Book Suggestion:German-Jewish Intellectuals of the 30s

November 29, 2024 10:25 AM

I'm looking for a book suggestion about the German-Jewish intellectuals of the 1930s that fled Nazi Germany. Ideally, it would be a book that was mostly memoir but also included some historical information about their philosophies and art. Would include people like Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, etc. Thanks.
posted by captainscared to Religion & Philosophy (9 answers total)

This is perhaps tangential to their remit but I bet the guys behind the Know Your Enemy podcast would have some suggestions. These guys are exceptionally well read definitely have covered the following generation of Jewish intellectuals.
posted by mmascolino at 10:30 AM on November 29

Exiled in Paradise is a book I heard good things about.
posted by Frowner at 11:10 AM on November 29

The World of Yesterday by Stephan Zweig is not an overview, but one man's fascinating view of the interregnum after WWI and the onset of WWII. CW: Zweig committed suicide in Brazil in 1942.
posted by chavenet at 12:02 PM on November 29 [5 favorites]

There’s more than one book about Etty Hillesum, who was very intellectual and had an affair with her psychiatrist.
posted by Melismata at 12:59 PM on November 29

This is probably not what you're looking for, but there is Mathematicians Fleeing from Nazi Germany.

My best friend wrote her dissertation on Else Lasker-Schüler and Avram Nachum Stencl if you want me to ask her for a copy, but it's primarily about their literary and personal relationship.
posted by hoyland at 1:47 PM on November 29

Best answer: I'd suggest you look at the correspondence of Gerschom Scholem. Scholem saw clearly what was going on and fled Germany for Palestine early on.

He wrote lots of letters to various people, including his great friend Walter Benjamin. In many of those letters he's trying to pursuade Benjamin to flee, even going so far as to arrange job possibilities for him. But sadly, Benjamin was too caught up in his work and affairs to follow through, even though he keeps promising he'll come soon and then apologizing for not making it. It's very sad.

Scholem also famously feuded with Arendt and there are lots of fascinating letters between the two of them.
posted by jasper411 at 4:12 PM on November 29 [2 favorites]

Slightly off, but Salka Viertel’s memoir The Kindness of Strangers covers this from the performing arts perspective; she was a well-known actress working in Berlin and Vienna who fled to Hollywood and served as a social center for that group of emigres.
posted by praemunire at 9:21 AM on November 30

If you’re open to a graphic novel, The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt by Ken Krimstein is very good.
posted by rd45 at 9:44 AM on November 30

German Jewish intellectuals fleeing to the United States were embraced by the University of Chicago and the New School for Social Research but precious few other American universities. I don't know what's written about their experience at Chicago, but Judith Friedlander has written a well-sourced book on what happened at The New School that might be a great start for you: A Light in Dark Times: The New School for Social Research and Its University in Exile (2023).
posted by Scarf Joint at 6:53 PM on December 3