The literature on refugee historians who emigrated to the United States after Hitler came to power has focused on well-known refugees who worked in the field of modern German history. This focus has not been without good reason: the refugee historians dramatically influenced the study of German history in the United States. Their importance in the field of German history continues to this day, although they no longer dominate the field, as they did in the 1950s and 1960s. As professors at elite universities, as interpreters of German history, and as teachers of much of the generation of German history professors still active in the historical profession, the refugee historians have fundamentally influenced how German history is thought about and articulated in the English-speaking historical profession.

However, in keeping with recent trends in emigration history, this catalog documents not only the famous Émigrés who made important contributions to the study of German history in the United States, but also the many refugee historians who worked in urban and small-town college communities for years, without much recognition from the historical profession. Considerable efforts have been made to document forgotten refugee historians, and their inclusion gives perhaps a more accurate picture of the emigration of historians as a professional group. This catalog contains biographical and bibliographical information on eighty-eight refugee historians. As the pages of this catalog suggest, refugee historians shared very different emigration experiences and were active in many different academic settings.