Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T10:15:04.793Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Nazi Persecution: Britain's Rescue of Academic Refugees

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2011

Ralph Kohn*
Affiliation:
14 Harley Street, London W1G 9PQ, UK. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

In the 1930s, as the power of the Nazis grew, many leading German academics and scholars sought refuge in other countries, including. the UK, the USA and many countries in Europe. Some of the refugees were already well known for their achievements, such as Einstein, Fermi, Schoenberg, Bartok, Brecht and Weill. The more established figures had easier access to those countries offering them refuge, whereas others at that time had fewer choices. The Academic Assistance Council in London and the Royal Society played a significant role in helping academic refugees find places in universities and other institutions where they could continue their research. The USA favoured distinguished academics, whereas the UK and other European countries were more open to younger academic refugees, who would subsequently make their name. There was, however, also opposition from various quarters, including State Department officials in the USA and certain British Noble Lords. Without the dedication and determination of many establishment figures on both sides of the Atlantic, the wealth of talent that had until that time been nurtured in Germany would have been lost. This article describes some of the prominent British figures who played such a significant and, as it turned out, life-saving role during this crucial period.

Type
Focus: Academia Europaea: Founders and Founding Visions
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References and Notes

1.Kohn, R. (2008) Nazi Persecution – Britain's Gift: a Personal Reflection. Lecture given at the Royal Society, London, on 3 December 2008.Google Scholar
2.Medawar, J. and Pyke, D. (2000) Hitler's Gift – Scientists Who Fled Nazi Germany (London: Judy Piatkus).Google Scholar
3.Johnson, A. (1952) Pioneer's Progress: An Autobiography (New York: Viking Press).Google Scholar
4.Duggan, S. and Drury, B. (1948) The Rescue of Science and Learning (New York: Macmillan).Google Scholar
5. Cited in Rumsfeld, D. (2001) Rumsfeld's rules: advice on government, business and life. The Wall Street Journal, 29 January.Google Scholar
6.Hartshorne, E. Y. (1937) The German Universities and National Socialism (London: George Allen & Unwin), p. 112.Google Scholar
7.Lenard, P. (1936) Deutsche Physik in vier Bänden (Munich: J.F. Lehmann).Google Scholar
8. Cited in Bentwich, N. (1959) The Rescue and Achievement of Refugee Scholars (The Hague: Martinus Nyhoff).Google Scholar
9.Wilde, O. (1891) The Picture of Dorian Gray (London: Ward Lock & Co.).Google Scholar
10. Delivered as part of the 1939 appeal lectures for refugees.Google Scholar
11.Zimmermann, D. (2006) The Society for the Protection of Science and Learning and the politicisation of British Science in the 1930s. Minerva, 44, pp. 2545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Kohn, R. (2000) Life and Times of Sir Ernst Chain FRS (London: Imperial College of Science and Technology).Google Scholar
13.Zweig, S. (1943) The World of Yesterday (University of Nebraska: Viking Press).Google Scholar
14.Krebs, H. (1981) Otto Warburg, Cell Physiologist, Biochemist and Eccentric (Oxford: Clarendon Press).Google Scholar
15.Clarke, P. (2009) The Twentieth Century's Most Influential Economist (London: Bloomsbury).Google Scholar
16.Newton, V. W. (1966) F.D.R. and the Holocaust (New York: St. Martins Press).Google Scholar
17.Simpson, T. (1992) Refugee Scholars (published privately).Google Scholar
18.Krebs, H. A. (1981) Reminiscences and Reflections (in collaboration with Anne Martin) (Oxford: Clarendon Press).Google Scholar
19.Koestler, A. (1949) Insight and Outlook. An Inquiry into the Common Foundations of Science (New York: Macmillan).Google Scholar

Further Reading

Bentwich, N. (1959) The Rescue and Achievement of Refugee Scholars (The Hague: Martinus Nyhoff).Google Scholar
Beveridge, Lord (1959) A Defence of Free Learning (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Lanouette, W. with B. Szilard (1992) Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, The Man Behind the Bomb (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).Google Scholar
Minnion, J. (2004) Hitler's Degenerates: An Illustrated Guide to Degenerates (Liverpool: Checkmate Books).Google Scholar
Seabrook, J. (2009) The Refuge and the Fortress: Britain and the Flight from Tyranny (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).Google Scholar
Snowman, D. (2002) The Hitler Emigrés (London: Chatto & Windus).Google Scholar