The study examines the factors favouring the establishment of an audience for exile literature in Switzerland and the German states in the first half of the 19th century. In the Vormärz period and the 1848 revolution, various Swiss publishers printed writings by German refugees set on influencing the political developments in their home land. Accordingly, the conservative forces within the German Confederation looked on Switzerland as a 'hotbed of revolution' and did their best to thwart the smuggling of 'subversive' literature. The study analyzes the relations between the agents involved and furnishes important initiatives toward a social history of exile literature in the Vormärz period.