Jordan Scho

The College of New Jersey/History Department

The Exodus of German Physicists to America, 1933-1945

A Thesis on Emigration-Induced Academic Change

Jordan Schoenberg

April 30^th, 2010

Abstract

The rise of the National Socialist Party to power in Germany in 1933 was accompanied by a relentless policy of systematic racial and intellectual oppression, spearheaded by Adolf Hitler. As a result of this persecution, a large group of powerful and diverse intellectuals were forced into an en masse emigration from Germany to America in search of personal and intellectual freedom. This thesis examines the diaspora of German physicists from Germany to the United States and analyzes its ramifications on German and American physics, as such. Moreover, it challenges the standard by which historians generally anaylze the consequences of the migration of intellectuals from Germany—a standard that leads us to believe that academic life in Germany automatically suffered as a result of the departure of prominent intellectuals. This thesis contends 1) that the National Socialist Party filled the academic “void” left by the migration, leading to the sustainability of German physics between 1933 and 1945, and 2) that the social conditions in America during this time allowed German émigré physicists to positively contribute to the study of physics in America. This argument will be established through a qualitative analysis based upon research found in the primary works of intellectuals across academic disciplines and the secondary sources that address the link between German physicists and American academia. Only through such an interpretation of the German intellectual migration can we truly come to comprehend the effects of the emigration on the livelihood of German and American physics.

“The measures for racial hygiene that are now being implemented may show their full effect only after centuries. What we have to do is build a firm foundation for the genetic development of the nation.”

- Adolf Hitler, 1933

Thus began the process of eliminating the Jewish intellectual from the cultural and spiritual life of Germany. According to Hitler, pure Aryan blood was critical to all that embodied quintessential German nature; any alien race was regarded as a direct threat to German purity. As such, the National Socialist Party promoted the idea of the Jewish intellectual as a source of social infection; an idea that would permeate through various facets of German society, and consequently an idea that would become ingrained in German culture.

The degradation of the Jewish intellectual in Germany is flawlessly manifested through the development of the German politico-medical profession starting in 1933. Many important members of the Nazi Party were medical doctors, and the medical profession was inextricably linked with party politics. In the spring of 1933, an article in Deutsches Arzteblatt (a respected German medical journal) was published, outlining Hitler’s intentions of ridding the German state of all racial impurities. According to Dr. Stauder, these intentions included the “cleansing of the nation and particularly the intellectual elite from foreign influence and contamination by alien races.”¹ More specifically, Stauder emphasized the necessity of eliminating the Jewish intellectual from German culture so as to achieve a genuine and pure German authority capable of leading Germany to global prominence.

In the summer of 1933, Dr. Haedenkamp proclaimed that: “All that is German and genuine, all that embodies German style and German nature, all that is of German blood and German descent, all this alone can be the bearer of the German future.”² According to leading party medical professionals, the degeneration of German genetic composition was responsible for all social ills in Germany. Only through an awareness of the vulnerability of genetic purity and consequently the elimination of “genetically diseases descendants” could total national recovery be realized.

Yet the degradation of the Jewish intellectual was not merely spurred on by the German medical profession; it was also ingrained in the institution of German higher education. Under the National Socialist Party, higher education “intrinsically combined political education, on one hand, and scientific training on the other.”³ Consequently, students of higher education under National Socialism were not simply in school to receive an education, but to become trained as valuable contributors to the German state: “Of the student it is said that he belongs not to himself, but to his people and to his state.”⁴

The problem for the Jewish intellectual was his uselessness to the German state. Intellectual ability alone was not enough for acceptance among the German academic community—a person’s individual value to the state took precedence over all else. In 1933, non-Aryan German students were not even considered members of the student body. Thus, the Jewish intellectual had nothing to offer the German state. As evidenced above, the common perception was that the Jewish intellectual actually detracted from the vibrancy of German academics.

