Jewish Migration: Intercultural Experiences in the Autobiographical Discourse of Emigrated German-Jewish Intellectuals

The autobiographical discourse of German-Jewish intellectuals - writers, scientists, philosophers - who emigrated to North or South America after 1933 reveals a specific intercultural experience crucial to the discussion of the connections between migration and the development of cultural identity. As a crossroads of history and fiction, autobiography opens up various forms of interdisciplinary scholarship. This project focuses on a historically specific process of identity formation but also posits the exemplary nature of the continuous and dynamic "labor of integrating the components of various cultural origins" in order to uncover connections and similarities with other projects and areas of research.

Duration of Funding: 2001-2003

Applicants:
Prof. Dieter Lamping (Comparative Literature)
Prof. Arieh Kochavi (History)

Assistants:
Dr. Andreas Wittbrodt (Comparative Literature)
Dr. Ruthie Eitan (History)

Publication:
WITTBRODT, ANDREAS (2004): Ein gebildeter Sozialarzt. Die Lebensform des Migranten Martin Gumpert in Berlin und New York im Spiegel der Autobiographik. In: SCHOLZ, ALBRECHT/ CARIS-PERA HEIDEL: Emigrantenschicksale. Einfluss der jüdischen Emigranten auf Sozialpolitik und Wissenschaft in den Aufnahmeländern. Frankfurt am Main (= Medizin und Judentum, 7), S. 155-167.