Joseph Roth (1894-1939) did not wait long and left Berlin shortly after Hitler’s seizure of power. By February 1933, he was…
“I was arrested, had to leave the country illegally – I’ll tell you about it in a moment – I had an immediate satisfaction. I thought, at least I did something!”
Hannah Arendt about her 1933 and the circumstances of her escape
In her interview with Günter Gaus, Arendt talks about the reasons that led her to flee to Paris.
“The landladies were pleased to tell us that we had rented a “famous” apartment; Leon Trotsky had lived there after his expulsion from Russia […]. He too was a poor refugee who could not afford anything better.”
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Susanne Friedmann-Kirsch: A Teenager in 1940s Istanbul
In her memoir from 1984, Susanne Friedmann-Kirsch (born 1926) describes her family’s flight migration – a “three-year Odyssey” – from Vienna after the Anschluss…
“There are now sufficient intellectuals in Wilna having come from Poland who will be the best qualified to carry out the collecting and listing of the material.”
YIVO Grant Proposal addressed to the Joint, 20 November 1939
On 20 November 1939, the YIVO in Vilnius approached the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee with a funding request for the “Project of Investigations…
Zighinì and Injera from Eritrea
Zighinì and Injera from Eritrea
Yurdanus shares two recipes from her home country and tells her story of flight.
‘Is there chocolate where you come from? Are there houses?’
„Is there chocolate where you come from? Are there houses?“
Alaa Muhrez talks about her experiences of arriving and everyday life in exile, about questions of identity and experiences of exclusion.
This is Berlin.
“The French dealers learned Spanish to be able to satisfy their customers.”
French or Spanish?
Raymonde, Marceline and Bonifacia Sanchez talk about the role of Spanish and French in their lives, their role as mediators between and facilitators for…
Hilde Marx: “We Outside”
Hilde Marx (1911-1986) was a German-American poet, writer and journalist. She is one of the authors whose writing career was only just beginning when…
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An amazingly beautiful and devastatingly hard place to live – Alaa Hassan’s photographic view on Istanbul
Syrian photographer Alaa Hassan looks at the city of Istanbul – as a city of refuge and transit for other Syrian refugees, as a…
“I leave, but the ones with the lost childhood dreams, what will happen to them? I close my eyes…with a hope to be able to open my eyes to those normal days in my own country once again…”
Bravery beyond borders
In her essay, Behista Kofi tries to describe the breaks between her life in Kabul as a student and volunteer, the flight and the…
“I no longer wait for anything in the future.”
“Home are memories”
In an interview, Widad Nabi describes what the words home and future mean to her.
“It’s not the same language.”
Interview excerpt
Interview excerpt
“It’s not the same language”
Kadija J. talks about the difficulties she faces within the Italian education system.
” some people just see you as a case and feel bad for you. Not in a constructive way, I feel like you become a project.”
L. from Egypt: What’s your status in USA?
In this interview, the queer activist, human rights journalist, and refugee L. [1. they wish to remain anonymous] talks about their experiences of discrimination…
“I wanted for my kids to study more because when they study, they can achieve more.”
Ummuahmed about her decision for Istanbul and hopes for her children’s future
Ummuahmed fled the war in Syria in 2012, together with her family. Since then, she lives in Istanbul. In this interview passage, she talks…
Postcard from Sicily
Postcard from Sicily
The reporter Ismail Einashe describes the situation of new arrivals in Palermo, especially the unaccompanied minors, and tells of his own family experiences of…
“Somehow I have the feeling that Judaism is something that is not normal in society.”
K. talks about her perspective on Jewish life in Germany
K. moved to Germany from Russia as a child with her family as part of a contingent program for Jewish people. Here, she talks…
“So we had nothing to give up, and it was therefore an easy decision for us to emigrate in 1933.”
Alfred Rosenthal: Emigration from Germany
Alfred Rosenthal describes his departure from Germany to Palestine in 1933 not as an escape but as emigration. Before emigrating from Israel to the…
“But I’m always afraid that something will happen to my mother and I can’t be there.”
İsa Artar’s trial in exile and the (in)possibility of return
Because of his political and journalistic activities, İsa Artar came under state pressure and police observation in Turkey. Before he was sentenced to a…
“At parents’ evenings I had a double function because I had to translate for my parents.”
How the young Aleksandra became the German teacher Alexandra
In this interview, Alexandra Sadownik reports on her relationship with the Russian language and what it was like for her to learn German. As…
The Sketched Exile – Traugott Fuchs’ Charcoal Drawings of Istanbul
Traugott Fuchs, in protest against his dismissal by the Nazis and out of political convictions, followed his teacher Leo Spitzer into exile in Turkey,…
“You know what time feels like, an hour is a lake, a day is a sea, the night is an eternity, waking up is a thunderclap of dread, getting up a struggle for clarity against fevered nightmares.”
Joseph Roth: Sleepless in Paris
The Austrian writer Joseph Roth (1894-1939) did not wait long and left Berlin shortly after Hitler’s seizure of power. By February 1933, he was…
“I never wanted to leave Budapest forever.”
Paul-Adolphe Löffler on the Hungarian Emigrant Community
In diary entries, the writer and journalist Paul-Adolphe Löffler (1901-1979) describes his relationship with the Hungarian community in Paris, which is shaped by longing…
“No mazes baker in Schepetowka or Berdichev ever suspected that his descendants would carry on the same trade in Paris and have the proud words ‘Fabrique du pain azymé’ above their baking kitchen.”
