An Interrupted Past
German-Speaking Refugee Historians in the United States after 1933

The essays in An Interrupted Past describe the fate of those German-speaking historians who fled from Nazi Europe to the United States.

Hartmut Lehmann (Edited by), James J. Sheehan (Edited by)

9780521403269, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 August 1991

248 pages
23.7 x 15.7 x 2 cm, 0.48 kg

"The editors of this publication...have provided the historical profession with a good analysis on the impact of a relatively small number of historians on German and American historiography....all the essays impart worthwhile analysis." David J. Maurer, History

The essays in An Interrupted Past describe the fate of those German-speaking historians who fled from Nazi Europe to the United States. Their story is set into several contexts: the traditional relationship between German and American historiography, the evolution of the German historical profession in the twentieth century, the onset of Nazi persecution after 1933, the special situation in Austria, and the difficulty of settling the refugees in their new homeland. In addition to articles on prominent scholars, there are accounts of the group as a whole, including information on more than ninety individuals, and of their family lives. An Interrupted Past is set in one of the darkest periods in human history, a time of political catastrophe and personal suffering. Yet the lives recorded here also illustrate people's capacity to survive, adjust, and create under difficult circumstances.

Preface Hartmut Lehmann
Introduction James J. Sheehan
Part I: 1. German and American historiography in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Ernst Schulin
2. German historiography during the Weimar Republic and the Emigre historians Wolfgang J. Mommsen
3. The historical seminar of the University of Berlin in the 1920s Felix Gilbert
Part II: 4. Refugee historians in America: pre-emigration Germany to 1939 Michael H. Kater
5. The German refugee historians and American institutions of higher learning Karen J. Greenberg
6. Everyday life and emigration: the role of women Sibylle Quack
7. The special case of Austrian refugee historians M. Fellner
8. Refugee historians in the United States Catherine Epstein
9. German historians in the Office of Strategic Services Barry Katz
10. The refugee scholar as intellectual educator: a student's recollections Carl E. Schorske
Part III: 11. German emigre historians in America: the fifties, sixties, and seventies Kenneth Barkin
12. The Americanisation of Hajo Holborn Otto Pflanze
13. Explaining history: Hans Rosenberg Hanna Schissler
14. Ernst Kantorowicz and Theodor E. Mommsen Ralph E. Lerner
15. Refugee historians and the German historical profession between 1950 and 1970 Winfried Schulze.

Subject Areas: Historiography [HBAH]