Dartmouth Events

This course focuses on the condition of exile. It takes as its main example “one of the largest and most dramatic mass migrations to this country in the twentieth century,” namely that of some 130,000 German-speaking refugees who arrived on these shores between 1933 and 1945. The course will examine several of the most significant areas that were influenced by this vita cultural shift: the American academy and intellectual life; the film industry (“Weimar on the Pacific,” as Hollywood was sometimes called); and, more generally, the political and cultural debates concerning the “German Question,” i.e., what to do with Germany after the war. We will explore how the exiles viewed their role and how they viewed the interplay between American and European culture.