Erwin Kisch on the Parisian “Ghetto”
The Austrian-Jewish (later Czechoslovakian) writer, journalist and reporter Egon Erwin Kisch (1885-1948), with his literary reportage “Notizen aus dem Pariser Ghetto” (Notes from the…
“There was a job offer from Turkey. That’s what saved our lives, basically.”
Edith Hillinger: Fleeing to the Turkish Exile as a child
Edith Hillinger, born in Berlin in 1933, fled with her parents from Nazi Germany to Istanbul in 1937. Her father Franz Hillinger worked in…
“…but then we were put on a little harbor boat and it went chop, chop, chop up the Hudson to Ellis Island.”
Leo Glueckselig: Escape from Austria and Arrival in New York
Leo Glueckselig was born in 1914 in Vienna, in the 2nd district. In 1938, immediately after the “Anschluss” of Austria to the Reich, Glueckselig…
“The first lights of New York beckon me welcome in the early morning. A faint hope fills my heart.”
Hertha Nathorff’s arrival in New York
In excerpts from the diary Berlin-New York Aufzeichnungen 1933 bis 1945, Hertha Nathorff vividly describes the destruction of her life, which was incomprehensible to…
“From one job to another. How rushed is in this country.”
Hertha Nathorff’s first difficult experience as refugee in New York
Hertha Nathorff, née Einstein (1895-1993) was a German pediatrician, psychotherapist and social worker. Until 1934 she worked as a senior physician at the Red…
“There are no words for my suffering.”
Herman Kruk on hopelessness in Vilnius, June 1941
On 24 June 1941, Kruk writes about his discouragement regarding his futile attempts to leave Vilnius for the USA shortly after the German attack…
“In particular, she pointed out that 224 children had been granted permission to enter France thanks to the COMITÉ and had actually arrived”
Activities of the Comité Israélite pour les Enfants venant d’Allemagne et de l’Europe Centrale
In 1938, Baroness Germaine de Rothschild (née Germaine Alice Halphen, 1884–1975) founded the Comité Israélite pour les Enfants venant d’Allemagne et de l’Europe Centrale…
“Empty rooms in the dormitory have no soul, and our objects fill them with life.
Photo series: Home in the dormitory
İsa Can Artar and Daryna Axxi Degtiarova depict the objects of refugees that have a special meaning for them in the photo series “Home…
“You had to make the decision: Either you live, so go on, or turn around and have a shitty life again.”
Mahdi’s Flight to Berlin
At the age of 14, Mahdi A. decided to leave Iran and flee to Europe. He tells why he decided to flee, about the…
6
Exiled Intellectuals potrayed by Fred Stein
Fred Stein (1909-1967) began to make photography his profession after his escape from Nazi Germany to Paris in 1933. Besides street photography, portraiture became…
“General designations are often not correct.”
D.P.s or P.D.s
An unknown author writes in a DP camp magazine about the shortcomings of just having a single term for all displaced persons.
Hilde Marx: Ballad of a Nurse
Hilde Marx (1911-1986) was a German-American poet, writer and journalist. She is one of the authors whose writing career was only just beginning when…
“For somebody without documents, the system is empty.”
The Berlin “OPlatz” movement
An interview with refugee activist Bashir Zakaria on Berlin Oranienplatz conducted in 2013, in which he tells the story of his flight and arrival…
“You belong to us, don’t you?” and shows me her swastika on her coat collar.
Hertha Nathorff: Assembly of the Association of German Women Physicians and the End
In this excerpt, Hertha describes how she was forced to leave her job as head doctor of the Women’s and Counseling Center.
“The women managed to feed themselves and their husbands while studying, and they didn’t cut faces.”
Hilde Marx: First impressions of New York
Hilde Marx (born November 1, 1911 in Bayreuth) was a German-American poet, writer and journalist. She is one of the authors whose writing career…
“We couldn’t barely manage to eat and stay.”
Barriers in building a new life: Ummuahmed about her first years in Istanbul
Ummuahmde fled the war in Syria in 2012, together with her family. Since then they live in Istanbul and run a small shop there.…
“I sat in Protestant religion classes at school and secretly took part in Jewish holiday camps. My childhood was like a unconscious double life.”
Jewish Identity in Germany
In this interview, Alexandra Sadownik reports what it means for her to be a Jew in Germany and where she lives her Jewish identity.
“The unfortunate is that when I came here, Corona came and I didn’t have a lot of chances to be a normal Berliner.”
Nazeeha Saeed about settling in in Paris and Berlin
Nazeeha Saeed was harassed by state authorities because of her journalistic activities in Bahrain. In this interview excerpt she speaks about how she settled…
“I have often been asked the question: ‘Yes, when everything is over, do you want to go back to Turkey and live there?'”
İsa Artar about subliminal prejudices
Because of his political and journalistic activities, İsa Artar came under state pressure and police observation in Turkey. Before he was sentenced to a…
Max Diamant’s Certificate of Identity for Refugees from Germany
In August 1938, Max Diamant receives an identity card that allowes him to stay in France as a refugee.
“How many times have I wept for my home town since I left it in my exile?”
Herman Kruk about Warsaw
Herman Kruk writes about his pain facing the catastrophic war situation in his chosen hometown Warsaw.
