Exile

Hannah Arendt’s life was shaped by exile. The German-Jewish thinker was forced to flee Nazi Germany as a young woman, and her experience of statelessness impacted her academic and political pursuits for the rest of her life. Independent and single-minded from an early age, Hannah’s intense commitment to her own moral responsibility carried her through anti-Nazi activism, years of exile, and a controversy that shook up the German-Jewish intellectual world.

Hannah Arendt was deeply involved in the early activities of LBI New York after it was founded in 1955. Her papers are at the Library of Congress and her personal library is at Bard College. One significant collection in the LBI Archives is the “Hannah Arendt Eichmann in Jerusalem Collection”, which holds clippings that documents the furious response to her 1963 book in papers ranging from Aufbau to the Congregation Habonim Bulletin to the New Republic. Another collection of correspondence documents the response of the LBI and other German-Jewish organizations to Eichmann before the book’s publication in German.

In 1930s New York, there was only one publication that fully covered the worsening situation for Jews in Europe: the Aufbau. With a daring approach to journalism, editor Manfred George transformed the tiny newsletter of a German-Jewish social club into a lifeline for a worldwide community of refugees. His paper also reported on the atrocities unfolding in Hitler’s Germany long before the mainstream press. The Aufbau held together a community strained past the breaking point, and helped its local readers integrate as Americans. It was a project so successful that it could not last.

In 1937, a young Austrian-Jewish actor named Hedwig Kiesler left Europe to pursue her dream in America. Within months, she became one of the biggest stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood: Hedy Lamarr. Known as “the most beautiful woman in the world,” Hedy’s unforgettable face and mysterious allure would take her far in the film industry – but that wasn’t her only success story. In fact, her greatest achievement was an invention that transformed the technology that powers our world.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Winnie Meyer-Ricard, the eldest daughter of Vera Haymann and Herbert Meyer-Ricard.

After dark in German-occupied Amsterdam, a small group of friends risked their lives to engage in a unique form of resistance: puppet theater. Behind the darkened windows of a safe-house, marionettes built by graphic designers Vera Haymann and Herbert Meyer-Ricard acted out biting satires of the bitter circumstances unfolding outside. This “fettered theater” gave the audience a glimmer of hope and solidarity in a time of darkness.

Join us for Exile Season 5 – another collection of compelling stories of Jewish lives under the shadow of fascism, drawn from the Leo Baeck Institute’s vast archive. Narrated by critically-acclaimed actor Joshua Malina.
Starting February 24, episodes are released every Tuesday.
The Leo Baeck Institute is a research library and archive focused on the history of German-speaking Jews.
Antica Productions is an award-winning production company based in Toronto that believes in the power of purpose-driven storytelling to change the world.