5 May 2021 press release

Ulrich Becher in the German Exile Archive 1933-1945 at the German National Library. Cataloguing project, virtual exhibition and an evening dedicated to the author

An evening for Ulrich Becher at 19:00 on 12 May 2021 and activation of the virtual special exhibition on the “Arts in Exile”

With an “Evening for Ulrich Becher” and a virtual exhibition, the German Exile Archive 1933-1945 at the German National Library honours an author who was “forgotten” for a long time. The work of this ingenious writer has recently been rediscovered, with his major novel “Murmeljagd” in particular receiving great acclaim. At 19:00 on 12 May, the “Evening for Ulrich Becher” will commemorate not just the author but also the book-burnings 88 years ago. A collection of Becher’s novellas was also burned at that time. Martin Roda Becher and Anja Becher, Ulrich Becher’s son and granddaughter respectively, will be the special guests of this virtual event. Martin Roda Becher will discuss his father’s life and works, while Anja Becher will give readings from her grandfather’s writings.

A virtual special exhibition on the “Arts in Exile” gives insight into the life and works of Ulrich Becher and brings together for the first time the parts of the author’s estate held by the German Exile Archive and those in the Swiss Literary Archives, where another part of Becher’s estate is preserved. The virtual special exhibition “Ulrich Becher. Writer in exile” was specially developed for “Arts in Exile” (www.kuenste-im-exil.de). This special exhibition takes the visitor through the various stages of Becher’s exile, with particular attention to the opportunities for writers in exile, the importance of networks when on escape and in exile, and Becher’s remarkable friendship with George Grosz. One can gain a fully rounded impression of Ulrich Becher only by looking at both partial estates at the same time.

The collaborative virtual exhibition held by the two archives was made possible through the coordinated cataloguing of the estate. Plans are also in place to digitise the estate. Successive deliveries of Ulrich Becher’s estate to the German Exile Archive 1933-1945 began in 1985. At the time, Dana Becher, wife of Ulrich Becher, responded to a request from the archive with the following words: “Ulrich Becher’s manuscripts, letters, etc. are stored in a big jumble inside boxes, suitcases and cartons in three different cellars. I don’t really know what there is, or where (though there are bound to be letters from George Grosz).” In later years, the archive received further extensive deliveries of important letters, work manuscripts, drawings, notebooks, personal documents and photographs. It is an impressive and important collection.

A further part of Ulrich Becher’s estate is held by the Swiss Literary Archives (SLA) at the Swiss National Library. It arrived there following Becher’s death in 1990. Both collections must be consulted when seeking to understand Becher’s life and work, not least because the division of the two collections comprising his estate is arbitrary.

Ulrich Becher, b. 1910, was at the beginning of a promising career as a writer when – according to his own recollections – his first published work, the well-received collection of novellas “Männer machen Fehler”, published in 1932 by Rowohlt, fell victim to the Nazi book burnings in May 1933. By that time, Becher was already in exile: he had left Germany after the Reichstag fire in February 1933, initially living in Austria then fleeing to Switzerland after the annexation of Austria in 1938. Because he was not permitted to stay there permanently, his journeys in exile took him to Brazil in 1941 and then to the USA in 1944. This is also where parts of his “New Yorker Novellen” were written, from which his granddaughter, the actor Anja Becher, will be reading, along with other works.
Like many ostracised authors whose works were publicly burned, Ulrich Becher had to carve out a new existence in exile, something that shaped his life and art. Becher returned to Europe in 1948 and made his permanent home in Basel from 1954 until his death in 1990.

An evening for Ulrich Becher
Reading and discussion commemorating the book burnings

Virtual event at 19:00 on Wednesday 12 May 2021

Please register at www.dnb.de/veranstaltungvirtuell

Virtual special exhibition “Ulrich Becher. Writer in exile” from 13 May 2021 at www.kuenste-im-exil/UlrichBecher
[Please note: The link will not be accessible until 13 May 2021.]

An evening for Ulrich Becher 215kB, PDF - Not barrier-free file.
(PDF-Download is only available in German)

Background

The task of the German National Library’s German Exile Archive 1933–1945 is to collect publications and documents relating to German-language exile during the Nazi era. The publications include all books and brochures in the fields of literature, politics, science and Jewish emigration written by German-speaking emigrants abroad between 1933 and 1950 along with the magazines they published. The documents include personal legacies from German-speaking emigrants in all fields and professions, archives of exile organisations and individual autographs.

Since March 2018, selected items from the German Exile Archive's own collection have been on display in the permanent exhibition “Exile. Experience and Testimony” in Frankfurt am Main. The German Exile Archive’s events and temporary exhibitions take a closer look at other themes and thus draw parallels between historic exile and current phenomena.

Contact

Images for editorial use

Images for editorial use with reports on the exhibition are available at www.dnb.de/presse

Press image material is only available in German.