This concept is clearly evident in the deutsche Physik (German physics) movement during the early years of the Third Reich. Prominent scientists of the deutsche Physik movement called for a more Aryan and less Jewish science that would integrate National Socialist ideology into the study of theoretical physics. The work of Jewish physicists such as Albert Einstein were attacked by deutsche physicists who claimed that the findings of Jewish scientists were inaccurate and “tainted by the influence of Judaism.”⁵ In a semi-official paper of the National Socialist Party, Jewish physicist Werner Heisenberg was attacked as being “Jewish in character,” and thus his principle findings were illegitimate. Such attacks on Heisenberg’s reputation presented obstacles to his advancement in the scientific community; for example, an expected appointment to the University of Munich as the Director of the Ministry of Culture was halted as a result of attacks on his Judaism and consequently the validity of his scientific findings. The social attitude of German scientists under deutsche Physik made it difficult for Jewish intellectuals to advance in various scientific fields.

The social stigma associated with the Jewish intellectual eventually translated through the legislation enacted by the National Socialist Party. In 1933, German law placed an emphasis on the “biological necessity of maintaining the purity of the Aryan race by separating Jewish blood from Aryan blood.”⁶ The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service excluded Jewish civil servants from service to the German state, as they were deemed to be political liabilities. Jewish citizens were unable to participate in state-sponsored employment programs, thereby excluding them from employment in the fields of education, medicine, and law. Later that year, Party legislation continued to ostracize Jewish intellectuals from German public life. Laws enacted in April, 1933 resulted in the following restrictions on Jewish citizens:

Fewer Jewish students were permitted to enroll in German schools and universities.
Jewish participation in the medical and legal professions was drastically limited.
Jewish doctors received less in reimbursements from state-sponsored insurance funds.
The tax licenses of Jewish tax consultants were nullified.
Jewish actors were unable to perform on stage or on screen.⁷

The series of racial purity laws enacted in Germany between 1933 and 1935 culminated in the passage of the Nuremburg Laws, which ultimately resulted in the total disenfranchisement of Jewish intellectuals. Made public at the annual Nazi Party rally in Nuremburg, the laws are precluded by a short introduction:

Entirely convinced that the purity of German blood is essential to the further existence of the German people, and inspired by the uncompromising determination to safeguard the future of the German nation, the Reichstag has unanimously resolved upon the following law, which is promulgated herewith.⁸

The National Socialist Party advanced the idea that the impurity of Jewish blood presented a dangerous threat to the sustainability of Germany’s future, thereby justifying the oppressive policies outlined in the laws themselves. These included the prohibition of Jews from German citizenship and the prohibition of marriage between an Aryan and a non-Aryan.

By 1935, Judeo-German intellectuals were faced with the complete obstruction of their intellectual freedom. Through the establishment of anti-Semitic legal codes, Hitler and the National Socialist Party ensured that Jewish intellectuals had no forum through which to express themselves. German intellectuals were faced with a choice: remain in Germany with little to no rights, or migrate to a location governed by democratic ideals and intellectual freedom. Many chose the latter.

This thesis analyzes the effects of emigration-induced change across the study of physics on both Germany and America from 1933-1945.

The current historiographical approach to the exodus of German intellectuals to America is characterized by the “great man” method. That is to say, the plethora of secondary sources pertinent to this diaspora primarily focus on only the most prominent of German intellectuals, neglecting to take into consideration the contribution of the lesser-known intellectual émigré. An analysis of the migration of an entire group of peoples necessitates more than a primary focus on simply the most prominent personalities. For example, an analysis of Albert Einstein’s experience in America should not be considered the quintessential standard by which we evaluate the assimilation of German intellectuals into American society. Indeed, prominent German intellectuals were welcomed with open arms, and thus the integration of German ideas into American academics was smooth and efficient. Yet the story of Toni Oelsner presents us with a much different perspective. Her reflections follow:

I struggled heroically for my intellectual existence. They were afraid that, since I wasn’t a prominent person when the Nazis came to power, I must have been too left-wing. If I had been the wife of an important man, then I could have managed to get support from an organization.⁹

Unlike Einstein, Oelsner encountered many difficulties in establishing herself as a published and well-respected intellectual. Her relative anonymity led many American professors to dismiss her as a left-wing radicalist, and her gender prevented her from acquiring the grants necessary to perform adequate research. While Oelsner ultimately assimilated into the American intellectual culture, the process of transition was by no means easy, despite the common belief that all German intellectuals were regarded as American icons. The story of Toni Oelsner is merely a microcosm of the larger problem within the current body of work on the migration of German intellectuals to America—historians consistently focus on the contributions of only the prominent intellectuals, failing to acknowledge that lesser-known intellectual émigrés made important individual contributions as well. An analysis of “individualized waves of migration by twentieth-century intellectuals”¹⁰ is necessary if we are to create an objective evaluation of emigration-induced academic change.

