Exclusión-inclusión. El caso del exilio político germanoparlante en México y la solidaridad antifascista de artistas mexicanos del Taller de Gráfica Popular

Abstract

The following article deals with the experience of leftist and German-speaking political exiles in Mexico, following the persecution of National Socialist and Fascist governments perpetrated against them in Europe in the late 1930s and 1940s. It parts from the premise that the National Socialist construction that emerged in Germany and elsewhere at that time was built on exclusion. And, who were the social groups left out of this project? Although in the first instance it was the political dissidents and critics of the regime, very early on, other groups were also pointed out as not suitable for the project of the Aryan society; for example, the Roma and the Sinti peoples, the so-called Asoziale (anti-socials), the mentally ill, the feminists and, last but not least, the Jewish people, a group dealt with the tragically famous «Final Solution». In contrast to this exclusion, the forced political exile of the leftist intelligentsia fleeing Europe found in the local politicized left-oriented groups in Mexico a niche of inclusion. Not all of the leftist oriented organizations accepted the newcomers, of course, but there were enough organizations and associations that showed solidarity on the local, national and international levels. But not all the exiles had the same experience. The latter is evident if two separate cases are examined: those of Anna Seghers and Alice Rühle-Gerstel, respectively. The first one was an orthodox communist who enjoyed recognition and acceptance in the leftist academic circles of that time, and still does, whilst the second one, a feminist, a socialist-humanist, was rejected by the leftist preponderant groups, was isolated, and finally fell into oblivion. Dissidence and estrangement, occurring on a daily basis, formed part of both their experiences that turned out being completely opposite despite the many similarities they shared, revealing important dissimilarities within the group of leftist German-speaking exiles. Finally, the article addresses the solidarity shown towards the exiles by the group of artists and printmakers that formed the Taller de Gráfica Popular (Popular Graphics Workshop) in Mexico at that time, and by one of the most emblematic printmakers, Leopoldo Méndez, who provided poster designs to disseminate the exile group’s propaganda that focused on spreading the ideas if their anti-fascist struggle. As an example of this, El libro Negro (The black book), a book denouncing fascist practices world-wide, although organized and published in Mexico, enjoyed international support of anti-fascist intellectuals.