On the run from Hitler - the first major comprehensive account of the German exile
Crammed onto a ship, Jewish refugees hope for a new life in Israel. Thomas Mann may be privileged as a famous writer in the USA, but he too has to settle into a life in exile. Marianne Cohn is not rescued. She is violated and shot while fleeing to Switzerland. Exile during the National Socialist era consists of an infinite number of stories and leads to all corners of the world. Wolfgang Benz, one of the best experts on the subject, now presents the first major comprehensive account.
The Third Reich forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave Germany. Jews had to fear for their lives, as did Germans who had campaigned against the Nazis or did not agree with their world view. In his fundamental account, Wolfgang Benz tells the story of this enormous escape movement in a way that is both vivid and close to the source. He meticulously traces the stages and places of exile, the often humiliating circumstances of obtaining visas and the difficult living conditions as foreigners and often unwelcome people in another country. In doing so, he gives a voice to "celebrities" such as Hannah Arendt, Sigmund Freud and Thomas Mann, but above all to people who otherwise receive little attention. For example, the fate of an unknown Jewish child carer is given equal prominence alongside the path of the world-famous founder of the theory of relativity.
"To be exiled means to be defeated, beaten." Etel Adnan
The first comprehensive overview of German exile
By one of Germany's most renowned contemporary historians
Based on decades of research
Wolfgang Benz is one of Germany's most renowned contemporary historians and was a professor at the Technical University of Berlin until 2010, where he headed the Center for Research on Anti-Semitism. He has published numerous books with C.H.Beck, including most recently "Im Widerstand" (2019) and "Allein gegen Hitler" (²2024).
Further information: https: //kuk-verein.de/component/djevents/details/2025-05-21/171-benz-2025