Moreover, the current body of work concerning the migration of German intellectuals to America is insular; this notion is effectively summarized by Donald Fleming in Forced Migration and Scientific Change: “Part of the problem has been that most American and British students of the subject have understandably confined their researches to the receiving end of the demographic transaction.”¹¹ Indeed, the current body of literature referencing the German intellectual migration merely focuses on improvement in American academia as a result of the arrival of prominent German intellectuals such as Albert Einstein (physics), Thomas Mann (literature), Arnold Schoenberg (music), etc. There is a scarcity of secondary sources that cite the sustainability of German academia from 1933-1945 as evidence that supports the contrary of the argument posited by the historians Fleming references. Most historians logically assume that the departure of German intellectuals to America resulted in an automatic decrease in academic life in Germany and an increase in academic life in America. Yet this picture is incomplete; an objective analysis of one-half of the demographic transaction is missing from the current body of literature, providing the student of history with an incomplete assessment of the migration of intellectuals from Germany to America in the 1930’s and 1940’s.

I contend that the migration of German physicists to America altered the academic landscape of both countries between 1933 and 1945. The arrival of German physicists to America undoubtedly resulted in innovation and progress in the study of physics. Yet more importantly, I argue that despite the atrocities committed by the National Socialist Party, certain initiatives helped to “fill the academic void” left by the intellectual migration, sustaining (and in some cases, advancing) German physics between 1933 and 1945.

First, I will analyze the process of German intellectual assimilation into American society and how it was conducive to the integration of innovative German ideas/concepts into American academia. Next, I will argue that the introduction of German concepts to academic disciplines in America altered the approach of American researchers, thereby positively advancing the development of academia in America. Finally, I contend that despite the departure of prominent physicists from Germany, the study of physics still experienced a period of sustenance and in some cases progress as a result of Nazi government initiatives.

Through the development of these arguments, I hope to accomplish three goals: First, I hope to offer an accurate and non-romanticized account of the impact of German intellectual thought on physics in America. Second, I will prove the sustainability of German physics between 1933 and 1945 and attribute it to the National Socialist Party. Finally, I hope to shed light on the lesser-known intellectual émigré.

In order to provide the reader with an all-encompassing analysis of the academic ramifications of the German intellectual migration on America and Germany, evidence will come in the form of primary sources and secondary sources which provide a developmental analysis of the study of physics. For example, an analysis of the development of the nuclear fission research will be substantiated with essays published by German intellectual émigrés such as Einstein, Wigner and Szilard—German theoretical physicists who introduced revolutionary theorems and principles to American physics. Analysis of these specified sources will offer distinctive examples of the development of physics in America and Germany as a result of the diaspora of German intellectuals to America.

An American Welcome

The Experience of German Intellectuals upon Arrival in America

An analysis of emigration-induced academic change necessitates an understanding of the process by which German émigrés assimilated into American society. As such, I contend that the general acceptance of these intellectuals into American society made it possible for them to induce positive shifts in American academics. Simply put, the integration of German émigrés into the American social structure from 1933-1945 laid the foundation for changes across various academic disciplines; only through the acceptance of the German people could the acceptance of German academic concepts be made possible.

