European political refugees in the UK from 1800
British Library, London.
European political refugees in the UK from 1800
Join us for a day of discovery and insight into the rich and surprising stories of European exiles in Britain. The international academics, scholars, and curators will explore how European diaspora communities have woven themselves into the fabric of British society, fostering intercultural exchange and contributing to the shaping of modern Britain.
Organised by the European collections section of the British Library in partnership with European Union National Institutes of Culture (EUNIC) London.
The conference will be accompanied by the exhibition 'MUSIC, MIGRATION & MOBILITY. The Story of Émigré Musicians from Nazi Europe in Britain' and by events run by the conference partners. Please watch this space for more details.
Friday 15 November 2024, Pigott Theatre, Knowledge Centre, British Library
96 Euston Road, London, Greater London NW1 2DB
Programme
10:00 Welcome
10:05 Session 1: Artists
Moderator: Olga Topol, British Library
"Leaving Home" – Franciszka Themerson and Her Artistic Community in the UK, Jasia Reichardt, Art Critic and Curator
Austrian Musicians and Writers in Exile in the 1930s and 1940s, Oliver Rathkolb, University of Vienna On the Rock of Exiles: Victor Hugo in the Channel Islands, Bradley Stephens, University of Bristol
Music, Migration & Mobility, The Story of Émigré Musicians from Nazi Europe in Britain, Norbert Meyn, Royal College of Music, London
12:00 The stone that spoke screening
Introduction by Gail Borrow, ExploreTheArch arts facilitated by EUNIC London;
12:15 Lunch
13:00 Session 2: Governments in Exile
Moderator: Valentina Mirabella, British Library
London Exile of the Yugoslav Government during the Second World War and its Internal Problems,
Milan Sovilj, Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague
The Spanish Republican Exile in Great Britain: General Characteristics and the case of Roberto Gerhard,
Mari Paz Balibrea, Birkbeck, University of London
Fascism and anti-fascism in London's 'Little Italy' and Giacomo Matteotti's secret visit to London in 1924,
Alfio Bernabei, Historian and Author
14:30 Break
14:45 Session 3: Building Communities
Moderator: Katya Rogatchevskaia, British Library
Tefcros Anthias: poet, writer, activist, and public intellectual in Cyprus and the Cypriot Community in London, Floya Anthias, University of Roehampton, London
The Journeys in Stories: Jewish emigration from Lithuania via United Kingdom, Dovile Cypaite-Gile, Vilna Gaon, Museum of Jewish History, Vilnius University
Political migration from Hungary, 1918-1956, Thomas Lorman, UCL's School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London
16:15 Break
16:30 – 17:00 Session 4: Writing Diaspora
Moderator: Anthony Chapman-Joy, Royal Holloway, University of London/British Library
Newspapers published by 19th-century German political exiles in England, Susan Reed, British Library Clandestine WWII pamphlets, Marja Kingma, British Library