„The youth should find their own roots, so that one day the new Turkish masters can emerge from them as great trees.“
Bruno Taut’s speech at the opening of his exhibition at the Academy of Arts in Istanbul Zitat
On June 4, 1938, the German architect and urban planner Bruno Taut, opened a retrospective of his work at the Istanbul Academy of Arts.…
“Antisemitism is the name of this epidemic, which knows no borders or fences…”
Survived. But not save.
An unknown author describes the barriers that stand in the way of those who want to emigrate.
“Everyone had different powers of self-preservation or self-destruction, everyone lived through an individual human tragedy.”
Elsbeth Weichmann on German emigrants in Paris
Social Democratic politician Elsbeth Weichmann (1900-1988) describes the network of refugees in Paris in the 1930s and 1940s.
“The barbarians have taken over. Do not deceive yourself. Hell reigns.”
Joseph Roth’s grim prophecy in mid-February 1933, Paris
The Austrian writer Joseph Roth (1894–1939) did not wait long and left Berlin shortly after Hitler’s rise to power. By February 1933, he was…
“In 1936, I had great difficulty finding work, because I had Spanish nationality, I could not get a work permit.”
Job search, paperwork and an economic crisis
Angelines Koulikoff reports about the difficulties as a Spanish citizen to find work.
“When you have residence permit, you feel free. You feel more secure.”
Majid about his residence status in Turkey
Majid comes from the Darfur region in Sudan and belongs to the ethnic group of the fur people. He fled to Turkey via Libya…
“I faced a lot of difficulties: discrimination, not being paid but I moved along and accepted it and I stayed here though.”
Nacibullah’s problems without papers and legal status in Istanbul
Nacibullah came to Turkey from Afghanistan as a 16-year-old in 2018 without his family. In this interview excerpt, he describes the problems he faces…
“Jews were boat people before that description was invented for Vietnamese refugees.”
After Istanbul: Arrival, Internment and Settling In in British Mandate Palestine
In her 1984 memoirs, Susanne Friedmann-Kirsch (born 1926) describes her family’s flight migration – a “three-year odyssey” – from Vienna after the Anschluss in…
“No, it’s like, you wake up some day you started to go, you don’t know where you are going. You don’t know exact the way you are going. You just, go go go.”
Nadège about her flight from Cameroon and the arrival in Istanbul
Nadège is 34 and comes from Cameroon. Two years ago, she fled to Turkey because she was in danger in her home country due…
“We are extremely sorry to have to inform you that the Board of Directors has unfortunately not been able to grant your request for a scholarship, as the European problems are too much in the foreground.”
Rejection letter from Markus Wolf to Lessie Sachs Wagner, January 1940.
Lessie Sachs Wagner has applied for financial aid from the American Guild for German Cultural Freedom and in this letter she is denied her…
“We were homesick for the landscape and above all for ‘our language’.”
Fritz Neumark on his “Sprach-Heimweh” and his return
The financial scientist Fritz Neumark talks about homesickness and his not easy decision to return to Germany after 16 years of exile in Istanbul,…
“I would describe myself as a strong person.”
Mahdi A. on Life Experience and Making Friends in Berlin
Mahdi A. talks in an interview about the initial difficulties in meeting his classmates in Berlin and how he dealt with the experience of…
“It seemed as if not the train but a devil was whistling in my ear: ‘Fie, fie! You won’t be coming back anymore!'”
Pinkhas Shvarts between fears and (self-)reproaches on the run
On the night of September 5-6, 1939, just a few days after the German attack on Poland, a group of Jewish journalists and writers…
“My German failed because of the ‘integration dilemma’: I had a job, but was missing from the language course”
Please explain to me what integration is
Kefah Ali Deeb came to Berlin in 2014 and spent six years writing a taz column about her old home country Syria and her…
“Berlin has open spaces.”
Berlin: It’s a Consolation
In an interview, the writer Widad Nabi speaks about what Berlin means to her.
“The Association’s mission is to unite the Israelite refugees from Germany”
International Conference of German Emigrants on 19-20 June [1936], Paris
On June 19 and 20 [1936], an international conference of German emigrants was held in Paris, where the statutes of the Association des Emigrés…
“Our neighborhood also held together. No matter what nationality.”
Selafet Hizarçi on family and neighborhood support structures
Selafet Hizarçi came to Germany from Turkey in 1969, where she immediatly began to work, learn the language and lateron started a family. Within…
“… with the shock of having been forced to leave her country and readjust completely, Dr. Salomon is on the verge of a complete break.”
Valeria H. Parker to Mr. Oswald Garrison Villard in regards to Dr. Alison Salomon, February 1938
Valeria H. Parker is vouching for Dr. Alice Salomon (1872-1948) to get financial aid from the American Guild for German Cultural Freedom. She describes…
“…life really started there, so, here in New York.”
Meeting Helga Hagen: Life in New York
Helga Hagen was born in 1918 in Berlin-Nikolassee. The father, a private banker, comes from the bourgeois, completely assimilated Jewish upper class of the…
“We do not give up hope and confidence so that we can continue to live.”
Good Morning, Berlin
Kefah Ali Deeb came to Berlin in 2014 and spent six years writing a taz column about her old home country Syria and her…
“You will understand that my artistic existence and career are at stake and that I, who have arrived here like a Godsend must not be allowed to have the carpet being pulled off under my feet, before it even could accumulate.”