Yet that is not to say that German intellectual émigrés initially enjoyed an effortless social transition. Indeed, America had many times before enacted exclusionary legislation that hindered the very arrival of exiles to the mainland. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 “imposed restrictions on immigration from China, including penalties of fines and possible imprisonment for the captains of ships caught transporting Chinese to the United States.”¹² Chinese immigrants who managed to avoid this persecution were subject to virulent persecution as a result of anti-Chinese and anti-foreign social sentiments. In similar fashion, the United States government established many obstacles to Jewish emigration between 1933 and 1945. According to Anthony Heilbut, author of Exiled in Paradise, the U.S. State Department “went out of its way to inhibit the arrival of Jewish émigrés”¹³ By 1940, Jewish immigrants were unable to directly emigrate to America from Germany and the rest of Central and Eastern Europe. One historian estimates that the exclusionary laws of American foreign policy directly resulted in the death of Jewish immigrants: “The half-filled quotas of mid-1940 to mid-1941, when refugee rescue remained entirely feasible, symbolize 20,000 to 25,000 lives lost because of American policy.”¹⁴

Even if the Jewish intellectual émigré actually made it to America, he was still presented with obstacles to social assimilation. Most émigrés were not convinced of American receptiveness; they heard themselves referred to as warmongers, radicals and foreign-born agitators. Thus began the German intellectual’s long and arduous process of ridding himself of being considered an “enemy alien”, thereby allowing for social acceptance.

It was essential for the German émigré to successfully complete the process of “becoming American”¹⁵ should he pursue acceptance into American society. Thus, he was forced to conform to American social norms. The first obstacle these intellectuals were faced with was the idiosyncrasy of American speech and language; German intellectuals were expected to abandon an understanding of the world through the German language and adopt American English:

Since so much of the refugees’ very reflexes of thought were predicated on German grammar, they now had to expand or contract even their manner of comprehending the world.¹⁶

The grammatical structure of the German language is characterized by complex word relationships. For example, there are groups of words in German that can either strengthen or weaken groups of words which precede them. Indeed, it is a German verbal tradition that words and philosophical concepts have the ability to modify each other. Many German émigrés found it difficult to adjust to the English language, as it lacked the “historical awareness” of German syntax: “Exchanging that [German language] instrument for English was for some an impossible task.” Yet it was essential for German émigrés to sacrifice their German language should they seek American acceptance. One German intellectual expressed shame for the “verbal limitations” he imposed on himself; however, he was unable to deny the fact that “he found himself a hit on the American lecture circuit.”¹⁷ The concept of sacrifice is important here; social acceptance was only made possible as a result of the cultural sacrifice of the German émigré.

Yet there were some aspects of American society that German émigrés were apt to conform to. For example, the United States Constitution guaranteed unparalleled freedoms that all German émigrés dearly coveted:

The First Amendment guaranteed a liberty of expression that seemed paradisiacal to journalists and editors who had been fired because of their political positions, as well as to writers whose books had been burned. Some émigrés decided to use all the freedoms of the system.¹⁸

The concept of pluralism (i.e. the acceptance of a multitude of social conditions) manifested itself not only in the American political arena between 1933 and 1945, but in the social and economic forums as well. Despite the aforementioned difficulties of emigration, German intellectuals who were severely persecuted on the basis of race/ethnicity in Germany found respite in American pluralism. America offered these émigrés (at the very least) the ability to speak their minds, and they took full advantage. Academics such as political scientist Leo Strauss and photographer Lotte Jacobi were active participants in the political sphere, attending town meetings and seeking to improve the quality of life in their respective American towns. Adorno and Horkheimer published their works on rationality and reason in America, most notably The Dialectic of the Enlightenment—a work replete with American social commentary.

The assimilation of German intellectual émigrés into American society via social conformity thus paved the way for a receptive academic welcome. According to Heilbut, “the academics booted out in 1933 were extended assistance and hospitality by American and British institutions.”¹⁹ These intellectuals were highly-esteemed and garnered the respect of American academics as they were referred to as “the glory of Europe, the light bearers of modernity, and teachers who could be adopted as fathers.”²⁰ This perception was conducive to the acceptance of German academic principles that would ultimately induce positive change in the American academic forum.

Yet it is important to note that not every German refugee (of the 132,000 that ultimately fled to America) was a prominent intellectual who was able to establish himself in the American academic sphere—many lesser-known intellectual émigrés experienced difficulty in establishing a legitimate academic reputation. In a revealing first-person account, Reinhold Brinkmann shares his experiences as a lesser-known German musician living in New York City in the 1930’s. He recalls: “even some of the most gifted of newcomers suffered at least initially the indignities of an expatriate ghetto existence.”²¹ Despite their musical talent, lesser-known German immigrant musicians found it difficult for their innovative music to “breathe” in an air filled with suspicion and contempt for foreigners. These intellectuals were relegated to the ghettos of New York City as a result of their inability to produce socially-acceptable music in America. More generally, the process of “becoming American” was a more arduous process for anonymous intellectuals.

