Nazi rule stripped Jews of civil rights and livelihoods in Germany and later in annexed and occupied territories. Writers, artists, scientists and publishers fled Berlin, Vienna, Prague and other centres for Britain, Palestine, the Americas and safer European states. Emigration became increasingly difficult and was prohibited by Germany in 1941.

Exile transformed twentieth-century culture through displaced figures including Nelly Sachs, Bertolt Brecht, Thomas Mann and Lion Feuchtwanger. German Exilliteratur examined statelessness, fascism and linguistic estrangement, while refugee publishers preserved works banned by the Nazis.