Egon Vitalis Biel: Fresh Start with Difficulties
“During the day you work, at night you sleep, and on Shabbath you go for a walk.”
Ernst Loewy writes from the Kibbuz: Flight to Palestine
In the letter of May 8, 1936, Ernst Loewy tells his parents about his life in the Kwuzah (Kibbutz). The initial anticipation gives way…
“I met many refugees in the train. Each of them was full of undescribable stories.”
Statement No. 32 by Motel Grajer, 27 November 1939
On November 27, 1939, Motel Grajer, a Yeshivah student from Markuszów, Poland, who had escaped the Germans to Vilnius, gave an interview to the…
“The Gestapo had put a gun to my cheast.”
Hilde Marx: Escape to the USA
Hilde Marx (born November 1, 1911 in Bayreuth) was a German-American poet, writer and journalist. She is one of the authors whose writing career…
“I feel love for the person that rescued me from the sea.”
“I feel love for the person that rescued me from the sea.”
Marrie S. talks about what love in the form of solidarity, support, and rescue means to him.
“Escape death … face another mortal danger.”
Giovanni on the dangers of flight
Conversation with Giovanni from Ethiopia.
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Lili Rilik-Andrieux encounters Spanish Refugees
The German-Jewish artist Lili Rilik-Andrieux fled to Paris in 1938 and was interned in several camps after the German invasion of France. There she…
“Other than a few words that we learned in skool, I still can’t speak English.”
Rivke Zilberg’s one “comfort” in New York
The author of the novel “A Jewish Refugee in New York” Kadya Molodovsky is one of the most important Yiddish poets of the mid-20th…
“In August 1933 I emigrated to Paris, where I broke off all scientific work in the first years in order to gain a practical overview of the Jewish question.”
Hannah Arendt: Curriculum Vitae
Even great political theorists sometimes have to write CVs. Also Hannah Arendt. It proves how crucially her experiences and work in Paris influenced her…
“Those are the kind of moments when I think about how being Jewish is nothing ordinary.”
K. on others’ responses to her Jewish identity
K. talks about the reactions of others at school and at the citizen office to her Jewish identity.
“Even as I came here, I felt like I am alone, and I have to grow into myself where I can stand and say: I’m going to be fine.”
Barbara Khan on Home and Homesickness
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive team, refugee and South Asian LGBTQ+ activist Barbara Khan discusses the question of home, homesickness and…
“Only tired and frightened we are,
Before we find ourselves a new.”
Before we find ourselves a new.”
Hanna Fuchs: Etiquette for refugees
Hanna Fuchs’s poem Knigge für Flüchtlinge, which she wrote in 1945 in Switzerland under the pseudonym Hansi Fuchs, deals with important questions of her…
Cultural Mediation
Interview excerpt
Interview excerpt
Cultural Mediation
Kadija J. has lived in Palermo for over two years. In the interview, she talks about her reasons to come to Europe, her visions…
“He told me that the people at the station looked at them like Martians and almost tried to touch them.”
Spanish refugees arrive in Paris
Fé Garcia Petit tells about her uncle’s arrival experience in Paris in the early 1920s.
“The fundamentalists distrust us because we are foreigners, the fascists distrust us because we are exiles, the anti-fascists distrust us because we are Germans. There is also antisemitism.”
Erich Auerbach on the situation for exiles in Turkey
In this letter of May 27, 1938, to the Latin and Greek teacher Johannes Oeschger, the German Romance scholar and literary scholar Erich Auerbach…
“Of course, it stays the same, […]
If I say home, not Heimat”
If I say home, not Heimat”
The Slight Difference
Poem by Mascha Kaléko (ca. 1938)
“For the first few days, we felt with this town like a ‘honeymooner’ with his brand-new, beloved wife.”
Mascha Kaléko about her first impressions from New York
A couple of months after her flight to New York, the poet Mascha Kaléko (1907-1975) describes her first impressions of the city in a…
“So, my first six months was more focused on surviving, I guess”
Sami on his new start and challenges in the U.S.
In this interview, the political refugee and activist Sami[1. name changed] from Syria talks about his new beginning and initial challenges in the US.…
“Palermo is a beautiful city, but also very painful.”
City of accomodation Palermo
Giulia di Carlo worked in a reception centre in Palermo and describes from her perspective the situation for refugees in the city.
“Nobody gives up their cities voluntarily, cities are robbed”
Seven Reasons to Fall in Love with Berlin
Literary “love letter” by Widad Nabi to Berlin
“I erased my house from my memory and also removed all memories that stood in my way”
This is Berlin.
The expectations of refugees who come to Germany are high: they should integrate, learn the language, build a new life for themselves and at…
“Their march looked deeper, more mystical in its tragedy than our crawling by train in the dirty carriages.”
Zusman Segalovitsh describes the immense flight movement in Poland, September 1939
On the night of September 5-6, 1939, only a few days after the German attack on Poland, a group of Jewish journalists and writers…
“The satisfaction that I no longer needed to see the disgusting swastika flags outweighed any concerns about the uncertainty of the future.”
The ways of Rudolf Nissen to Istanbul
Excerpts from the biography of the successful Charité surgeon Rudolf Nissen describe the anti-Semitic mood in 1933 and the very quick decision to leave…
“Everything I had created was destroyed, my poor women-who will take care of them now?”
