Nuclear Physicists in a New World. The Émigrés of the 1930s in America

Kernphysiker in einer neuen Welt: Die Emigranten der dreißiger Jahre in Amerika. - Unter der großen Anzahl derjenigen, die durch Nationalsozialismus zur Emigration gezwungen wurden und zwischen 1933 und 1941 in die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika einwanderten, befanden sich auch mehr als hundert Physiker, und unter ihnen einige der genialsten Kernphysiker der Welt. Die Physik in Amerika hatte damals den Status einer voll ausgereiften Wissenschaft erreicht, und so kam es zu einem bedeutsamen und facettenreichen Zusammenwirken zwischen den emigrierten und den einheimischen Kernphysikern, zumal sie die verschiedenen Forschungsgebiete vertraten, die sich durch die Entdeckungen und Erfindungen des Jahres 1932 (Neutron, Deuterium, Positron, Cockcroft-Walton-Beschleuniger, Zyklotron) aufgetan hatten. Von besonderer Bedeutung Für die Konsolidierung und Entwicklung der gesamten Kernphysik war dabei die Veröffentlichung von drei Artikeln in den Reviews of Modern Physics von 1936 und 1937, bekannt als die ?Bethe-Bibel”?. Nach der Entdeckung der Kernspaltung von 1938 und dem Ausbruch des Krieges 1939 in Europa wirkte die Befürchtung, daß Hitler eine Atomwaffe erhalten könnte, als mächtige, Emigranten und Nicht-Emigranten gleichermaßen erfassende einigende Kraft unter den Atomphysikern in Amerika, und die meisten von ihnen stellten ihre Fähigkeiten in den Dienst der US-Regierung und arbeiteten am Manhatten-Projekt und an anderen militärischen Forschungsvorhaben mit. Bei Kriegsende waren die in den dreißiger Jahren emigrierten Kernphysiker wie so viele Flüchtlinge vor ihnen Amerikaner geworden, und keiner von ihnen kehrte in sein Geburtsland zurück. Among the large number of refugees from Nazism and Fascism entering the United States between 1933 and 1941 were more than 100 physicists, including some of the most gifted nuclear physicists in the world. By that time physics in America had come of age, and a remarkable and multifaceted symbiosis occurred between the émigré and native-born nuclear physicists as they pursued the many avenues of research opened up by the discoveries and inventions of 1932 (neutron, deuterium, positron, Cockcroft-Walton accelerator, cyclotron). Of particular importance for the consolidation and development of the entire field of nuclear physics was the publication in 1936–37 of the three articles in the Revieus of Modern Physics known as the ?Bethe Bible”?. With the discovery of nuclear fission in 1938 and the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, the fear that a nuclear weapon might fall into Hitler's hands served as a powerful unifying force among nuclear physicists in Amerika, émigrés and non-émigrés alike, and most placed their talents in the service of the United States Government working on the Manhattan Project and other wartime research. By the end of the war, like so many refugees before them, the émigré nuclear physicists of the 1930s had become Americans, and not one of them returned to the country of his birth.     

Politisch motivierte Emigration deutscher Ärzte

In 1933 the nazis had immediately started to reorganize the health service and the medical profession on the basis of eugenics and efficiency. For everybody who had been engaged in the institutions of social medicine or social hygiene in the Weimar Republic the inhibition of medical practice, misery, distress, persecution, imprisonment or at the best emigration had been the consequence of it, for political and mostly also for racial reasons. But for these physicians who had to flee from Nazi-Germany the situation in the immigration countries had not been a good one in most of the cases. Therefore it is only possible to speak - if you neglect the special situation of the psychiatrists in the U.S.A. - in particular cases of transfer of medical science into the immigration countries from Germany. Most of the immigrants stayed after the war in their new homelands. The loss of these progressive aspects of social hygiene caused by the emigration of these physicians 1933 and afterwards from Germany can be noticed in this field of medicine and public health service in Western Germany until now.     

1933年希特勒在德国上台与法国的反应

1933年1月30日,希特勒就任魏玛共和国总理,标志着德国纳粹化的开始。德国国内形势的恶化引起了法国的严重不安。但是．由于法国当时正面临严重的财政危机,因此,在希特勒上台次日组阁的达拉第政府不得不将如何恢复财政平衡视为第一要务;同时法国国内相当一部分人对与希特勒新政权达成和解还抱有幻想,这最终促使法国政府在对德政策方面采取了“理智而冷静”的政策,没有作出过激的反应。     

The emigration state and the modern geopolitical imagination

This article systematically reviews how a large number of states relate to their diasporas. It shows how states constitute various extra-territorial groups as members of a loyal diaspora, through a diverse range of institutions and practices. The article distinguishes two types of diaspora mechanism: one which cultivates and recognizes diaspora communities, and another which draws them into reciprocal ties with their homeland. The article demonstrates that, contrary to the common wisdom, it is normal for states to have a variety of such mechanisms protruding beyond their borders and impacting on a variety of extra-territorial groups. It is useful to view these institutions and practices collectively as “the emigration state”. The article argues that the emigration state has been overlooked by what John Agnew calls “the modern geopolitical imagination”, in which territorial nation-state units, locked into competition at a fixed international scale, are thought of as the highest form of political organization.     

