What does it mean to live under occupation? How does it shape the culture and identities of European nations? How does it affect the way we write and read literature? These are fundamental questions that set the stage for an in-depth exploration. Focusing on the literary works of writers from various European countries that were occupied by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union or the Allies during and after World War II, the contributions in this edited volume seek to unravel the complex interplay between historical circumstances and literary expression. Centered on the concept of occupation literature as a genre in its own right, differentiating it from ‘war literature’, the book navigates this subtle distinction, drawing connections with the Holocaust novel and extending the timeframe beyond Nazi occupation.

This chapter examines the literary representation of three occupied cities—Tbilisi, Paris, and Luxembourg—in works composed in the 1930s and 1940s by Georgian and German writers in exile, principally in France and Luxembourg.

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