Hertha Nathorff: no more social work
In excerpts from the diary Berlin-New York Aufzeichnungen 1933 bis 1945 Hertha Nathorff vividly describes the expulsion from her homeland, which was incomprehensible to…
„Yes, it is cursedly difficult everywhere, home does not exist for anyone on this earth today.“
From the new exile to the old one: Letters from Bruno Taut to Isaburo Ueno
The German architect and urban planner Bruno Taut had come to Turkey from his first exile in Japan in 1935 as the head of…
“My parents stayed there forever.”
Shaped by War
A 15-year-old boy writes in the DP camp newspaper Undser Lebn about his experiences in the war and his demand for the establishment of…
“We really had the desire to get to the USA as soon as possible.”
Fred Stein’s letter to friends and relatives II
In a letter from 1946, Fred Stein describes in detail the story of his family’s escape to his friends and relatives via Paris and…
“I think because these people need help, it’s not a problem.”
About experiences in different spaces
M. talks about her volunteer work: her tasks in a welfare and social institution and her commute by public transport. While doing so she…
“But I have not forgotten the feeling of holding a cancellation letter in my hand.”
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Letter from Martin Wagner in Istanbul to Ernst Jäckh in London, 1938
In this letter, the German architect and city planner Martin Wagner who emigated to Istanbul in 1935, asks Ernst Jäckh, who lives in London…
“What a horrible word ‘refugee’. The word is a curse.”
Rivke Zilberg’s first New Year in New York
The author of the novel “A Jewish Refugee in New York” Kadya Molodovsky is one of the most important Yiddish poets of the mid-20th…
“We certainly want to be a voice for refugees.”
Hussam Al Zaher on Journalism and kohero Magazine
“For me, even the air is political”: In an interview, Hussam Al Zaher talks about the founding of kohero Magazine, an online magazine for…
“Basically, I had to prove that my life was awful…”
Torture remains
Malek [1. name changed] describes the psychological stress that the asylum process in the U.S. triggered in him.
“We have not become Turks, not even legally, now we are again ‘passportless Germans’; everything is provisional.”
Erich Auerbach: “Everything is provisional”
Berlin-born Romance philologist, literary and cultural scholar Erich Auerbach (1892-1957), now considered the founder of the discipline of comparative literature thanks to Palestinian postcolonial…
Letter to Max Oppenheimer from the American Guild for German Cultural Freedom
Austrian painter Max Oppenheimer (1885–1954) is asked to join the visual and performing arts committee established by the Secretary General of the Council of…
“We exist darkly in the city of light. We and other thousands.”
Fight against Loneliness
The writer and journalist Paul-Adolphe Löffler (1901-1979) writes about the initial loneliness he suffered during his first period in Paris without his family, as…
“You can’t follow your dreams without learning”
Fatima D. on education
Fatima D. is from Gambia and came to Palermo in May 2017. She is one of many refugee minors who came unaccompanied by adults.…
“Everyone is running, rushing as if he were pursued.”
Herman Kruk describes the flight from Warsaw
Herman Kruk writes in his diary about his flight from Warsaw to Vilnius, September 1939.
“We set off early in the morning, the three of us, to escape from our refuge.”
Journey into the Unknown
In the excerpt from his work “Schicksalsreise” (Journey of Destiny), Alfred Döblin tells of his continued flight from Paris as soon as news of…
“When I approached her, she said that the seat was hers because she was German.”
Selafet Hizarçi about experiences of discrimination
Selafet Hizarçi came to Germany from Turkey in 1969, where she immediately began to work, learn the language and started a family. As part…
“I am curious about the way in which there is a kind of complacency about the question of how to handle legal and illegal immigration in the United States.”
Kian Tajbakhsh: Aspects of a Migrant’s Life in New York City
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive Team, Iranian Political Exilee and Coordinator of the Committee on Forced Migration at Columbia University Kian…
“I guess you know how much I care about this work of mine and how hard it is on the other hand to keep going and work in this field at the same time.”
Gaining a foothold as a writer in the USA – Letter from Hilde Marx to the American Guild for German Cultural Freedom
Hilde Marx (1911-1986) was a German-American poet, writer and journalist. She is one of the authors whose writing career was only just beginning when…
“I have to list my curriculum vitae so that by the title ‘refugee’ I do not erase everything I have achieved.”
Alaa Muhrez: Refugee is Only a Word
On an unusually bright morning in Berlin I was sitting alone, sipping a cup of coffee and hesitating over a loud noise. This word…
“The permit for England is here! The stay for half a year is approved.”
Hertha Nathorff tries to save her child, her husband and herself
In excerpts from the diary Berlin-New York Aufzeichnungen 1933 bis 1945, Hertha Nathorff vividly describes the destruction of her life, which was incomprehensible to…
12
Spanish Civil War refugee children in France, photographed by Fred Stein
Between 1936 and 1939, more than 35,000 children who had fled the Spanish Civil War were accommodated and cared for in France. Fred Stein…
“It was pretty cold, I didn’t know the language and most people ignored me.”
Aliou B. on his arrival in Berlin and hopes for the future
Aliou B. left Guinea alone at the age of thirteen. On his way via Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Libya, he experienced hunger, mistreatment…
“I really don’t want to be an émigré.”
Jospeh Roth’s Fear for the Future
The Austrian writer Joseph Roth (1894–1939) did not wait long and left Berlin shortly after Hitler’s seizure of power. By February 1933, he was…
“This nation has a future if it has such youth.”
