This is an unusual book, telling a story which has hitherto remained hidden from history: the surveillance by the British security service MI5 of anti-Nazi refugees who came to Britain fleeing political persecution in Germany and Austria. Based on the personal and organisational files that MI5 kept on political refugees during the 1930s and 1940s - which have only recently been released into the public domain - this study also fills a considerable gap in historical research. Telling a story of absorbing interest, which at times reads more like spy fiction, it is both a study of MI5 and of the political refugees themselves. The book will interest academics in the fields of history, politics, intelligence studies, Jewish studies, German studies and migration studies; but it is also accessible to the general reader interested in Britain before, during and after the Second World War. -- .

Political changes between 1918 and 1939 had important implications for German writers. The essays in this volume focus on questions such as the writers' relationship to political parties and ideology, their treatment of the legacy of World War I, and their response to the rise of fascism.

Among the 70,000 refugees from Nazi Germany who had entered Britain by 1939 were many intellectuals of the Weimar era. This book tells the story of five emigre writers, three German, two Austrian - the Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig, the leading Berlin theatre critic Alfred Kerr, the popular lyric poet Max Herrmann-Neisse, the radical, pacifist journalist Karl Otten, and the Austrian novelist and parodist Robert Neumann. All were banned from publishing in Germany from which they fled for their lives. Only Zweig was already known in Britain. Using unpublished diaries, letters and government records, the author describes the difficult often dramatic and tragic lives of these men and their families. New light is thrown on London publishing and, in particular, on the wartime BBC, especially the new German Service. Attention is also focused on the political disputes among the emigre's; also on those who tried to help them. These exile writers were harshly treated by a less cosmopolitan and more ignorant society than today's. This book aims to rescue their lives and work, recreating circumstances, experiences and achievements which would otherwise be lost to British 20th century cultural and multi-cultural history. There are quotations in the text in English from the work of all five authors.

Ludwig Steinherr is one of the most compelling new voices to have emerged in Germany since the late 1980s and this selection - the first to appear in English - from his 10 poetry collections published between 1985 and 2005 reflects the breadth and depth of his writing, ranging from its post-Celanian darkness to its insistence on light. "This is an uplifting selection from ten collections over twenty years. Steinherr's calling as philosopher is noticeable throughout. He seeks clarification and meaning always, sees the simplicities within the complexity, shows us the obvious that we had missed." Wawick Review, June 2011

The Austrian Centre was established in London in 1939 by Austrians seeking refuge from Nazi Germany, of whom 30,000 had reached Britain by the outbreak of World War II. It soon developed into a comprehensive social, cultural and political organisation with a theatre and a weekly newspaper of its own. A Communist-influenced organisation, it also followed a distinct political agenda. In the first book on the cultural and political life of Austrian refugees in Britain, Out of Austria assesses and evaluates the Austrian Centre's activities and achievements, while also examining the Austrians' often fraught relations with their British hosts. It gives a fascinating insight into such figures as Sigmund Freud, who became the Centre's Honorary President during his final months and the poet Erich Fried, then an unknown seventeen-year-old, and sheds light on the interaction of politics and culture against the background of exile in wartime Britain.

Aus dem Englischen von: Ulrike Draesner, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Richard Exner, Gerhard Falkner, Michael Kruger, Reiner Kunze, Anton G. Leitner, Friederike Mayrocker, Heinz Piontek, Joachim Sartorius, Ludwig Steinherr, Jurgen Theobaldy, Paul Wuhr u.a. -Aus einem fruheren Leben- beschwort -abgelebte Zeiten- wieder herauf. Richard Dove legt eine Sammlung von englischsprachigen Gedichten vor, die vor allem in den Jahren 1976 bis 1986 entstanden sind. Inhaltlich setzen sie sich einerseits mit den damaligen gesellschaftlichen Umbruchen auf der britischen Insel, andererseits mit (in erster Linie) antiken und deutschen Vorbildern auseinander. Aber auch Paris und de Sade fehlen nicht in diesem reichen Spektrum eines formgenauen und weltoffenen Dichters. Fur die deutsche Fassung sorgten u.a. etliche Lyriker und Lyrikerinnen von Rang. Die Ubersetzer geben damit einen Einblick in die Pluralitat der Ausdrucksformen der modernen deutschsprachigen Lyrik. Richard Dove schreibt seit seiner Ubersiedlung nach Munchen 1987 uberwiegend in deutscher Sprache und veroffentlichte zuletzt 2002 den Gedichtband -Farbfleck auf einem Mondrian-Bild-, der von Durs Grunbein als -aufregendes Buchlein- begrusst wurde

This is an unusual book, telling a story which has hitherto remained hidden from history: the surveillance by the British security service MI5 of anti-Nazi refugees who came to Britain fleeing political persecution in Germany and Austria. Based on the personal and organisational files that MI5 kept on political refugees during the 1930s and 1940s - which have only recently been released into the public domain - this study also fills a considerable gap in historical research. Telling a story of absorbing interest, which at times reads more like spy fiction, it is both a study of MI5 and of the political refugees themselves. The book will interest academics in the fields of history, politics, intelligence studies, Jewish studies, German studies and migration studies; but it is also accessible to the general reader interested in Britain before, during and after the Second World War. -- .