Support Networks

Support networks by and for refugees were and are of central importance for the initial period and further life after the flight. These networks function – then as now – side by side and with each other. Since the state support structures are often not sufficient, a complex network of local, transnational and global, state and non-state, institutional and informal organizations develops to provide material, psychological and legal support to refugees; and thereby make their new beginning, as far as it’s possible, easier.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Mustapha F. came to Sicily from Gambia. He had to spend several months in different reception camps until he came to Palermo. Since then he has been going to school, learning Italian and, like many others, working part-time (often several jobs and usually without an employment contract).

We don’t like to be called “refugees”: Hannah Arendt in Paris

With this cinematic meditation on Hannah Arendt's Paris years, We Refugees Archive pays tribute to its eponym. Arendt's essay "We Refugees" sprang from her experiences as a refugee in Paris.

Opaque Spectacle – The Paris Diary of Paul-Adolphe Löffler

The Hungarian communist, writer, journalist and antifascist activist Paul-Adolphe Löffler (1901-1979) describes Paris in his diary as a dazzling place of longing, which, however, regularly disappoints him. As a refugee with forged papers, he arrives by train at Gare de l'Est, where the city immediately robs him of his illusions: Paris seems less beautiful and sunny than expected, but the hope for a brighter future remains.

Fantasy of Home

"Asylum is only a marginal part of my life. I don't live to get it." The musician Bahila H. comes from Syria and now lives in Berlin. She is studying architecture at the Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus-Senftenberg, continues to make music and hopes for a life in Berlin away from traditions and the suppression of opinions.

Being refugees in Istanbul: Interview with lawyer Esin B.

Human rights lawyer Esin B. talks about the living conditions of refugees in Istanbul and newly created immigration regulations in Turkey, which are compatible with international human rights, but bring legal problems.

The Arrival of Hannah Arendt

This film describes the arrival of Hannah Arendt - a Jewish, German-American political theorist and publicist - in New York and her reflections on flight and helping people start over.

New York has given me that Refuge

In this film, refugee South Asian LGBTQ+ activist Barbara Khan talks about her migration from Pakistan and her life in New York as a trans woman.

Next Level Bad Girl

Fatima D. goes to school and receives training as a musician at the conservatory. Her future dream is to become a singer and musician. Her wish came about through a spontaneous encounter with a drum teacher who saw her playing the djembé.

Vilnius, Refuge?

Among the more than 10,000 Jews who were stranded in Vilnius in the fall of 1939 there was the librarian and political activist Herman Kruk from Warsaw. His exceptional diary records and press reports sketch a mosaic of the heterogenous society of refugees in Vilnius since the beginning of the war.

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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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,…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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.…

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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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”…

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…

“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.

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…

“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…

“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 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,…

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 Saima tells of her childhood in Pakistan, her arranged marriage, her exploitation by her husband’s family in Manchester, her…

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…

“But I have not forgotten the feeling of holding a cancellation letter in my hand.” PDF

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…

“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…

“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…

Food for Thought

Food for Thought

Polish-Jewish refugee journalists and writers having dinner in their dormitory in Sadowa Street 9, 1939/40.

Cultural Mediation
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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“… 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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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.

“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.

“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…

“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.…

“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…

“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…

“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…

I am now a Palermitan!

I am now a Palermitan!

Kadija J. about the thankfulness for the support she received in Palermo.

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

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…

“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…

“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…

“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.

“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…

“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 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…

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…

“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…

„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…

“…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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

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.

“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…

“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,…

“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…

“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…

“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.

“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…

“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 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…

“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…

“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…

Refugee education in Vilnius, 1939

Photo series by Bolesława and Edmund Zdanowscy

“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…

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.

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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.

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…

“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…

“The refugees see us as their brothers who have come to help them in times of need and tragedy.” PDF

Jewish Self-Help in Zbąszyń and its Legacies

A letter from Emanuel Ringelblum to Raphael Mahler

Self-help by Polish-Jewish refugees in Vilnius

Photo collection by the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee

“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…

“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.

“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…

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…

“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…

“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…

The Development of the American Guild for German Cultural Freedom’s Statement of Purpose

“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.

“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.

“…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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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.…

“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…

“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…

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.

“… 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…

“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…

„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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

Everyday life of Jewish refugees in Vilnius, 1939

Photo series by Bolesława and Edmund Zdanowscy

“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…

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…

“When I came here I expected so much.”
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…

“… 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…

“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…

“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.…

“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…

“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…

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…

“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…

” 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…

“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…

“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…

“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…

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…

“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…

“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…

“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…