The Flight of Knowledge

In 1933, Jewish and oppositional scholars found themselves in the maelstrom of exclusion and persecution in Nazi Germany. Many of them fled into exile, where a triad emerged dedicated to allowing a small number of the exiles to find new employment at institutes of higher education and research institutions: First, aid organizations such as the »Notgemeinschaft deutscher Wissenschaftler im Ausland« (Emergency Association of German Academics Abroad) in Zurich, the »Academic Assistance Council« in London, the »Comité International Pour le Placement des Réfugiés Intellectuels« (International Committee for the Placement of Refugee Intellectuals) in Geneva, and the »Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced German Scholars« in New York became points of contact for recommendations to universities around the world. Second, key figures such as Philipp Schwartz (1894–1977) in Zurich and Istanbul, Salo W. Baron (1895−1989) in New York, and Max Born (1882–1970) in Cambridge and Edinburgh participated in the recruitment process, supplied refugees with letters of recommendation, and acted as »arrival brokers« with knowledge pertaining to getting settled. Third, universities and collection institutions around the world recruited suitable candidates. However, not all candidates were evaluated positively. They had to undergo a difficult selection process determined by numerous parameters dependent not least of all on the different political and legal frameworks of the respective host countries.

This habilitation project focuses on these transnational networks and processes of support, selection, and recommendation of academics from a comparative perspective. It proceeds from individual case studies to examine the interplay between actors aiding academic refugees in the 1930s and 1940s in Europe, North and Latin America, and the Middle East. The study highlights tensions, dissonances, and conflicts within the (Jewish) context of academic emergency and humanitarian (self-) help in hitherto understudied regions such as Turkey, Palestine, and Sweden along with the infrastructure of migration and arrival based on self-administration and established by the forced exiles themselves. It thereby makes an important contribution to research on humanitarianism, migration, and exile.