International rescue of academics, intellectuals and artists from nazism during the second world war

the experience of Mexico

Daniela Gleizer

pp. 181-203

in: Ludger Pries, Pablo Yankelevich (eds), European and Latin American social scientists as refugees, Émigrés and return‐migrants, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to analyze Mexico's experience in the rescue of academics, intellectuals, and artists from Nazism during the Second World War. Despite the fact that various prominent figures arrived as part of the group of German-speaking exiles that came to Mexico, there was no official policy to attract talented individuals. Getting visas for these persons was much more complicated than what the historiography on the subject usually portrays and it required the coordinated work of various rescue groups within and outside of Mexico. Once in the country, the well-known members of this group of exiles enjoyed many liberties and even a degree of governmental support, but they were shadowed by the secret service of Mexico and the United States, and in general, they had serious difficulties in finding stable work and in making a living. This contradicts the prevailing idea in the historiography that the country was an idyllic place of refuge for German-speaking exiles.