Escape from France

The Americans who saved Marta and Lion Feuchtwanger

Following an adventurous escape from German-occupied France, the Jewish-German writer Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta, were able to escape to the US in the autumn of 1940. This was only made possible through the efforts of their American rescuers Varian Fry, Hiram Bingham, as well as Martha and Waitstill Sharp. They broke rules and risked their positions and their lives. During the 1930s and 40s in France, their heroic actions saved countless lives.

In a bilingual publication written for Villa Aurora, which was the Feuchtwanger’s exile home and later reopened as an artist recidence, Manfred Flügge, author and former Villa Fellow, traces the story of Marta and Lion Feuchtwanger’s escape. On Tuesday, December 6^th at 8 p.m., Manfred Flügge will present his book along with photographs and filmsequences in the Literaturhaus, Fasanenstraße in Berlin.

Manfred Flügge was born in 1946. He grew up in the Ruhr Valley and studied Romance languages and history in Muenster and in Lille. He tought at the Freie Universität Berlin from 1976 until 1988. Manfred Flügge works and lives in Berlin.

A cooperation with Literaturhaus Berlin

Admission: 5 / 3 euros

Location: Literaturhaus Berlin, Fasanenstraße 23, 10719 Berlin