Benzion Benshalom draws hope from Zionism
Benzion Benshalom writes about his euphoria after attending a Zionist assembly in Vilnius for the first time.
5
Jewish Quarters in Paris and Antwerp, photographed by Fred Stein
Fred Stein (1909-1967) began to make photography his profession after his escape from Nazi Germany to Paris in 1933. On his photographic wanderings he…
“But for most it was a period of emigration, a refuge in hard times for which we were grateful, but not a second home as America has become for us.”
Liselotte Dieckmann on Istanbul as a City of Refuge and Transit
After a short stay in Rome, Istanbul became a city of transit for Liselotte Dieckmann (1902–1994), a German scholar of German Studies. She lived…
“My identity will always be that of the migrant.”
“My identity will always be that of the migrant.”
Diawara B. tells of the futility of his integration efforts in the hostile Italian immigration system – especially in view of the “security decree”.
“The office has accumulated an enormous amount of material on German crimes… .”
Mendel Balberyszski on migratory resistance in documentary form
Mendel Balberyszski (1894-1966) was born in Vilnius but had been living in Łódź for over a decade at the outbreak of the Second World…
“If I will go back, I will be also foreigner. I will be foreigner in my city.”
Dina: To Live Without a Home
Dina is 27 years old and comes from Aleppo. She lost her home because of the war and does not know if she will…
“I carry this love for this country inside me and I know many emigrants who carry this love inside them. But this love should come from both sides, from the host society and from the migrants.”
No further appointments at the State Office for Migration
In her essay, Widad Nabi reflects critically on belonging as reality or illusion, her experiences and feelings in Germany, and on exile not as…
“To Palestine? No-to America I want to go! But how?”
Hertha Nathorff: First thoughts about emigration to the USA, 1934
IIn excerpts from the diary Berlin-New York Aufzeichnungen 1933 bis 1945, Hertha Nathorff vividly describes the expulsion from her homeland, which was incomprehensible to…
“The professor commits to do his best to teach in Turkish after the third year.”
About Ernst Hirsch’s efforts to learn and use the Turkish language
In March 1933, Ernst Eduard Hirsch was dismissed from his position as a tenured judge in Frankfurt am Main and as a private lecturer…
“Life taught me that everything will change – to the worse or to the better – but it will change.”
Nazeeha Saeed about her openness for changes and her visions
Nazeeha Saeed, a journalist from Bahrain who lives in Paris and Berlin in exile since 2016, speaks about her visions for the future: As…
“Why do most Germans only know old stereotypes about other societies?
“Why do most Germans only know old stereotypes about other societies?“
The Syrian-Kurdish writer Widad Nabi has been living in Germany for 5 years. She does not see any distance between her and her German…
“Those who return are truly lost.”
Mustapha F. on staying or moving on
Mustapha F. tells of the difficult situation in which refugees in Italy find themselves.
“You hardly live in the present, it’s always about the future.”
“You hardly live in the present, it’s always about the future.”
Ibrar Mirzai about integration, arrival and the feelings of exiles
“In Germany they say ‘Ausländer.’ In Turkey they say ‘Yabancı.’ So, wherever I go, I will remain Yabancı or Ausländer.”
Paydar about discrimination and how he deals with it
Paydar H. is a Kurd from Aleppo in Syria. After the bombing of the city in 2013, he fled to Istanbul via Afrin in…
“…I’d probably say maybe I’m American of Syrian origins or American. I mean, again, this might be even for a lot of Americans…But for me this is what America is really about.”
Sami from Syria about his American identity
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive team, the political refugee and activist Sami[1. name changed] from Syria, talks about his American identity…
“The reports are full of figures, the authors are beaming with satisfaction about their results, but?… .”
Herman Kruk on medical care and hope
Herman Kruk was a refugee from Warsaw who wrote reports on the refugee situation in Vilnius for the Yiddish magazine Folks-gezunt (Public Health) of…
“Student is a status that has earned me respect.“
“In the end, is it better to end up in prison at home than to face uncertainty in exile?“
Isa Artar talks about his experiences as well as identity problems after arriving in exile.
“Then I started off on this magnificent barge from Ludwigshafen, armed with a toothbrush and a towel.”
Max Diamant on His Flight
In an audio contribution from 1983, Max Diamant tells how he was able to cross the Rhine to France unnoticed by ship.
“In the midst of the terrible days of cold, they came.”
Benshalom on terrible flight and living conditions
Benzion Benshalom tells of the harsh winter of 1939/40, which made life even harder for refugees in Vilnius and led to tragedies at the…
11
Pictures and Stories from Çorum – Traugott Fuchs’ Zeugnisse aus der anatolischen Internierung
Traugott Fuchs, in protest against his dismissal by the Nazis and out of political convictions, followed his teacher Leo Spitzer into exile in Turkey,…
“We … wandered about ‘no man’s land’ for three weeks in horrible conditions.”
Protocol 171: Pese’s flight through the No Man’s Land, February 1940
On 8 February, 1940, Pese R. entered the office of the “Committee to Collect Material about the Destruction of Polish Jewry, 1939” in Vilnius,…
“We fought, so they did so many things to us, more than hundred people killed, because of that kind of problems, so we decided to run away.”
Barry’s Flight from the Military
Barry Chukudi is from Nigeria, from Biafra. He fled to Turkey in 2013 due to the violence of the Nigerian military in the struggle…
“Visas saved lives.”
