Out of Austria: The Austrian Centre in London in World War II: v. 12 (International Library of Twentieth Century History) - Hardcover

""Certain to become a most needed reference work in connection with Austrian exile studies...one special feature of this volume is the sheer quality and amount of hitherto unpublished primary material and the contextualizing evaluation of it by expert scholars in the field... 'Out of Austria' will provide genuinely new insights into the exile situation in political, social and cultural terms; it will also illustrate the relations between Austrian refugees and their hosts in wartime Britain."" -- Professor R. Goemer, University of London ""This is a fascinating and well-researched book which will attract a wide readership, covering as it does so many areas of social, political, cultural and general interest."" -- Professor J.M. Ritchie

The Austrian Centre was established in London in 1939 by Austrians seeking refuge from Nazi Germany, of whom 30,000 had reached Britain by the outbreak of World War II. It soon developed into a comprehensive social, cultural and political organisation with a theatre and a weekly newspaper of its own. A Communist-influenced organisation, it also followed a distinct political agenda. In the first book on the cultural and political life of Austrian refugees in Britain, "Out of Austria" assesses and evaluates the Austrian Centre's activities and achievements, while also examining the Austrians' often fraught relations with their British hosts. It gives a fascinating insight into such figures as Sigmund Freud, who became the Centre's Honorary President during his final months and the poet Erich Fried, then an unknown seventeen-year-old, k and sheds light on the interaction of politics and culture against the background of exile in wartime Britain.