Along with a text about exile between 1933-1945 and the German Exile Archive’s permanent collection, the listening station contains an excerpt from a radio broadcast by Thomas Mann, who left Germany in 1933 and lived in exile first in Switzerland, then from 1938 in the USA.

Mann gave talks and radio broadcasts in which he forcefully called for active resistance to Hitler. From 1940 on, he also directed his rousing appeals to the Germans themselves. The BBC in London broadcast his radio speeches “Deutsche Hörer!” (German Listeners!) directly to Germany.

The photograph on the listening station shows Thomas Mann at the microphone of the WQXR radio station. It was taken by Eric Schaal in March 1938. Eric Schaal had left Germany in 1936 and also lived in exile in the USA. Eric Schaal’s estate forms part of the German Exile Archive's collection.

The listening station was developed and realised in collaboration with media artist Jürgen Czwienk. The electricity for playing the audio tracks is generated by a hand crank. Similar listening stations on various topics have been set up all over the world. To date, the listening station in front of the German Exile Archive’s permanent exhibition in the vestibule of the German National Library is the only one dedicated to the topic of exile.
The background text on exile is read by actor Jochen Nix.

Further information about the permanent exhibition “Exile. Experience and Testimony” is available at: dnb.de/exile

Contact:

Dr. Sylvia Asmus, Director of the German Exile Archive 1933–1945, s.asmus@dnb.de, Tel. +49 69 1525-1900
Jürgen Czwienk, media artist, czwienk97@gmail.com