Oxford University researchers are inviting people to help them discover the lives of refugees who sought sanctuary in the city during the Second World War.

The researchers are currently focusing on emigré Paul Jacobsthal, an eminent archaeologist forced to flee to Oxford from Nazi Germany because of his Jewish origins.

They are hoping the project, being conducted with the Oxford City of Sanctuary Group, the Association of Jewish Refugees, schools and volunteers, will lead to an exhibition in 2012.

Project co-director Dr Katharina Ulmschneider, from Oxford University’s Institute of Archaeology, said: “Few people today realise that Prof Jacobsthal’s interest in Celtic art was politically dangerous in Nazi Germany.

“As Nazi power grew, the study of archaeology became highly politicised, and the pan-European origins of Celtic Art did not fit with the regime’s nationalistic doctrines.

“What his letters reveal is that, even after he had fled Germany, many of his former colleagues continued to write to him with information and support for his research, in direct defiance of the Nazi regime. The quiet German resistance to Nazism shown in these letters has rarely been recognised.”

Prof Jacobsthal, a senior academic at Oxford University until his death in 1957, made his name as a leading expert in Celtic Art, publishing his ground-breaking book, Early Celtic Art, in 1944.

He also left personal letters, which reveal his and his wife’s experiences as refugees, and the new project will provide a picture of what Oxford was like for wartime refugees.

Project co-director Dr Sally Crawford said: “We want people to give us their memories of relatives who were refugees at the time, and help us to compile this archive material.

“We are very keen to speak to refugees who remember the Jacobsthals, or have a story from the period themselves, so they can contribute to a remarkable social history project, which should benefit the whole community.’ Prof Jacobsthal’s letters will be catalogued, digitised, and on the web from 2011 at arch.ox.ac.uk/jacobsthal People who want to contribute to the project can contact Dr Crawford and Dr Ulmschneider at the Institute of Archaeology, 36 Beaumont Street, Oxford, or email archivist@arch.ox.ac.uk The project is being funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Reva and David Logan Foundation.