Exile Archives

Walter Benjamin (1892–1940), essayist, critic, philosopher, translator

Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), playwright, poet, director

Theodor W. Adorno, (1903-1969), philosopher, sociologist, music theorist, composer

Heinrich Mann (1871-1950), novelist and essayist

Elisabeth Bergner (1897-1986), actor

Artur Schnabel (1882–1951), composer, pianist

Ellen Auerbach (1906–2004), photographer

George Grosz (1893–1959), painter, graphic artist

Anneliese Landau (1903-1991), musicologist

John Heartfield (1891–1968), photomontagist, stage designer, typographer

Maria Matray (1907–1993), actor, author

Bruno Taut (1880–1938), architect

Ralph Benatzky (1884–1957), composer, author

Elisabeth Hauptmann (1897–1973), publisher, author

Lilian Harvey (1906–1968), actor, singer, dancer (with Gene Raymond)

Fritz Kortner (1892-1970), actor, director, author

Akademie der Künste, Berlin © Photo: Fritz Eschen

Werner Richard Heymann (1896–1961), composer, conductor

Hans Grundig (1901–1958), painter, graphic artist; Lea Grundig (1906–1977), graphic artist

Peter Beauvais (1916–1986), director, actor

Wieland Herzfelde (1896–1988), publisher, author

Alex Wedding (1905–1966), author (pseudonym of Margarete Weiskopf)

Akademie der Künste, Berlin © Photo: Gerda Goedhart

Hanns Eisler (1898-1962), composer

The Akademie der Künste has one of the largest Exile Archives on art and literature in any German-speaking country, with over 300 artistic estates and collections from or on figures working in the arts who emigrated under the Nazi regime. The Academy is firmly committed to regularly including topics dedicated to ‘art in exile’ in its exhibitions, events, educational programmes, cooperation projects and publications.

Without the extensive sources in the Exile Archives, it would have been impossible for the Academy of Arts to initiate and host such a range of events dealing with the topic of exile over the past years and decades. The literary estates of writers exiled between 1933 and 1945, such as Walter Benjamin, Bertolt Brecht, Carl Einstein, Georg Kaiser, Heinrich Mann, Anna Seghers, and Arnold Zweig, have provided the basis for scholarly editions still valid today. In addition, the Academy has held major retrospective exhibitions on literary works by Peter Weiss, the artists George Grosz and John Heartfield, photographer Ellen Auerbach, musicians Artur Schnabel, Paul Dessau and Hanns Eisler, artists in the cabaret scene such as Friedrich Hollaender, Mischa Spoliansky and Werner Richard Heymann, and actors Elisabeth Bergner, Tilla Durieux, Fritz Kortner and Helene Weigel.

The overview below, sorted alphabetically, is linked to the Archives Database (in German language) and to individual objects from the holdings on exiled artists and writers. The Archives also comprise the Jüdischer Kulturbund Collection (Jewish Cultural Association), containing archives on another 68 people, as well as the Exile Collection of the Performing Arts Archives, a collection specifically dedicated to the exile of theatre practitioners during the Nazi era.

271 Exile Archives:

Abraham, Paul Abusch, Alexander Ackermann, Werner Adler, Erich Adorno, Theodor W. Ahrends, Bruno Alexan, Georg Friedrich Andersen Nexø, Martin Arendt, Erich Arnheim, Rudolf Asriel, Andre Auerbach, Ellen (Archiv Bildende Kunst) Auerbach, Ellen (Kunstsammlung)

Bab, Julius Balden, Theo Balk, Theodor Barthel, Kurt (KuBa) Baum, Vicki Beauvais, Peter Becher, Johannes R. Becher, Lilly Beheim-Schwarzbach, Martin Behr-Schnabel, Therese Bekker, Paul Benatzky, Ralph Benjamin, Walter Berend-Corinth, Charlotte Berend-Groa, Ilse Berger, Ludwig Bergner, Elisabeth Berlau, Ruth Bernauer, Rudolf Bernkopf, Ellen Bischof, Erich A. Bloch, David Ludwig Blumenfeld, Erwin Bois, Curt Borneman, Ernest Brandt, Martin Brasch, Thomas Brecht, Bertolt Bredel, Willi Bruckner, Ferdinand Brün, Herbert Budzislawski, Hermann Burschell, Friedrich Busch, Ernst Busse-Schmückle, Sylta

Ceiss, Ernst Claudius, Eduard

David, Karl Dessau, Paul Deutsch, Ernst Dieterle, William Dreifuß, Alfred Durieux, Tilla

Ebert, Carl Ebinger, Blandine Ehrlich, Abel Einstein, Carl Eisler, Hanns Elkan, Benno Epstein, Gabriel Erpenbeck, Fritz

Feuchtwanger, Lion Flesch, Carl Foldes, Andor Forbat, Fred Frank, Leonhard Fränkel, Fritz (Sammlung) Fränkel, Rudolf Frankenstein, Alfred Freund, Gisèle (Sammlung Neyer-Schoop) Frey, Alexander Moritz Friedlaender, Salomo Friedrich, Fritz Fruchtmann, Karl Fürnberg, Louis

