Saved by the Bay

Free and open to the public. Followed by reception.

UC Berkeley faculty, curators, graduate and undergraduate students and members of the community discuss the history of the intellectual migration from Europe to Berkeley in the 20th century. The program will follow the innovative unconference format: a participant-driven meeting in which the agenda is created by the attendees at the start of the event.

During the Spring Semester 2013, faculty, curators and students interviewed current and Emeriti UC Berkeley faculty and conducted research in the University Archives of The Bancroft Library, unearthing hundreds of primary sources documenting the lives of a group of intellectuals who came to Berkeley as refugees from European fascism. These individuals contributed much to the academic life of our University, becoming world-renown leaders in all fields of scholarship.

The research constitutes the basis for an exhibition that will be presented at The Magnes in 2014 (the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War).

Program Schedule:

5:00-5:30pm Opening plenary session

5:45-6:15pm Parallel sessions: The Old World and Lives at UC Berkeley

6:30-7pm Parallel sessions: Emigration/Immigration, and (Not) Making Peace with the Past

7:15-7:45pm Closing plenary session; participants share results, ideas, and exhibition proposals

The Organizers: Professor Thomas Laqueur, Department of History; Professor Martin Jay, Department of History; Dr. Alla Efimova, Director, The Magnes; Dr. Francesco Spagnolo, Curator, The Magnes and Department of Music; Daniel Viragh, Department of History and Magnes Graduate Fellow 2012-2013

Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program Participants: Anna Cai, Honest Chung, Stuart Fine, Alexander Garcia, Aaron Horowitt, Elena Kempf, Serena Ma, Maiya Moncino, and Rachel Xiao.