Despite our inability to apply the experience of any one German intellectual émigré as a normative standard, we now have an understanding of the social conditions which made emigration-induced academic change possible. While relatively-unknown émigrés found the process of academic assimilation difficult, the overall respect for German intellectualism was conducive to the integration of German ideas across academic disciplines.

German Physics in America, Pre-1938

German Physical Theory in American Natural Physics, Pre-1938

In our analysis of emigration-induced academic change in the realm of physics in America, it is imperative that we understand the nature of the relationship between American physical research and German physical research; there was already a thriving physics community established in America upon the arrival of German physicists by 1933. The study of physics in America was by no means an underdeveloped scientific enterprise in need of rescue by brilliant German nuclear physicists; while the evolution of physics in America was influenced by the arrival of German physicists, it can not necessarily be assumed that only through the aid of German physicists were advancements in physics made possible. According to Dr. Roger H. Stuewer of the University of Minnesota, emigration-induced academic change in the study of physics in America was a “remarkable and multifaceted symbiosis occurring between the émigré and native-born nuclear physicist as they pursued the many avenues of research opened up by the discoveries and inventions of 1932.”²² The relationship between native physicists and German physicists was characterized by mutual dependence; the open sharing of ideas in America resulted in the assimilation of German ideas into the American physics community, which ultimately induced a period of rapid development and innovation between 1933 and 1945. For this reason, the emigration of German physicists to America can be said to have positively contributed to academic life in America with specific regard to the progressive development of concepts of nuclear physics, some examples of which are outline below.

In The Physicists: the History of a Scientific Community in Modern America, Daniel Kevles asserts that the physics community in the United States between 1933 and 1945 partially owed its “ascendancy to the refugees; dispersed throughout the university system, refugees enriched the major physics departments with the power of their mathematical techniques, experimental imagination and frequently theoretical approach to the analysis of natural phenomena.”²³

Between 1900 and 1933, pre-Nazi Germany was the global leader in the research of theoretical physics, as evidenced by the findings of the German physicist Albert Einstein. In 1905, Einstein introduced the concept of special relativity, a theoretical concept mathematically expressed by the famous equation E = mc². This “extraordinary and revolutionary theoretical view of the physical world”²⁴ provided profound insight into our conception of theoretical concepts of physics. After the “miraculous year” of 1905, Germany was a hotbed for the study of physical theory as other physicists such as Max Planck and Niels Bohr sought to critically evaluate the scientific validity of Einstein’s findings. The focus of pre-Nazi German physics was consequently concerned with the tenets of quantum theory as posited by Einstein and his intellectual peers. Thus, the publication of Einstein’s theory of special relativity can be said to have altered the landscape of the physics community in Germany in 1905, up until the end of World War II. His publication bred a new generation of theoretical physicists concerned with validating Einstein’s revolutionary findings. For this reason, physicists in Germany had extensive background in theoretical physics, more so than any other country at the time.

The theoretical nature of the German approach to physics was especially helpful in the development of one of the most important instruments of experimentation within the realm of nuclear physics: the cyclotron. First developed and manufactured by Ernest Lawrence in 1932 at the University of California, the cyclotron was an important instrument that employed magnetism as a means of accelerating particles at one another at the speed of sound. Using a magnetic field, beams of charged particles were accelerated as they passed through magnetically-charged electrodes in opposite directions. Once the speed of the beams of these charged particles neared the speed of sound, the beams were directed at one another, resulting in the collision of charged particles (neutron/proton/electron) at an extremely high velocity. Using the cyclotron, nuclear physicists in the 1930’s were able to perform a multitude of nuclear physics experiments in an attempt to ascertain the interactive nature of these particles when accelerated at hitherto unobserved velocities.