Gellhorn, Alfred Gert, Valeska Geschonneck, Erwin Gielen, Michael Gilbert, Jean Gilbert, Robert Goehr, Rudolph Goehr, Walter Goetz, Curt u. Martens, Valérie Gog, Gregor Goldschmidt, Berthold Goodman, Alfred Gradenwitz, Peter Granach, Alexander Greif, Heinrich Grosz, George (Archiv Bildende Kunst) Grosz, George (Kunstsammlung) Grundig, Hans und Lea (Archiv Bildende Kunst) Grundig, Hans (Kunstsammlung) Grundig, Lea (Kunstsammlung) Gumpert, Martin Gutkind, Erwin

Hamburger, Michael Harnack, Falk Harvey, Lilian Hase, Annemarie Hauptmann, Elisabeth Hauska, Hans Heartfield, John (Kunstsammlung) Heartfield, John (Archiv Bildende Kunst) Heinz, Wolfgang Helbig, Karl Helfritz, Hans Heller, Hans Hermann, Hugo Hermer, Margot Herzfelde, Wieland Heymann, Werner Richard Hilberseimer, Ludwig Hildesheimer, Wolfgang Hillinger, Franz Hilsenrath, Edgar Hirschberg, Walther Hofer-Kortner, Johanna Hollaender, Friedrich Horváth, Ödön von Huder, Walter Huppert, Hugo

Ilberg, Werner Isenstein, Harald

Jacobi, Annot Jacobi, Lucy von Jacobs, Monty Jessner, Leopold Jung, Franz

Kahn, Robert Kaiser, Georg Kalkowska, Eleonore Karlweis, Oskar (Orpheus Trust) Kast, Peter Kerr, Alfred Kisch, Egon Erwin (Sammlung) Klein, Gershon Knepler, Georg Koestler, Arthur (Sammlung) Koplowitz, Jan Kortner, Fritz Kreisler, Georg Krenek, Ernst (Sammlung) Kurella, Alfred

Lade, Kurt (Archiv Bildende Kunst) Lade, Kurt (Kunstsammlung) Landau, Anneliese Langhoff, Wolfgang Lask, Berta Lazar, Auguste Lenart, Ernest Leonard, Lotte Leonhard, Rudolf Levy, Rudolf Lewin, Ludwig Lewin, Samuel Liebknecht, Kurt Lindtberg, Leopold Lingner, Max List, Kurt (Orpheus Trust) Litten, Heinz-Wolfgang Luckhardt, Hans und Wassili mit Anker, Alfons Lunger, Hermann und Alfred (Orpheus Trust)

Mamlok, Ursula Mann, Heinrich Mann, Thomas (Sammlung) Marchwitza, Hans Matray, Maria Meckauer, Walter Mehring, Walter Mendelsohn, Erich Meyer, Ernst Hermann Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig

Neher, Carola Nelken, Dinah Nelson, Herbert Nelson, Rudolf Neumann, Alfred (Sammlung) Nohl, Johannes und Dora Wentscher Nussbaum, Ruth

Oliven, Fritz Otto, Teo (Sammlung Wolf, Gusti)

Petersen, Jan Piket, Frederick Piscator, Erwin (Center) Pollatschek, Walther Posener, Julius

Rading, Adolf Raphael, Max Rebling, Eberhard Reger, Erik Rehfisch, Hans José Reinerová, Lenka Reinhardt, Max Renn, Ludwig (Sammlung) Richter, Trude Rosenberg, Wolf Rosenfeld, Kurt Rosenstein, Conrad Rosenthal, Harry Roth, Wolfgang Rubinstein, Hilde Ruest, Anselm

Salomon-Lindberg, Paula Sanderling, Kurt Scharrer, Adam Scheer, Maximilian Scherchen, Hermann Schlenstedt, Silvia und Dieter Schmidt, Eberhard Schnabel, Artur Schnabel, Karl Ulrich Schnabel, Stefan Schoder, Thilo Schonthal, Ruth Schrade, Leo Schroeder, Max Seghers, Anna Singer, Kurt Spielmann, Fritz (Orpheus Trust) Spira, Steffie Spiro, Eugen Spoliansky, Mischa Steckel, Leonard Steiner, Franz (Orpheus Trust) Stern, Kurt Strasfogel, Ignace Strauss, Ludwig Stresemann, Wolfgang

Tabori, George Taut, Bruno Todd, Bobby Toller, Ernst Trenk-Trebitsch, Willy Trepte, Curt Tschesno-Hell, Michael Tucholsky, Kurt Turek, Ludwig

Uhse, Bodo

Vallentin, Maxim Victor, Walther Vogeler, Heinrich

Wachsmann, Konrad Waghalter, Ignatz Wagner, Martin Wander, Fred Wangenheim, Gustav von Wedding, Alex Weigel, Helene Weinert, Erich Weiskopf, F.C. Weiss, Erwin (Orpheus Trust) Weiss, Peter Wendt, Erich Westheim, Paul Wicclair, Walter Wiens, Paul Wolf, Friedrich Wolfenstein, Alfred Worner, Heinz

Zadek, Peter Zech, Paul Ziegler, Richard Zimmering, Max Zinner, Hedda Zweig, Arnold Zweig, Beatrice (Kunstsammlung)

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