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Oxford's "Hitler émigrés" |
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A cosmopolitan perspective
Ernst Gombrich, author of "The Story of Art".
© Jane Bown |
Apart from their individual contributions, the "Hitler émigrés" collectively brought a more cosmopolitan, international perspective to a nation still somewhat insular in its outlook; thus, Wellesz introduced many British musicians to the unfamiliar musical world of Schoenberg and his contemporaries. In addition, people like Ernst Gombrich and Rudolf Bing (both of them - like Pevsner - later knighted) helped professionalise aspects of Britain's cultural and intellectual life.
By no means everyone of "Hitler's émigrés" was especially talented or creative. Like all waves of migration, this one included some who were crushed by the experience, others who abused the privileges they received in Britain, and many - the great majority - who simply picked up the threads and got on with their quiet lives as best they could.
Oxford: "city of dreaming spires".
© Simply Oxford Photo Library |
Sixty years on, their story has more or less come and gone. New horrors around the world and new waves of migration seize the headlines, while the obituary columns report daily on the passing of elderly scientists, historians, architects, musicians and others with vaguely familiar German-sounding names. Who knows which elderly grandees - with Rumanian, Bosnian, Afghan or Iraqi names and maybe with knighthoods and peerages - our grandchildren will be reading about in the papers half a century from now?
Words: Daniel Snowman
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