Political Exile Research Articles

‘A flower of an exile’: International Political Networks in Anna Birkbeck’s Album

Anna Birkbeck’s album contains a rousing poem about the Polish independence cause by Polish author, translator, and exile Stanisław Egbert Koźmian. By contextualizing this seemingly unusual political entry, inter-album connections are revealed, offering insights into networks of European political exiles and insurrectionists in London in the 1820s and 1830s. This analysis shows how the medium of the album could use feminine tropes to carry political meanings, acting as a repository of family values and reflecting the causes supported by the Birkbecks and their circles.

An Untold Experience of Exile: New Archival Findings on Felice Brancacci

The story of well-known patrician and merchant Felice Brancacci after his exile from Florence in 1435 has hitherto gone untold. This article offers the first scholarly analysis of newly uncovered letters, account books, and a will composed by Felice after his banishment. These documents convey Felice’s lived experience of exile, highlighting how he navigated his social, political, and commercial roles in central Italy by networking with merchants and elites as well as his sense of isolation and devastating loss. The study contributes to our understanding of the experiences of a remarkable number of political exiles from Florence, and from Italian city states more broadly, during the Renaissance.

Rotspanier. Debate with Regard to the Classification of the Spanish Prisoners Deported to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp

Spanish prisoners deported to the Mauthausen Nazi concentration camp were treated and classified in an anomalous and problematic fashion that did not correspond to the real reasons for their detention. Thus, despite being prosecuted as Rotspaniers – ‘red Spaniards’ – a category initially employed to designate those Germans who had fought in the Spanish Civil War in support of the republican government, they were systematically forced to wear a blue badge that, according to the codes usually implemented in camps, classified them as ‘emigrants’, an equally strange category that was applied to all those Jews or political exiles who had fled Germany following the rise of Nazism but had been arrested upon their return to the country. This reality, however, was not shared by the other Spaniards distributed across the other camps in the system or by the other Rotspaniers present in Mauthausen, who were given the red badge that indicated they were political prisoners. This is the anomaly addressed by this article, which, based on study of the administrative sources at Mauthausen and thorough analysis of ‘protective custody’ as a legal instrument employed by the Nazi authorities to neutralize their enemies, enables us to revisit the debate and propose a new interpretative framework through which to re-evaluate the Spanish experience in the network of German camps.

Crafting arts-based stories of exile, resistance and trauma among Chileans in the UK

ABSTRACT In 2017 an exhibition of over 100 craft pieces created by Chilean political prisoners held in concentration camps during the military dictatorship, was launched in the UK along with an accompanying short film, ‘Crafting Resistance: the Art of Chilean Political Prisoners’. Drawing on these arts-based interventions, the paper reflects on the use of craft objects both as a symbol of political resistance and a means of initiating difficult conversations around forced political exile, trauma and mental health while creating space for people to ‘tell their stories’. Indeed, the paper contends that projects such as Crafting Resistance can ‘care for knowledge’ through the curation of craftwork while simultaneously creating space for counter memories. The analysis also highlights the changing relationship between the craft makers and the craftwork, argueing that placing the craft objects within the exhibition assigns a new role to the objects as they became part of a display of collective memories and potentially contribute towards collective healing. Finally, the paper advocates for greater recognition of the historical use of craft as a political expression, which to date has been relatively neglected in debates around the use of arts-based research and methods.

Harlem, Addis, and Johannesburg: African Solidarity and African American Internationalism in Harlem from the 1960s to the 1990s

Abstract This 2021 ASA Presidential Lecture combines sociopolitical history with personal reflections on Black Harlem during African decolonization. It begins at the turn of the twentieth century and traces Harlem’s transformation into an international center of pan-Africanist activism and cultural production. Brown explores solidarities that grew as Harlem politicians, grassroots leaders, and residents encountered political exiles and cultural leaders from the continent, the diaspora, and aligned political movements worldwide. These alliances and modes of protest facilitated a hardening of militant activist traditions and cultural cohesion that shaped an anti-imperialist pan-African movement and ultimately a multinational Black political movement in the 1960’s to 1990s.

Forced Migrations as a European Heritage and Resource for Enhancing Intercultural Cohesion

ABSTRACT Social identity theory argues that conflict between groups diminishes if they discover they have something important in common, and if they can build a new hybrid identity together. With this premise in mind, the article demonstrates how present-day experiences of refugees, displaced ethnic groups, political exiles, foreign-born workers, diasporic populations and other migrants may be incorporated into the existing body of predominantly national historical landscapes and stories addressing expulsions, exile and forced displacement experienced by European populations in the twentieth century. It is argued that we should look closer at the compositional processes and orchestration of migrant heritage in Europe as an inherently political concept that may both amplify and interfere with social cohesion. The article discusses the compositional strategies (grafting, bifurcation and suture) that loosen up the structure of representations and have been used experimentally by four cultural institutions in Italy, Spain, Germany and Poland. The article maintains that series of hands-on small- and middle-scale experiments and compositional adjustments may be highly instrumental in enhancing the value of the heritage of forced migrations, not only as a domain of conflicting academic interpretations, but also as a factor of intercultural cohesion in a broader perspective.

