Lion Feuchtwanger - Imprisonment and Escape

Imprisonment and Escape

After leaving Germany in 1933, Feuchtwanger lived in Sanary-sur-Mer, a center of German-speaking exiles in southern France. Due to the high circulation of his books, especially in the Anglo-Saxon world, he led a relatively comfortable life in exile. As a result of the lack of anti-Nazi attitude of Western powers, he approached Soviet communism. From November 1936 to February 1937 he travelled the Stalinist Soviet Union. In his travel impressions of Moscow in 1937, he justified the show trials against alleged Trotskyites, attracting outrage from Arnold Zweig, Franz Werfel. His friendly attitude toward Stalin later delayed his naturalization in the United States.

When France declared war on Germany in 1939, Feuchtwanger was interned for a few weeks at Les Milles (Camp des Milles). When the Germans invaded France in 1940, Feuchtwanger was captured and again imprisoned at Les Milles. Later, the prisoners of Les Milles were moved to a makeshift tent camp near Nîmes due to the advance of German troops. From there he was smuggled to Marseille disguised as a woman. After months of waiting in Marseille, he was able to flee with his wife Marta to the United States via Spain and Portugal. He escaped with the help of Marta; Varian Fry, an American journalist who helped refugees escape from occupied France; Hiram Bingham IV, US Vice Consul in Marseille; the Rev. Waitstill and Mrs. Martha Sharp, a Unitarian minister and his wife who were in Europe on a similar mission as Fry. The Rev. Sharp volunteered to accompany Feuchtwanger by rail from Marseille across Spain to Lisbon. If Feuchtwanger had been recognized at border crossings in France or Spain, he would have been detained and turned over to the Gestapo. Realizing that Feuchtwanger was still not out of reach of the Nazis even in Portugal, Martha Sharp gave up her own berth on the Excalibur so Feuchtwanger could sail immediately for New York City with her husband.