4 - England: An Eyewitness Report

Summary

Born in 1915 in Sofia, Bulgaria, Susanne Miller was raised in Vienna. In 1935 Miller emigrated to England, where she worked with the Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund (ISK) and the British Labour Party. After World War II, she went to Germany with her future husband, Willi Eichler. In 1952 she began working for the National Executive Committee of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). She headed the SPD's Historical Commission from its establishment in 1982 until 1990. Miller received her Ph.D. in history in 1963. She subsequently joined the Commission for the History of Parliamentarianism and Political Parties. Together with Heinrich Potthoff, she wrote A History of German Social Democracy from 1848 to the Present (1982). She has published widely in the field of German and Austrian labor and political history. This report was written in 1991.

Perception is determined not only by its object but also by its subject, by the person who perceives, experiences, judges, and remembers his or her observations, impressions, and feelings. I think, therefore, that I should first introduce this person - myself. I wish to state from the outset that my biography, my motives, and my experiences cannot be regarded as typical for women émigrés in England.