Lea Grundig 1906 -1977. Experiences of migration in the 20th century

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Jeannette van Laak
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 437727385

The research project investigates how the view of or perception of a person changes when the experience of migration forms the starting point of the investigation. For this purpose, questions of historical migration research are linked with questions of the history of knowledge on migration and with aspects of gender history. The project focuses on the multiple migration experiences of the artist and later SED cultural functionary Lea Grundig: Their Jewish Orthodox family of origin had moved from Galicia to Dresden in the early 20th century, emigrated to Palestine in the 1930s and settled there, while the artist Grundig returned to Dresden in 1948/49 and thus to the SBZ/DDR. Emigration and remigration are to be questioned in terms of historical dimensions, since these were both passed on within the family and their own experiences had to be integrated into the biography. In addition, Grundig was involved as an artist in the respective public discourses at the various stages of her life, so that one can use her case as an example to trace how migrant experiential knowledge was generated and introduced into the respective host society. In addition to letters, diaries and manuscripts, a pictorial legacy is available for evaluation, which comprises around a thousand illustrations created during emigration and is included in part in the analysis. The outcome will be a biography that asks how forced and self-determined migration in the 20th century shaped the life of an artist who throughout her life moved between emancipation and integration or departure and adaptation so often characteristic of German-Jewish communists.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants