Exile Library

Since 1983, the exile literature research library – with more than 18,000 volumes, pertinent periodicals, films and other electronic media – has been located in the landmarked Carl von Ossietzky Reading Room of Hamburg’s State and University Library. For the most part, the reading room’s collections comprise literary texts that reflect the exile period of 1933–1945 and the corresponding research literature. Approximately 4,000 volumes in the collections are from the estate library of P. Walter Jacob.

Recent collection fields reflect the current focus of the research center and encompass, in particular, comparative aspects of exile research, the relation between exile and migration, exile in the Jewish tradition and exile in contemporary literature.