Transfer of Ideas and Exile Sociability in Paris, 1830–1848: A Localized Intellectual History

In the 1830s and the 1840s, Paris was a gathering place for numerous political exiles from different nationalities, including Germans, Italians and Poles. The French capital offered them the opportunity to publish, debate and transnationally exchange ideas with one another in ways that were impossible in their home countries. This article develops a research perspective on these exiles that connects intellectual history with urban history and migration history. It proposes a localized intellectual history that studies how political thought emerges in interactions enabled by specific geographical contexts, in this case the Parisian urban landscape and metropolitan culture. The article first argues why the proposed connection between intellectual, urban and migration history needs to be made. Subsequently, three case studies are used to explore the methodological opportunities of this localized intellectual history: the salon of Marie d’Agoult, the Collège de France and the editorial offices of the German exile newspaper Vorwärts. While the three places largely differ in the kinds of sociability that they offered, the intended public and, by extension, the ways in which they stimulated the formation and exchange of ideas, they appear to be connected by the people who frequented them. It will be argued that focussing on these places enables us to study the process of intellectual transfer and how it is informed by the characteristics of very local geographies, which serve as junctions in the transnational contexts in which modern political ideas, such as nationalism itself, are produced.

Inaugural Brij Lal Memorial Lecture: Belonging, and Banishment from and in the Sea of Islands

ABSTRACT This is a written version of the Inaugural Brij Lal Memorial Lecture delivered for the Pacific History Association (PHA) conference at Warrnambool on 4 November 2023. It is in memory of Brij V. Lal, who died on 25 December 2021. In November 2009 he, and later his wife Padma Narsey Lal, were banished by Fiji’s military regime from their birthplace. This address considers the troubled questions of belonging and banishment in Oceania. The first section explores this in relation to Brij’s life, as well as other examples of political exile. The second part considers how other Oceanians might not quite belong because of the circumstances of their parentage or gender, or through the different mental and embodied spaces they inhabited. The lecture concludes by posing questions about how the present is invested in the past, and what the future holds for Oceanians who may be forced, chosen, or persuaded to leave their islands.

«Ландшафт образов»: символические репрезентации Якутии в геопоэтике политических ссыльных

In this article, based on the historical and cognitive analysis of the artistic heritage of political exiles (XIX–XX centuries), who influenced the formation of intellectual history and culture of Yakutia, symbolic images associ-ated with the North as the “periphery” of the Russian Empire are revealed. In the mental mapping of artistic space, positive and negative images constructed on the basis of the “supporting metaphor” – Cold – are high-lighted. It is concluded that this concept of Cold influenced the formation of the main metaphorical image of Yakutia as the “edge of the earth” and created a layer of various concepts, knowledge, associations and experi-ences consisting of conceptual and value-symbolic components. It has been revealed that depending on the emotional and sensory perception of the surrounding space, one can observe the transformation of the mental image of the North. The collective image of the North includes many elements that allow us to present it as a mythologeme, and on the other hand, to consider the variations of the mentality of an exile forced to be in a completely alien world. Thus, despite the fact that imperial policy actively promoted the image of the North as an exotic and rich land, the “narrative of captivity” imposed on the works of political exiles transmits the image of the space of exile associated with the North as a “land of suffering” and “trials”.

Chilean experiences of exile in the “socialist brotherhood” negotiating solidarity, belonging and change in the German Democratic Republic

Based on the empirical material collected in lifetime-narrative interviews, the article illuminates the multiple experiences of Chilean exiles between solidarity, belonging, Othering and foreignness in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The focus of the biographical case reconstruction based on Rosenthal is the individual negotiation of Othering practices and narratives, which the interview partners rejected, reinterpreted or strategically used for themselves. The results are biographical snapshots which show that not only encounter with (everyday) racism, but also experienced help and solidarity actions could cause discomfort among the Chilean political exiles, since they reflected the hegemonic conditions underlying their stay in the GDR. The interviewees experienced how state-institutionalised solidarity was linked to the political conditions of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and had its limits where individuals deviated from the behaviour expected of them. Throughout their lives, the interviewees are torn between Chile and the GDR (and later Germany): Confronted with feelings and constructions of foreignness and belonging(s) in relation to both countries they find different and changing ways of dealing with them over the course of their lives. What they have in common is the impossibility of deciding on a single national identity.

