Ehrhard Bahr
The UCLA German Literature professor emeritus on his new book, and why L.A. is a great place for mod
Following the Nazi ascent in Germany, liberal and Jewish intellectuals were forced to leave the old world behind and seek refuge across the Atlantic. For a fraction of the exiles, that meant setting up shop in Los Angeles. As most had achieved intellectual and artistic prominence in Weimar Germany before Hitler's infamous book burnings and censorship campaigns, L.A. soon became inundated with some of Europe's most prestigious thinkers. Today, you'll have better luck finding their names - author Thomas Mann, dramatist/poet Bertolt Brecht, scholar Theodor Adorno, and composer Arnold Schoenberg, to name a few - on a college syllabus than the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But if you ask German academic Ehrhard Bahr, these exiles rightfully deserve a place in the city's collective memory, if not on its sidewalks.
In 1966 Bahr came to Los Angeles for a teaching position at UCLA as a German Literature specialist. After 30 years of research on the subject, Bahr, now professor emeritus, has consolidated his findings in the book Weimar on the Pacific: German Exile Culture in Los Angeles and the Crisis of Modernism (University of California Press).
Examining the city's past, Bahr shows how the creation of an "exile modernism" brought about extraordinary advances in film, music, academics, literature, and architecture. Contrary to the anti-intellectual label often slapped on L.A., he claims the city provided exiles opportunities to create some of the 20th century's canonical modernist works. Bahr also reveals the L.A. neighborhood where Nobel Laureate Thomas Mann got his snazzy haircuts (in case you ever wondered).
-Max D. Baumgarten
CityBeat: What initially inspired German exiles to settle in Los Angeles?
Ehrhard Bahr: Well, the film industry had attracted a lot of European actors and directors during the time of silent movies. Hollywood became known as a place where German-speaking professionals lived. Also, some of them settled in Southern California for health reasons. Also, many exiles, when they first left Germany, had lived in the French Riviera. The L.A. climate reminded them of the French Riviera. And then simply, as soon as a critical mass was here, others felt they wanted to join.
What was Los Angeles like in the late 1930s and early 1940s as an intellectual and cultural center, when the exiles arrived?
The only major cultural institution was the film industry. While there was the Hollywood Bowl and Los Angeles Philharmonic, there were no major museums in the city. The universities hadn't yet achieved great reputation. It was mainly dominated by Hollywood.
How did you try to appeal to both academics as well as the casual reader with an interest in Los Angeles?
Well, it is a balancing act. Some people may find some chapters too dense, but each chapter can be read on its own. For the academics, the photos may not be that interesting. But, the general reader will suddenly realize that they drive by these houses every day: Brecht's house is on 26th Street in Santa Monica, Adorno and Schoenberg lived in Brentwood, while Thomas Mann had a place in the Pacific Palisades. These are bites of memories within the history of Los Angeles.
Did the universities, or any other cultural institution, try to integrate Weimar exiles into their organizational fabric?
Yes, there was considerable integration. Various departments at universities hired a lot of scholars from abroad. The most outstanding professor UCLA hired was Arnold Schoenberg - he established the graduate program in Composition. The Los Angeles Philharmonic hired refugee conductors. The movie industry hired not only directors and actors from central Europe but also technicians.
Why did German exiles often have contempt towards their new home, which they saw as a cultural wasteland? I am reminded of Brecht's poem comparing L.A. to hell: "on thinking about Hell, that it must be/Still more like Los Angeles..."
I think some of these criticisms would have been raised even if they had stayed in Europe. Europe could have developed culturally in the direction of pure art, but it went in the direction of commercialism. These [artists and intellectuals] would have criticized the commercialization of art and film, whether they were in Berlin or Hollywood. In the case of Brecht, the poet had to visualize Los Angeles as ugly, like a hell, to be a modernist because the modernist needs an ugly environment to be productive.
What happened to the exiles following the war?
Many of them went back to Europe, if not Germany. The House Un-American [Activities] Committee contributed to the reverse migration. After seeing the Nazis rise to power in Weimar Republic, many émigrés thought that history was repeating itself in America with the Red Scare. Initially, Thomas Mann wanted to stay here. The very first talk he gave at UCLA he said he wanted to settle here with his grandchildren. And then he left in 1952 because he was afraid he would be singled out as a traveler of communism. Brecht was the eleventh member of the Hollywood Ten.
Your book explores "the crisis of modernism" for the exiled intellectual. How exactly did Weimar intellectuals redefine modernism and cultivate what you call "exile modernism"?
Well, exile modernism is a dialectic modernism. As Thomas Mann said, there is not an evil Germany and a good Germany; Germany is both good and evil. Exile modernism tries to see both sides. Additionally, exile modernism tries to build a new audience because the old modernists, they felt, had become esoteric and elitists.
Were they successful?
Well, I looked at the Book of the Month Club nominations and it was amazing how many of the exiles were nominated.
Compared to a city like New York, where a lot of exiles settled and consequently struggled, why was Los Angeles able to establish itself as a center for cultural productivity?
In New York they were not able to achieve this kind of culture production as in Los Angeles because there you already had established theatres, operas, and museums. The cultural elites in New York were not interested in competition. In Los Angeles, people felt kind of flattered by the newcomer's presence. They had a Nobel Prize winner in town with Thomas Mann. This has changed completely now. Los Angeles is one of the first-rate cities in the world for museums now.
Why has Los Angeles garnered a reputation for historical amnesia?
People like to blame Hollywood for it, which to a certain extent is true. But I think historically it had to do with real estate. Real estate advertising in Los Angeles focuses on the idea of a new utopia. People have always tried to sell real estate here on the basis on finding a new paradise on earth, a new culture.
Published: 07/26/2007
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