EXILE News

Gisela Holfter awarded the 'Bundesverdienstkreuz' for her Contribution to Irish-German Relations

Wednesday 3 March 2021
Gisela Holfter, Associate Professor of German at the University of Limerick and Director of the Centre for Irish-German Studies, has been awarded the prestigious Bundesverdienstkreuz by the Federal Republic of Germany. This award, equivalent to the Order of Merit, is awarded for political, economic, social and intellectual achievements, and is the highest recognition in Germany for services to the common good.

Audio Walk 'On the Trail of 1930s Refugees in Bloomsbury' Launched

Friday 13 November 2020
The Institute is delighted to announce that the audio walk ‘On the Trail of 1930s Refugees in Bloomsbury’ is now available. Bloomsbury's cheap boarding houses and Bohemian reputation made the area a magnet for refugees from Nazi Europe, and it was from here that support for the refugees was coordinated. In turn the refuges contributed to the British anti-Nazi propaganda war, and activists plotting the downfall of the Nazis were spied on by MI5 agents.

Clare George Discusses 'Laterndl' Project on BBC

Thursday 21 November 2019
Dr Clare George, Miller Project archivist at the Institute of Modern Languages Research (IMLR)/Senate House Library (SHL), discusses her research into the Laterndl , the Austrian political cabaret theatre established by a group of exile actors and writers from Nazi-occupied Austria during the Second World War, on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking programme,.

The Dynamics of Forced Female Migration from Czechoslovakia to Britain, 1938-1950

Tuesday 3 September 2019
The study of Czechoslovak women refugees in Britain is noticeably missing from current research and Anglo-Czechoslovak historiography. This book by Jana Barbora Buresova explores the diverse experiences, dilemmas and contributions to Britain of these women within a socio-political context, commencing with the 1938 Munich Agreement that precipitated exile.

Applied Arts in British Exile from 1933

Wednesday 8 May 2019
The investigation which began with Arts in Exile in Britain 1933-45 (2004) is continued in the latest volume of the Yearbook of the Research Centre for German and Austrian Studies .

Professor Andrea Reiter (1957-2018)

Monday 26 November 2018
With the untimely death of our colleague Professor Andrea Reiter after a long illness courageously borne, the Research Centre for German & Austrian Exile Studies at the IMLR has lost a much valued and respected member. Andrea was a member of our committee for over ten years. She never stinted in travelling to London from Southampton, where she taught at the University, to attend events and meetings held by the Research Centre, and she contributed fully to its activities.

Kindertransport hard to describe as a success

Thursday 22 November 2018
In her latest article Kindertransport expert Andrea Hammel argues that the programme that was to save the lives of 10,000 children should not be seen as the unmitigated success it is often portrayed. In online magazine  The Conversation (22 November 2018), she outlines the heavy price paid by the child refugees who came over in the transports just before the start of WW2. 

Encounters with Albion

Thursday 30 August 2018
While much has been written about British attitudes to the Jewish refugees from Hitler who fled to this country after 1933, little attention has been paid to the ways in which those refugees perceived and depicted their (often somewhat reluctant) hosts. From their impressions on arrival, through the tumultuous events of World War II and mass internment, and on into the long period of integration after 1945, Anthony Grenville expertly traces the development of refugee responses to their new homeland.

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