November 14-15, 2008
Organizers:
Johannes Evelein (Trinity College)
David Kettler (Bard College)
Sponsored by:
The Dean of Faculty, Trinity College
Dept of Language and Culture Studies, Trinity College
Bard College
The Nazi takeover of power in Germany prompted an unprecedented exodus of writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers, historians, and scientists who found themselves at odds with the new regime and sought refuge: first in neighboring European countries, later on in England, the Soviet Union, South America, and in particular the United States. While many were able to remain in letter contact with the homeland throughout the 1930s, with the onset of World War II correspondence came virtually to a halt. Then, following years of silence and growing uncertainty about the fate of those who stayed behind, 1945 witnessed a resurgence of letter writing as thousands of exiles tried to re-initiate contact.
This workshop aims to lend fresh insights into these “First Letters”, and the responses they yielded, in the first eighteen months following Germany's defeat. Whom in the political and public arenas do they seek out? How do the exiles present themselves to those who stayed behind, after years of silence? What do these early letters reveal about the exiles' visions for Germany's future, and the role they may wish to play? How do the letter writers imagine the realities of life in Germany's destroyed cities? How do they present their own exilic predicament to their interlocutors who are bound to have rather distorted notions about exile? Do these “First Letters” constitute an epistolary sub-genre? These are just some of the topics that the fourteen presenters at this workshop will focus on.