Marcel Weyland’s report about his family’s flight from Łódź via Vilnius to Japan
Marcel Weyland (born 1927 in Łódź) survived the Holocaust thanks in part to Sugihara Chiune (1900-1986), the Japanese consul in Kaunas. Thanks to him,…
“He believed that he knew everything and that we were refugees who knew nothing.”
Alaa on the German job centre
Alaa Muhrez talks about her experiences in searching a job in Berlin.
“I want to be more independent at some point and not depend on others for support.”
Aliou B. about Berlin and German bureaucracy
Aliou B. left Guinea alone at the age of thirteen. On his way via Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Libya, he experienced hunger, mistreatment…
“A great many refugees were separated from their families because mainly men and adult youths had fled.”
Mendel Balberyszski on arriving, ties backward, new beginnings and the desire to flee further
Mendel Balberyszski (1894-1966) was born in Vilnius but had been living in Łódź for over a decade at the outbreak of the Second World…
The Water
The Water
A Poem about the sea as a space of flight by Jehan Bseiso.
“…how can a woman study medicine…? They were appalled that even though I was already 27 at the time, I was not married,- a woman at 27, with a profession…”
Else Pappenheim in New York
Else Pappenheim was an Austrian-American physician born in 1911 in Vienna to a Jewish family. She left Vienna in 1938 after the revocation of…
“Even if somebody violated our rights or did something wrong to us, we can not ask for our rights.”
Ummuahmed about discrimnation and precarity
Ummuahmde fled the war in Syria in 2012, together with her family. Since then they live in Istanbul and run a small shop there.…
“Am I a Palermitan or am I not?”
Conversation between Diawara B. and Leoluca Orlando: “Am I a Palermitan or am I not?”
Diawara B. and the Mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, talk about the possibilites of Palermo as a city of reception.
8
Istanbul paintings by Traugott Fuchs
Traugott Fuchs, in protest against his dismissal by the Nazis and out of political convictions, followed his teacher Leo Spitzer into exile in Turkey,…
“Decree of Insecurity”
Interview excerpt
Interview excerpt
Diawara B. discusses the “Security Decree”
Diawara B. talks about the so-called “Security Decree” passed by the Italian government.
“We’d rather not see you ever again than see you in jail for something that you not have committed.”
Eric about his decision to flee
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive team, political refugee Eric discusses his decision to leave Venezuela and to come to United States.…
“I wanted to sit by the side of the road, to die rather than walk. It was hopeless after all”
Hertha Pauli’s “Journal of an Escape” from France
From October to November 1940, writer Hertha Pauli published a three-part account of her escape through German-occupied France via Spain and Portugal to the…
“Istanbul grow on me. All my memories are from here and I cannot recall memories from Aleppo.”
How Paydar became an Istanbullu
Paydar H. is a Kurd from Aleppo in Syria. After the bombing of the city in 2013, he fled to Istanbul via Afrin in…
“Following his break with Nazism, Thomas Mann, Nobel Prize winning German author, has just become a member of the German Academy of Arts and Letters”
Thomas Mann becomes a member of the German Academy
This document is a text about the admission of Thomas Mann (1875-1955) to the German Academy of Arts and Literature, which is part of…
“Listen, Rivke, in America, your best friend is the dollar, and you’re your own closest relative…”
Rivke Zilberg: A Borrowed World
In her work “A Jewish Refugee in New York” Kadya Molodowsky presents the life of the twenty-year-old refugee from Lublin Rivke Zilberg in New…
“I fight for human rights for everyone. I am a world citizen, not Chinese or any other identity.”
Teng Biao on Refugeedom and World Citizenship
In an interview with the We Refugees Archive Team, Chinese human rights activist and political exilee Teng Biao talks about being a refugee as…
“Jews must preserve the German language”
Bruno Frank: “Jews must preserve the German language”
The newspaper article “Jews must preserve the German language” appeared in the New York exile newspaper Aufbau on Dec. 27, 1940. In it, the…
“The apartment on the Bosporus is glorious; as far as research goes my work is entirely primitive, but personally, politically, and administratively it is extremely interesting.”
Erich Auerbach to Walter Benjamin: Istanbul – Paris 1937
Berlin-born Romance philologist, literary and cultural scholar Erich Auerbach (1892-1957), now considered the founder of the discipline of comparative literature thanks to Palestinian postcolonial…
“The restlessness of the whole world settles on our soul like a thundercloud.”
Letter from Martin Wagner to Martin Mächler, 1936
Martin Wagner, former city planner of Berlin, who went into exile in Turkey from 1935 and worked as an urban planning consultant for the…
“I felt like a prisoner.”
“I felt like a prisoner”
Mustapha F. talks about his first time in a reception camp and his experiences of the reception in Palermo. He reports about his lack…
Food for Thought
Food for Thought
Polish-Jewish refugee journalists and writers having dinner in their dormitory in Sadowa Street 9, 1939/40.
“For years we were supposed to die as a monolith; now the time has come when we want to live as a people!”
A Right to be Individual
The DP theatre group “Baderech” announces its formation.
“I have not heard from you and from the Academy for months.”
Anna Seghers to Prince Löwenstein, March 1939
In this letter Anna Seghers asks Prince Löwenstein why he has not gotten back to her, even though he said that he would get…
“Currently I feel like in exile…. because I can’t leave United States and go somewhere else.”
