On the occasion of the anniversary of the book burning on May 10, 1933, led by the National Socialist German Student Association, the app Survivors of the Book Burning tells the stories of eleven writers who fled Germany after that day and continued their work abroad. The free smartphone app uses their homes and places of work in Berlin, as well as five other locations where the events of the time are thematized, to tell the stories of life in the Weimar Republic, the seizure of power, the harassment and persecution by the National Socialists, their flight abroad and life in exile, the return of some to Germany, and the reception of their works to this day, in a richly illustrated way and through a total of 16 audio pieces. In this way, we would like to demonstrate the topicality of the fates and works recounted and raise awareness of the threat to freedom of expression that still persists worldwide today.

In addition to authors such as Irmgard Keun, Nelly Sachs and Anna Seghers, a special focus lies on authors who spent their exile on the West Coast of the USA, the so-called "Weimar on the Pacific": Vicki Baum, Bertolt Brecht, Alfred Döblin, Lion Feuchtwanger, Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Erich Maria Remarque and Franz Werfel attempted a new start in Hollywood with more or less success. "Survivors of the Book Burning" tells not only of the personal losses of their exile story, but also of new works created in exile that are still world successes in literature and theater today.

The digital program "Survivors of the Book Burning" will launch on May 9 in German and later this month in English in the berlinHistory app for Android and iOS. The author is the literary and cultural scholar Dr. Thomas Schneider. Within the app, the content can be accessed by clicking on the VATMH logo.

• Download at Apple App Store
• Download at Google Play

In cooperation with BerlinHistory e.V.