Italian emigration policy during the Great Migration Age, 1888–1919: the interaction of emigration and foreign policy

This article illustrates the development of Italian politics on emigration up to the end of the First World War (and even later), focusing on the operation and activity of the Commissariato generale dell’emigrazione (Commissioner-General of Emigration, 1901–27), a government agency that enjoyed considerable autonomy. The research is based on archival materials and the study of publications of the time, and proposes an unconventional view on the phenomenon of migration, as seen through the relationship between the evolution of the regulatory system and the political orientations of the ruling classes. Indeed, Italy progressively increased the freedom of expatriation, to the point of creating social legislation for the protection of emigrants, with the ambition of extending Italy’s influence over the countries of destination. This policy of migration interfered with foreign policy, and was at times influenced by the nationalism emerging in Italy at the time, even to the extent of provoking diplomatic disputes. For these reasons, the activity of the Commissariato generale dell’emigrazione created friction with the traditional consular network; these conflicts and the insufficient margin of autonomy given to the Commission in practice prevented the concrete completion of its more advanced projects.     

Technische Intelligenz im Exil. Zum Einfluß emigrierter deutschsprachiger Ingenieure auf die Ingenieurwissenschaften in Großbritannien 1933 bis 1945

This article deals with the emigration and the experiences of the professional group of engineers in their British exile, trying to evaluate the influences these refugee engineers had on the British engineering science. The approach is not limited to engineering research at universities or technical colleges, but tries to include the aspect of research and development on the level of the firm. Limits and constraints of gaining influence in British engineering are discussed, such as different values and traditions as well as the different traditions in technical education and the role of the engineering graduate in industry. Finally attempts are made to establish some fields of engineering where an identifiable influence can be traced without exaggerating the general influence of these German speaking refugee engineers. Those identifiable fields are machine tools, fuel technology and district heating.     

Emigrierte deutsche Historiker in den USA

German Refugee Historians in the United States. - After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, some twenty historians left Germany. They had lost their academic positions for political and/or ?racial”? reasons. Most of them immigrated to the United States, and here they launched their second academic career. This intellectual immigration promoted the study of German and intellectual history and strengthened the development of comparative approaches in American historical scholarship. Many German refugee historians became interested in incorporating social science concepts into historical writing and thereby contributed to the advancement of a ?Social History of Ideas.”? Although some were originally skeptical of the democratic process, in emigration these historians absorbed and accepted the political value system of a democratic and liberal republic, a change that is reflected in their historical studies. Despite the fact that almost all refugee historians chose to stay in the United States, their books and guest professorships left their mark on the course of West German historiography.     

Österreichische Ärzteemigration 1934-1945 - Zwischen neuem Tätigkeitsgebiet und organisierten Rückkehrplänen

Information on emigrant doctors and university teachers of medicine from Austria is rather poor up to now. This article is a preliminary sketch to give a first impression of the problems, quantity and quality of the doctors' emigration. First, there is made a distinction between different groups of emigrants, who emigrated at different times owing to the political changes in Austria (civil war and ?Anschluß”?). Then the emigration prior to the political set-ups during the thirties is discussed. The assertion is made, that the reasons for emigrating during the twenties are very much the same than in later years. Hostility against Jews, socialists, democrats and foreigners made living and working conditions increasingly unbearable. Concerning the influence of emigrated scientists on science and learning in immigration countries some theoretical and clinical sub-specialties of medicine are examined, e.g. social medicine, internal medicine, pharmacology, orthopedic surgery and child psychiatry. Whereas in some cases the influence is minimal, e.g. social medicine, other disciplines have been influenced enormously, e.g. child psychiatry. Finally there follows a short examination of the organisations of Austrian doctors and medical scientists in the United States and Great Britain.     

„… daß Sie Ihre Tätigkeit einstellen müssen”︁: Die Entlassung Sergej Tschachotins aus dem Heidelberger Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut 1933

“…that you must have to stop working here.” How Sergej Chakhotin was forced to leave the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute at Heidelberg in 1933. - In this essay the author presents some basically unpublished material according to the dismissal of the Russian natural scientist Sergej Chakhotin, a former assistant of I. P. Pavlov. Chakhotin, who got a sholarship granted by an American institution, worked since 1930 at the newly established Kaiser Wilhelm Institute at Heidelberg, as a scientist. Moreover, he practically engaged himself in the political struggle of the German Social Democrats against Nazism and, in 1932, created the at that time well-known symbol of the Three Arrows. But he was - being a Soviet citizen - a guest in Germany. His political activity was the very reason for his discharge in April, 1933, and even the engagement of some prominent academic collegues was not able to stop the administration measure. So Chakhotin became a political refugee like some of his German collegues.     

Das türkische Exil als Geschichte von Frauen und ihr Beitrag zum Wissenschaftstransfer in die Türkei von 1933 bis 1945

When the National‐Socialists from the year 1933 forced jewish civil‐servants and professionals to leave their jobs with restrictive laws against different professional groups, among those who left the country in order do find new openings were many women. For many of them the exile meant the break up of their academic career. However, those who found a new occupation in the Turkish university reform the Turkish state started in 1933 made an important contribution to a successful project of science transfer the large group of emigrants from Germany and Austria carried out in Turkey between 1933 and 1945. The article shows how exiled German and Austrian women especially in the medical professions took part in the innovational shift of science and learning of the Turkish universities and the clinical practice in the institutions of public health.