New York City: No City of Refugees
Abdul S. – name changed, is an exiled professor of epidemiology at Kabul University of Medical Science and the first Afghan scholar to accept a…
Refugee Identification Card of Otto Nothman
Otto Nothmann’s ID card from the International Refugee Organization
“I don’t feel like there was anything negative.”
K. on her childhood memories of moving from Russia to Germany
K. was eight years old when she moved to Germany from Russia in 2000 with her parents and two older brothers as part of…
“… the best thing for a girl my age who comes to America…is to get married.”
Rivke Zilberg’s Job Search in New York
In her work “A Jewish Refugee in New York” Kadya Molodowsky presents the life of the twenty-year-old refugee from Lublin Rivke Zilberg in New…
“What are you going to do next? Are you going to arrest me?”
Nazeeha Saeed’s persecution as a critical journalist in Bahrain
Nazeeha Saeed was harassed by state authorities because of her journalistic activities in Bahrain. In this excerpt she describes how she arrived at the…
“Well, that I belong to the country, that this is the country where I live, where I belong, where my children are, where my grandchildren are, where I am at home.”
Fred Grubel feels like an American in New York
Fred (Fritz) Grubel (formerly Grübel in Germany) was born in Leipzig in 1908. He studied in Leipzig,Frankfurt and received a doctorate in law. He…
Vilnius, the “sad old woman”
Vilnius, the “sad old woman”
Benzion Benshalom wrote in the winter of 1939/40 about the desperate atmosphere and the sad cityscape in Vilnius.
“Max kept writing that we should by all means come to Paris – the rest would take care of itself.”
George Edel about the Flight from Vienna via Zagreb to Paris
George Edel, a Jewish doctor from Vienna (who converted to Christianity), tells of the flight preparations in the wake of the annexation of Austria…
“Anyway, we and many others were now passportless…”
Fritz Neumark’s self-statement on the “passportless” period
Fritz Neumark published his autobiography “Zuflucht am Bosporus. Deutsche Gelehrte, Politiker und Künstler in der Emigration 1933–1953“. In it, he describes his two-decade stay…
“New York! Gigantic mixture of steel, cement and glass…”
Oskar Maria Graf: Ode to New York
Oskar Maria Graf was a German-American writer. His literary beginnings can be found in expressionist poetry. He wrote poems, novels, (autobiographical) stories, calendar stories,…
“Since I Arrived in Italy …”
Interview excerpt
Interview excerpt
“Since I Arrrived in Italy …”
Kadija J. on her reasons for coming to Europe.
“…that all knowledge, all knowledge here is of no value unless you have an American Certificate!”
Hertha Nathorff’s American Certificate
In the course of the National Socialist racial policy, Hertha Nathorff lost her license to practice medicine in 1934 and her medical license in…
“… as soon you earn your first dollar, you’re an American; you’re practically a seeteezen.“
Rivke Zilberg’s first Dollar in New York
In her work “A Jewish Refugee in New York” Kadya Molodowsky presents the life of the twenty-year-old refugee from Lublin- Rivke Zilberg in New…
“All great things are made in Germany. That’s why we thought there would be perfect work here.”
Alaa on arriving in Berlin
Alaa Muhrez on the reasons for her flight from Syria and Egypt, the decision for Germany and what she learned to appreciate about Berlin.
“My kids aren’t afraid anymore.”
Itzel Tzab´s new beginning
Itzel Tzab was born in La Libertad, Petén in Guatemala. She grew up in rural poverty, where her family experienced deadly assaults by violent…
“Whether I can stay and how things will continue for me is completely open.”
Here in Berlin?
Somayeh Rasouli, who fled to Berlin from Afghanistan, reports on the difficulties that arise with “little prospect to remain” in building a new life…
“It’s great when we as refugees pass on even very small pieces of information and share this knowledge and thus help each other.”
New Friendships
Alaa Muhrez talks about the new friendships she has made in Berlin and about the potential as well as difficulty when it comes to…
“At the same time, we wanted to conquer New York in one day, or even America, we wanted to send it all off yesterday. And then we became disillusioned, saw how insanely difficult it is.”
Hilde Marx: Affidavit for the parents
Hilde Marx (born November 1, 1911 in Bayreuth) was a German-American poet, writer and journalist. She is one of the authors whose writing career…
“Of course, renouncing Germany does not mean growing roots elsewhere at the same time.”
Reflections of Fritz Rudolf Kraus on Being a Foreigner in Istanbul and Accepting Turkish Citizenship
In this 1938 letter to Leonie Zuntz, Fritz Rudolf Kraus (1910–1991) describes his feelings about the exilic condition in Turkey. He wonders whether he…
“We both grew up in the midst of civil war without a government.”
Grown up in civil war
Why A. escaped Somalia
“…and then asked my profeshun. I didn’t know what to tell her. In Lublin, I was a student…and here? “
Rivke Zilberg and the Council of Jewish Charity Women
In her work “A Jewish Refugee in New York” Kadya Molodowsky presents the life of the twenty-year-old refugee from Lublin Rivke Zilberg in New…
“Furthermore, where should I go now? To America?”
Mendel Balberyszski on the difficult decision to keep fleeing
Mendel Balberyszski (1894-1966) was born in Vilnius but had been living in Łódź for over a decade at the outbreak of the Second World…