Refugee mathematicians: A German crisis and a British response, 1933- 1936

History of mathematics in the 20th century (01A60) Biographies, obituaries, personalia, bibliographies (01A70) Sociology (and profession) of mathematics (01A80)

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After presenting briefly the dismissals of non-Aryans and politically unacceptable scholars from German universities after April 1933 (affecting some 1500 scholars, among which ca. 60 mathematicians), the article discusses the setting-up in Britain of the Acadeic Assistance Council (AAC) in May 1933 on the main initiative of Lord Beveridge (then head of the London School of Economics); the very committed role of G. H. Hardy, as well as that of L. J. Mordell); and the ways and difficulties of providing funding for the refugees. The fate of a number of individual mathematicians during the 1930s is presented (among which O. Szacz, B. Kaufmann, H. Heilbronn, R. Rado, R. Baer, K. Mahler, K. Hirsch, W. Ledermann, F. Levi, W. W. Rogosinski, and A. Weinstein). A number of difficulties confronting the AAC are noted. So, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation agreed to assist, but on conditions which appear from the article to have made the effect almost nil. The British Government, while wanting to take advantage of the influx of highly qualified immigrants, feared the effects of general hospitality. In spite of these and other difficulties, however, the AAC became the spearhead of the international network of emergency committees. Without discussing the problem directly, the article provides some empirical material for the sociological inquiry into the academic ethos under strain.

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