HILDE SPIEL AND GISÈLE FREUND AND THE EXPERIENCE OF EXILE. TESTIMONIES AND DOCUMENTS OF AN AGE

Abstract

Both Hilde Spiel (1990-1990) and Gisèle Freund (1908-2000) are considered fundamental intellectuals in the context of Germanic culture in the 20th century. Hilde Spiel worked as a war correspondent, narrator, translator and relevant journalist in the environment of exile literature in which exile and the conflict of World War II prevail in her pages. Gisèle Freund also lived in the same tumultuous period of the 20th century in which her training as a sociologist and photojournalist served to leave us with an important legacy of the history of photography and photojour-nalism. An authentic cultural heritage in the world of photography, portraits and artists including, among others from his time in France, Paul Valéry, André Gide, Louis Aragon, Jean Richard Bloch and André Malraux. Also from his exile in Latin America, he portrayed characters from Latin American culture, among which Jorge Luis Borges, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo stand out. The photographic strategies used by Gisèle Freund are based on the search for fleeting expressions, seeking the ideal modulation of light to express the true essence of the portrait, all of them characterized by the magnetism and aura of the portrayed characters. This study by both authors contributes to opening new avenues of research in which it unites two women of Jewish origin who have contributed to reflection on the female condition and therefore have provided a novel vision of the most human face of war and of the post world war and lastly they represent an essential testimony and an authentic portrait of the Europe of the 20th century.