Release
Media Advisory: UAlbany Celebrates German Jewish �migr� Collection to Commemorate National Archives Week
Contact: Catherine Herman (518) 956-8150
ALBANY, N.Y. (October 5, 2006)
What:
The University at Albany's M.E.
Grenander Department of Special Collections
and Archives celebrates National Archives
Week with discussions and a featured exhibit
on the mass migration of German and Jewish
exiles during the Nazi regime and resulting
scholarly writings of the 1920s and 30s.
Sponsored by the University at Albany
Libraries, Center for Jewish Studies, and
the College of Arts and Sciences, the event
is free and open to the public.
When:
Thursday, October 12, 2006,
4 to 6 p.m.
Who:
Claus-Dieter Krohn, author and professor,
Universit�t L�neburg
John M. Spalek, emeritus professor, Department
of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures,
University at Albany
Johannes Evelein, professor and director of the
German studies major, Trinity College, Hartford,
CT
Joel Berkowitz, associate professor, departments
of Judaic Studies and Theatre, UAlbany
Where:
Standish Room, Science Library, University
at Albany Uptown Campus, 1400 Washington Avenue,
Albany, NY
How:
For more information visit
The German and Jewish Intellectual �migr�
Collection
Please RSVP to Brian Keough at (518) 437-3931 or
[email protected]
Background:
During the 1920s and 1930s totalitarian
countries expelled thousands of intellectuals
who were threatened by the rising power of
National Socialism in Europe. In
Intellectuals in Exile:
Refugee Scholars and the New School for Social
Research, Claus-Dieter Krohn writes that in Germany
roughly 4,000 academics lost positions, and
1,700 of those scholars came to the United
States. Many of these �migr�s came to New York
City and were assisted by the "University in
Exile", an academic department at the New School
for Social Research formed in 1933. The
"University in Exile" became a safe haven for
these scholars and artists who had a tremendous
influence on American politics, introduced
European theoretical approaches to their
academic field and became an integral part of
American intellectual history.
The program, moderated by Joel Berkowitz, features Claus-Dieter Krohn discussing this unique period of immigration, Johannes Evelein's discussion of the role of �migr� writers in American intellectual history, and John M. Spalek's discussion of the founding and growth of UAlbany's German and Jewish Intellectual �migr� Collection.
The German and Jewish Intellectual �migr� Collection presently consists of more than 1,500 cubic feet of personal papers, organizational records, political pamphlets, tape recordings, photographs, and related research materials documenting the German intellectual exodus of the 1930s and 1940s.