Yet while American physicists were able to design and manufacture the cyclotron, many were unable to interpret the underlying significance of the results that were produced by it. While “nothing was wrong with scientists in America,” American physicists in the years leading up to 1933 were more concerned with the development of scientific infrastructure and technology rather than the acquisition of knowledge of theoretical entities. That is to say, the American physics community prior to 1933 had primarily focused on establishing a sturdy foundation for the study of science through the development of scientific research institutions, national research programs, and technological development initiatives. While American physicists were able to produce massive quantities of experimental data as a result of sound institutional research, the American physics community could still have benefited from the aid of European refugees with backgrounds in theoretical physical analysis. Herein lies the contribution of the emigration of German intellectuals to American physics: German physicists were able to provide “on-the-spot theoretical consultation, considerably stimulat[ing] the enterprise of physical research” in America.²⁵

German physicist Hans Bethe was already considered a “virtuoso” of mathematics and theoretical physics upon his immigration to America in 1933. He graduated with a doctorate from the University of Frankfurt, studying under renowned physicist Arnold Sommerfield in the 1920’s. Upon losing his position at the University of Tubingen, Bethe immigrated to America and joined the faculty at Cornell University. It was at Cornell that Bethe made his most important contributions to the development of theoretical physics in America, establishing a close working relationship with American graduate students along the way. An intellectual elitist, Bethe claimed that his colleagues at Cornell were “terribly eager to learn, but not very knowledgeable.”²⁶ He found that his graduate students were unable to grasp certain concepts of theoretical physics, and that explaining basic ideas to student after student became tiresome. Some of Bethe’s more notable American students were up-and-coming physicists M. Stanley Livingston and Lloyd Smith, both of whom were unable to initially grasp the fundamental tenets of nuclear physics. Consequently, Bethe “decided that his colleagues in Ithaca and elsewhere needed an up-to-date summary of nuclear phenomena, especially on the theoretical side.” With this notion in mind, he would sit down for weeks at a time, sifting through piles of experimental data, “plowing steadily through the entire corpus of nuclear studies,”²⁷ clarifying what could be deduced from the data, and discarding results that were irrelevant or theoretically unsubstantiated. For two years, Bethe recorded everything he knew about nuclear physics; he published three comprehensive review articles, collectively entitled “Bethe’s Bible.” These works were universally accepted throughout the global physical community, and were taught to every nuclear physicist in the United States from 1935 onward. The specific nature of Hans Bethe’s contribution to American physics can be found within “Bethe’s Bible,” the contents of which are summarized below. But it was his dedication to developing a close working relationship with his American students that lead Time Magazine to proclaim: “Hans Bethe is one of Nazi Germany’s greatest gifts to the United States.”²⁸

“Bethe’s Bible” (more commonly referred to as Reviews of Modern Physics) was crucial to the development of nuclear structure theory between 1933 and 1945. Nuclear structure theorists sought to ascertain the fundamental components of atomic nuclei through an understanding of theoretical definitions of nuclear systems; because nucleic features were (and presently are) unobservable, physicists were (and presently are) only able to theoretically define nucleic components. Through an analysis of data, Bethe was able to aid American physicists who were only familiar with physical entities in a theoretical understanding of nuclear structure theory. For example, Bethe concluded that the “tell-tale signal of the closure of an electron-shell is that the binding energy of the next particle added to the closed-shell nucleus is anomalously small.”²⁹ Bethe provided American physicists with an accurate determination of electron shell model levels of closed shell nuclei. Carrying out calculations through a theoretical/analytical lens, he effectively determined the approximate size and shape of nucleic features, especially distinguishing features of closed shell nuclei as observed in Calcium and Oxygen atoms. In 1937, Bethe and his new partner M. Stanley Livingston contributed to the study of the physical concept of single-particle decay. In their theoretical analysis of experimental data compiled by American physicists, Bethe and Livingston claimed that the “width of the single-neutron state would be substantially larger than the widths of the two-particle states that the single-particle state would decay into.”³⁰ They found a correlation between neutron width and energy, arguing that as single-neutrons decayed, their width would decrease by a factor of approximately 3/9, or 1/3. Essential to their calculations was their use of the quadratic formula; the widths of single-neutron states “went quadratically” with the available energy found in the nucleus of an atom. These standardized rules governing nucleic behavior were published in Bethe’s famous work Reviews of Modern Physics, and were universally applied across the physics community in America. Moreover, his relationship with Livingston epitomized the symbiotic relationship between American and German physicists in America between 1933 and 1945. Livingston, who was once a naïve student of Bethe’s, ultimately became his intellectual equal.

