International Conference: European Political Refugees in the UK from 1800 – “How Bitter the Savour is of Other’s Bread?”
15th November, 10am – 5pm, Pigott Theatre, Knowledge Centre at the British Library, London
This exciting one-day in-person event will explore the rich history of political refugees from Europe who sought asylum in the UK from the 19th century onwards.
International academics, scholars, and curators will investigate how European diaspora communities have woven themselves into the fabric of British society, fostering intercultural exchange and contributing to the shaping of modern Britain.
The conference is organised by the European Collections section of the British Library in partnership with the European Union National Institutes of Culture (EUNIC) London. It will be accompanied by the exhibition ‘Music, Migration, and Mobility: The Story of Émigré Musicians from Nazi Europe in Britain’ and by events run by the conference partners.
The event is open to all and attendance is free, but registration is required.
Booking details can be found here:
Conference 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
UniversityJewish emigration from Lithuanian territory to the UK via South Africa, Dovile Cypaite, 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
Register for your FREE place here:
Screenings of the documentary ‘Trains’ by Maciej
Stories from the East, dedicated to Ukraine