Missing Home: Depictions of Exile during the Portuguese Dictatorship

Abstract: The experience of particular types of migration, political exile, and diaspora are mainly portrayed from the refugee's perspective, focusing on the travel process itself or the problems of integration. Despite the interest in this theme emerging only recently, its global persistence and relevance are already considerable and are depicted in relation to different contexts by authors such as Judith Kerr, Peter Sís, and Uri Shulevitz, to name a few. This article thus analyzes the depiction of exile as depicted in two Portuguese illustrated children's books portraying the exile experience during the dictatorial regime.

Walking with Bhekizizwe Peterson: The shadows and afterlives of exile

Zwelidumile “Dumile” Feni’s affecting journey unfolds as he flees South Africa in 1968, seeking political exile in England until 1978, and subsequently relocating to the United States, where he painted and sculpted until his passing in 1991. The spectral echoes of his life find resonance in his daughter’s narrative within Ramadan Suleman and Bhekizizwe Peterson's film ʻZwelidumile’. This article argues that we must situate this documentary in context by examining the emotional toll and narrative accounts of the longer history of displacement brought about by colonialism and apartheid. The analysis begins by listening to the haunting signs within the documentary, revealing three moving themes. The first theme peels back the layers of secrecy, spotlighting the revelation of Marriam’s biological father – drawing attention to the spectral and melancholic imbrication. The narrative then explores Feni’s life in exile, examining his deliberate silence on familial matters in South Africa. The last of the three themes looks into Marriam’s acknowledged but bewildering loss, exploring its implications for a sense of self and continuity. Zwelidumile exemplifies Bhekizizwe Peterson’s steadfast commitment to shedding light on the complex nuances of the black experience and emphasising narrative’s vital role as an essential component of what makes us human.

Некрологи И. И. Попова как источник по истории противостояния части общества и государства второй половины XIX в.

This article examines the obituaries on revolutionaries written and published by I. I. Popov in the 1900s-1930s. Based on the analysis of a wide range of published materials, it was possible to establish Popov's authorship in 23 obituaries. Despite all the shortcomings inherent in this source, the obituary contains a lot of valuable information about the life and work of entire generations, about the problems of society and the state in the past. It is noted that in his obituaries I. I. Popov describes not only the little-known facts of the biographies of revolutionaries, but also makes broad generalizations revealing the features of the activities of revolutionaries and their relationships. The conclusion is made about the importance of this type of documents as a source on the history of the populist movement and political exile of the second half of the 19th century.

Здравоохранение и народная медицина на Тобольском Севере: взгляд политических ссыльных конца XIX в.

This article, based on memoirs, correspondence and works of political exiles, examines the specifics of medical practice and traditional medicine in the Tobolsk North at the end of the 19th century. The point of view of patients, the dynamics of relations between them and their attending physicians in the context of the harsh natural and climatic conditions of the North and a different sanitary and hygienic culture are analyzed. The problems of alcoholism of doctors, lack of medical personnel, the negative influence of local officials and the neglectful attitude of the tsarist government are studied. Based on historical sources, the features of traditional medicine, witchcraft and shamanism, their significance in the worldview of the local population are considered. In conclusion, the general state of health care and its importance in the daily life of political exiles, the role of provincial authorities in the system of political exile in the North of Western Siberia are assessed.

"Shunkan on Devil Island": Domesticating Political Exile in the Japanese Puppet Play “Heike nōgyo no shima”

This essay discusses the scene entitled Shunkan on Devil Island from Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s early modern puppet play The Heike on the Island of Women as a commentary on social and political strictures of the early modern Tokugawa shogunate, which increasingly regulated social and commercial life as it sought to maintain control of the burgeoning cities of Edo and Osaka in the early 1700s. The play is loosely based on the medieval epic war tale Tale of the Heike (Heike monogatari), a beloved and foundational text that has found numerous afterlives in Japan’s theatrical, narrative and cinematic traditions. Shunkan on Devil Island refashions the Heike’s story of the Buddhist prelate Shunkan (banished to Devil Island following a botched coup attempt) as a specifically early modern tale by introducing a female character, Chidori, who becomes the wife of one of Shunkan’s two fellow male exiles and therefore a member of the "family" that they, as aristocrats banished to a distant island, create. Through exploring the idea of family relations on the remote Kigaigashima, Chikamatsu recasts the well-known tale of Shunkan on Devil Island to create a utopic staged space that comments on the oppressiveness of the early modern polity experienced acutely by the urban audiences of the early 18th century.

