"In the history of exile and emigration, embassies have played a key role, especially from the twentieth century to the present day. They were places of rescue as well as downfall, of safety as well as danger, of visas granted as well as denied, of emigration quotas, of neutrality as well as persecution and expulsion, of war and peace. The Swedish Embassy in Budapest in 1944 became famous, as did the American Embassy in Nazi Germany. We know the stories of Swiss envoys in the 1940s.
Far from all the stories have been told. Almost every embassy in present-day Berlin holds a particular history of exile unique to the country—exile that these countries granted, but often also denied. We know little about Japan as a place of exile, or about Turkey, which granted refuge to Ernst Reuter, later Mayor of Berlin, and gave rise to a distinctive German republic of scholars. India often goes unmentioned as a place of refuge, as do Mexico and Portugal. The Embassies of Exile series recalls this. The fates of writers, composers and musicians, artists are to be narrated, presented and thus made visible in the respective embassies.
Life in exile is connected with at least two countries. It is divided into a before and after of emigration, an old and a new home, a here and there, a yesterday and today.
With the Embassies of Exile programme, the Exilmuseum is expanding its network by collaborating with embassies of other countries in Berlin as well as with the respective German missions abroad. The literally cross-border subject of exile brings together institutions and people, foundations and their representatives, above all refugees and those who have arrived, their relatives and descendants. The embassies open their gates to present and discuss fates and to analyse our present. Embassies of Exile shows that the history of exile has an eminently diplomatic dimension."
Thomas Sparr studied literature and philosophy in Hamburg, Marburg and Paris, and worked at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Leo Baeck Institute there. He later headed the Jüdischer Verlag and was editor-in-chief at Siedler Verlag. Today, he is editor-at-large for Suhrkamp Verlag. Published by Berenberg are "Grunewald im Orient. Das deutsch-jüdische Jerusalem" (2018), "Hotel Budapest, Berlin ... Von Ungarn in Deutschland" (2021) and "Zauberberge. Ein Jahrhundertroman aus Davos" (2024); by DVA, "Todesfuge. Biographie eines Gedichts" (2020); and by S. Fischer, "'Ich will fortleben, auch nach meinen Tod'. Die Biographie des Tagebuchs der Anne Frank" (2023). Most recently published: "Come Out! Wie der Aufstand in der Christopher Street die Welt veränderte" by C.H. Beck.
For the "Embassies of Exile" programme, the Exilmuseum collaborates with embassies in Germany and abroad. This creates new partnerships and a worldwide network. The series focuses on largely overlooked figures from the arts, literature and academia who found refuge from the Nazis in the respective partner country. Each event is individually conceived, whether as a lecture, reading, concert, film screening or conversation with descendants. The events take place at various locations in Germany and abroad: in the embassies themselves, at cultural institutions, academic institutions or at the Exilmuseum.
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