Show Notes
A young German-Jewish art historian leaves Munich after his defense - stay or flee?
The German passport that forced you to choose stay or flee
In this episode, we follow Ernst Kitzinger from Munich to Rome and then to Britain, tracing the choices he faced after defending a dissertation that would become influential. We explore the practical and moral decisions forced by exile and the question of how a scholar rebuilds a life when homeland and profession are both suddenly unavailable.
Person: Ernst Kitzinger Date: defended dissertation fall 1934; crossed border the morning after Location: Munich; Rome; England; Egypt; Istanbul; Suffolk Topic: early medieval/Roman painting and Anglo-Saxon ornament
- He completed a dissertation on seventh-eighth century Roman painting and defended it in fall 1934. - He left Germany the morning after his defense and never returned. - In Rome he worked at the Sapienza and the Bibliotheca Hertziana and connected with Richard Krautheimer. - In Britain he volunteered at the British Museum, did fieldwork on pre-Norman stone sculpture, and wrote on Anglo-Saxon vinescroll ornament. - Classified as an "enemy alien" in summer 1940 despite fleeing Nazi persecution, his German passport governed his status.
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