Writing a history of modern Britain and Germany necessarily encompasses reflections on exile and emigration. How should we think of those who have moved and were forced to move between the two countries in the past? For many of the refugees who escaped Nazi Germany, there remained a tension between assimilation into British society and their own sense of identity. In this lecture, Jan Rüger explores this tension through a series of biographical studies. His focus is on the 1930s and 40s, but he places the experiences of these decades within a longer timeframe, extending from the early eighteenth century to recent debates about immigration and Britain’s departure from the European Union.
The lecture marks the publication of Great Powers: A History of Britain and Germany. It will be followed by a reception.
Jan Rüger is Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London. He is the author of The Great Naval Game: Britain and Germany in the Age of Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2009) and Heligoland: Britain, Germany, and the Struggle for the North Sea (Oxford University Press, 2016). His new book, Great Powers: A History of Britain and Germany, is published by Allen Lane/Penguin.