Refugee mathematicians: A German crisis and a British response, 1933- 1936
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: Refugee mathematicians: A German crisis and a British response, 1933- 1936
zbMATH Open document ID: 0592.01039
DOI: 10.1016/0315-0860(86)90222-3
author: Colin R. Fletcher
published in: Historia Mathematica
publication date: 1986-01-01T00:00:00Z
review text: 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''.
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A80
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A60
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A70
zbMATH DE Number: 3950477
zbMATH Keywords: refugee mathematicians
zbMATH Keywords: Academic Assistance Council
zbMATH Keywords: G. H. Hardy
zbMATH Keywords: Lord Beveridge
reviewed by: Jens Høyrup
MaRDI profile type: Publication
full work available at URL: 0315-0860(86)90222-3
OpenAlex ID: W2085083084
cites work: Q3043107
cites work: Kollegen in einer dunklen Zeit
cites work: Kollegen in einer dunklen Zeit. II
cites work: Kollegen in einer dunklen Zeit. III. (Colleagues in a dark time. III.)
cites work: Kollegen in einer dunklen Zeit. Schluß
cites work: Kollegen in einer dunklen Zeit (Nachtrag und Berichtigung)
cites work: Q4123285
cites work: Refugee mathematicians in the United States of America, 1933–1941: Reception and reaction
cites work: Harold Douglas Ursell
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3950477