La mythologie d’un exil heureux : Matei Vișniec ou comment habiter la culture française

The aim of this article is to reveal the implications of the political exile in Matei Visniec`s literary work, which he claims to be a joyful one, a cultural adventure, and leads him to describe himself as a man with his roots in Romania and his wings in France regardless of the communist terror. Our analysis will dismantle and aspire to establish the features of a whole imagery and theatrical chronotopes created in the context of exile, when Vișniec lived in Paris, – but also after the fall of communism –, when he engaged as a journalist and writer against the communist regime, exploring the soothing and cathartic virtues of the Word, whilst inhabiting two cultures and two sensibilities.

The Impact of Political Exile in the 19th century on the Formation of the Social and Cultural Space of Siberia

The Impact of Political Exile in the 19th century on the Formation of the Social and Cultural Space of Siberia

Политическая ситуация в Якутской области накануне Октябрьского этапа революции 1917 года

For the first time in a separate study, the scientific article examines the political situation in the Yakut region on the eve of October 1917. The alignment of political forces in the region that emerged in the fall of 1917 is char-acterized. After the departure of the political exiles, power passed into the hands of the Socialist Revolutionar-ies and Federalists. As in the center of the country, moderate socialists were in power in the Yakut region. In the fall of 1917, disagreements between the Socialist Revolutionaries and Social Democrats intensified, and a “united democracy” was created without the participation of the Council of Workers’ Deputies and the Social Democrats who supported it. Further development of the conflict led to the withdrawal of the Social Democrats from the Yakut Committee of Public Safety. The scientific article concludes that the development of the political situation in Yakutia is associated with the remoteness of the region and the peculiarities of its pre-revolutionary history. In the region, the united organization of the RSDLP operated until 1918. Local Bolsheviks and Menshe-viks supported Soviet power, but their forces were too weak. In this regard, the political conditions for the estab-lishment of Soviet power in the Yakut region on the eve of October 1917 did not exist.

Nowe edycje pism Bronisława Piłsudskiego

New Editions of Bronisław Piłsudski’s Works Japonia późnych lat okresu Meiji oczyma Bronisława Piłsudskiego, wybór, tłum., adaptacja, przyp. i kom. Alfred F. Majewicz, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika,Toruń 2020, (Japonika Toruniensia, t. 4) ss. 553 Bronisław Piłsudski, Dziennik 1882–1886, wprowadzenie, posłowie Witold Kowalski, ARKANA, Kraków 2021, ss. 841 While in political exile in the Russian Far East (Sakhalin, Vladivostok), Bronisław Piłsudski (1866–1918) conducted significant research, documenting the culture of the local aboriginal people, with a particular focus on the Sakhalin Ainu. Using wax rollers, he recorded valuable insights and observations about their way of life. These recordings, preserved in Poland and read in Japan, played a pivotal role in sparking international interest and studies on the work of this pioneering ethnographer. Recent years have borne fruit in the form of a biographical monograph by Kazuhiko Sawada (Japanese edition in 2019, Polish edition in 2022) and an anthology of journalistic articles discussing social relations in Japan, initially printed in Russia since 1906 and later in Galicia and the Kingdom of Poland (since 1907). An English volume prepared by Alfred F. Majewicz will be published in The Collected Works of Bronisław Piłsudski. Furthermore, the published Diary of Piłsudski’s school years is included in the discussion.

An introduction to György Márkus’s aesthetics: Transformation from praxis aesthetics to theory of aesthetic modernity

György Márkus, as a leading member of the Budapest School led by György Lukács in Hungary, is closely concerned with aesthetics. His final unfinished writings in political exile in Sydney were focused on the question of modern cultural autonomy. From the 1960s to the new century, from Budapest to Sydney in Australia, he established a new form of Neo-Marxist aesthetics on the basis of critical theory drawn from Lukács to the Frankfurt School. His aesthetics includes three dimensions: an aesthetics of praxis, a reconstruction of Lukács’s aesthetics and a theory of aesthetic modernity. His aesthetics is characteristic of analytic philosophy, especially ‘categorical analysis’. It shifts from philosophical aesthetics in the Hungarian period, which is based on an ontological foundation, that is, materialist phenomenology, to social or sociological aesthetics in the Australian period concerning social modernity, institution, constitution, culture, and so on. This is a turn from a philosophical paradigm to a structural one as regards aesthetics, which indicates a break with Lukács’s late return in the early 1960s to Hegelian inspired Ontology of Social Being. Márkus is strictly and essentially an essayist in fragments, who distinguishes himself from the other members of the Budapest School in this way. Ironically, this genre is once again influenced by the young Lukács’s aesthetics.