Maps of Los Angeles German Refugees


Using the new Google Maps API, I've thrown together some information I'd been keeping track of on emigre addresses to produce a map of LA with refugee addresses for any given year. I'd recommend starting with the map of 1945, since it has the most stable and complete list. You can zoom in on the maps, click on the names on the left to find particular people, look at satellite photos, all sorts of cool things.

The emigrees seem to divide pretty evenly between the Santa Monica/Pacific Palisades area (where Salka Viertel had what, she claims at least, were some of the most prominent salons for emigres) and the areas around Beverly Hills/West Hollywood, where there was already an established Russian community and which affords better proximity to jobs in the film industry.

There are a few caveats. In any year where someone moved, they are listed twice, once for each address (check out the 1942 map to see a year when everyone seems to have moved). Obviously, not everyone who should be is on the list--if you know the address for any European emigres living in LA with their years of residence and want to e-mail them to me, that would be great: circumlocuting to avoid spammers, my e-mail is bschmidt at the host of this website (that is, my school.edu). I particularly want, at the moment, information about Brecht, Adorno, and Horkheimer.


Maps by year
1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955

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