A vegetarian café in London’s Soho district was the secret nerve centre of one of Britain’s most effective anti-fascist resistance networks from 1934 until 1945—yet today, the luxury hotel on the site bears no plaque. The project recovers the lost history of the Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund (ISK), a transnational socialist exile network that operated from the Café Vega, run by a German refugee couple. No focused study has ever detailed this milieu. By combining a “history of intimacy” methodology—tracing the personal bonds and emotions that shaped political action—with digital reconstruction, the research fills a gap in understanding how exile communities sustain resistance under extreme pressure. If successful, the project will produce journal articles and an immersive virtual reality experience of the Café Vega, built in collaboration with Queen’s University Belfast’s MediaLab and Sonic Arts Research Centre. This VR tool will let users explore how an everyday space became a site of political defiance. The public engagement framework will be adaptable by heritage organisations and schools. The work is primarily fundamental historical research, but its methods for studying exiled political networks speak directly to today’s European cities, which once again host refugees fleeing war and autocracy.
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From 1934 until the Nazi defeat in 1945, one of Britain’s most effective anti-fascist resistance networks operated out of the Café Vega, a vegetarian restaurant in London. Today, the luxury hotel occupying this site carries no plaques describing this history of resistance. This absence mirrors the fact that, to date, no focused study has detailed the history of the influential milieu of socialist exiles in interwar Britain connected to this restaurant, itself established in 1934 by a German refugee couple who, along with their staff and many of their patrons, were members of the important Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund (ISK). Initially formed as a splinter from German social democratic currents, the ISK was a transnational anti-fascist network that remains under-researched. To resolve this gap, my project uncovers histories of the ISK - alongside their collaborators, friends and families – in Britain before and during the Second World War. By combining an innovative history of intimacy methodology with cutting-edge digital reconstruction, Europe Speaks will pioneer new ways of understanding how an exile community maintained networks of resistance during a pivotal moment in modern European history. Building on my track record as an early career historian specialising in the transnational history of interwar radicalism, this ambitious project will enhance my research, leadership, and engagement skills. Using a history of intimacy methodology sensitive to the importance of affect in determining political trajectories, I will illuminate personal bonds that facilitated consequential intellectual exchanges within the wider world of interwar anti-fascism. This methodological focus resonates with urgent contemporary needs: today, European cities once again host exiles fleeing autocracy and war. Like the interwar exile community, these diverse political groups must navigate complex relationships with states and citizens. I will also lead an innovative public engagement initiative transforming archival research into immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences through a digital reconstruction of the ISK's Café Vega. This project strand will develop my profile as a technologically skilled public historian. Based at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), the digital humanities strand of the project will transform the Centre for Public History (CPH) into a hub of collaboration between historians and technologists. I will develop interdisciplinary leadership experience by coordinating with two world-leading QUB centres: MediaLab, a centre for immersive technology research with a VR laboratory, and the Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC), a hub of recording studios and expert staff. Leveraging my previous experience creating historical soundscapes, this ambitious digital humanities project will pioneer new ways of democratising historical research. Users will become active participants in historical investigation, discovering how an everyday space became a site of political resistance. This VR experience will catalyse new frameworks for public engagement with histories of political exile – frameworks adaptable by other scholars and heritage organisations. The project will have a wide range of beneficiaries. Journal articles arising from the project will enhance scholarly understandings of interwar European antifascism and the rapidly accelerating potential of digital public history. The public engagement framework I will develop through interdisciplinary project management will be applicable to heritage organisations, cultural sites, and educational institutions. Collaborations within QUB and with external institutions including the Wiener Holocaust Memorial Library will be mutually beneficial, enhancing the reputation of each stakeholder. Ultimately, this project will uncover an under-researched history while investigating and establishing frameworks for technologically ambitious and discipline-bridging public engagement.
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