Exile

The Third Reich forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave Germany. Jews feared for their lives, as did other German citizens who had been active against the Nazis or did not agree with their world view. In his seminal study, with close references to the sources, Wolfgang Benz gives a powerful account of this massive, forced migration. He traces in meticulous detail the stages and locations of exile, the often humiliating ways in which people managed to obtain visas, and the difficult living conditions they experienced in other countries as (often unwelcome) foreigners. He gives a voice to ‘celebrities’ like Hannah Arendt, Sigmund Freud and Thomas Mann, but also to people who usually do not receive much attention. The fate of an unknown Jewish child welfare worker is given the same weight as the story of the world-famous inventor of relativity theory.

• The first comprehensive overview of Germans in exile

• By one of Germany's most renowned contemporary historians

• Based on decades of research