“…, 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…
“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…
“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…
“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…
“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)
“No matter where I travel,
I go to Nowhereland”
I go to Nowhereland”
Not a Children’s Song
Poem by Mascha Kaléko
“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…
“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
“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…
“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…
“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…
“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…
“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…
“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…
“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…
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…
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…
“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…
“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…