German Physics in America, Post-1938

German Involvement in the Manhattan Project: Advances in Nuclear Physics

The Possibility of a Nuclear-Chain Reaction

“On December 2^nd, 1942, the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction took place in the squash courts under the football stands at the University of Chicago. This event confirmed predictions of nuclear fission and propelled the Manhattan Project forward.”³¹

Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb

As the story goes, Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard was crossing a street in London when he miraculously realized the possibility of creating a nuclear chain reaction. For years, he had been fascinated by the seemingly impossible concept of unleashing the energy of an atom, but it was only on that day in London did Szilard realize the means of doing so was through constructing a nuclear chain reaction. In 1938, German physicists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann physically actualized what was once Szilard’s merely theoretical idea. Through the nuclear fission of a uranium nucleus, Hahn and Strassmann were able to split apart a uranium atom, thereby realizing the physical process whereby a nuclear chain reaction could be achieved. Between 1938 and 1945, both American-born physicists and German émigré physicists alike embarked on an extensive project to harness nuclear energy through a chain reaction, and ultimately to “master the military technology of nuclear fission” to create the world’s first atomic bomb. According to Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Richard Rhodes, the Manhattan Project was “epic in scope, in numbers of people and scale of investment and construction; epic as well in its daring transfer of physical processes directly from the laboratory” to the American military facilities at Oak Ridge and Washington.³²

I contend that advances in American physics and the consequent success of the Manhattan Project between 1938 and 1945 can be attributed not only to the minds of American-born physicists, but also to the aid of German émigré physicists studying in America. Moreover, the harmonious relationship between American and German physicists was made possible by the shared goal of defeating National Socialism abroad, as physicists in America sought to generate a nuclear chain-reaction before the Nazis could. The following chronological analysis of the Manhattan Project will also pay specific attention to the involvement of perhaps the most renowned German intellectual émigré, Albert Einstein.

United Under a Common Goal: Defeat of National Socialism

“The United States was fighting the Second World War. To win that war, we felt we needed to make an atomic bomb. And to make that bomb, [we] were trying to initiate the world’s first controlled nuclear chain reaction.”³³

Eugene Wigner, The Recollections of Eugene Wigner

By 1939, Hungarian German émigré physicists Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner were among the most vocal of those advocating for a government program to develop nuclear weaponry in America. Arguing that it was their moral responsibility to alert “Americans to the possibility that German scientists might win the race to build an atomic bomb and to warm that Hitler would be more than willing to resort to such a weapon,”³⁴ Szilard and Wigner urged Einstein to cash in on his political capital. Einstein acquiesced, and wrote a letter to President Roosevelt informing him of the dangerous path nuclear physics research was taking in 1939:

In the course of the last four months it has been made probable…that it may become possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium by which vast amounts of power and large quantities of new radium-like elements would be generated. This phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is conceivable…that extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed.³⁵

President Roosevelt quickly responded by establishing the government-sanctioned Uranium Committee—a committee that funded experiments on nuclear chain reactions carried out by talented factions of physicists in America. There were many groups of physicists working on nuclear fission during this time, but the most prominent groups included: Leo Szilard and Enrico Fermi (University of Chicago), Ernest Lawrence and Arthur Compton (Oak Ridge), and Robert Oppenheimer and Hans Bethe (Los Alamos). For the purpose of this discussion, we will focus on Robert Oppenheimer and his group of theoretical physicists he termed “the luminaries.” Most commonly credited with the successful production of the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer and Hans Bethe were quite distinctive; Oppenheimer was an American physicist born in New York and Hans Bethe was a German physicist born in Strasburg. Yet during the summer of 1942, Bethe and Oppenheimer came to know each other well: “I was very impressed by him, and my feelings were entirely positive. There was no question that he was our leader. Perhaps he didn’t contribute as much original thought as I did, but he had a far better critical faculty than any of the rest of us.”³⁶ The relationship between the American physicist and the German émigré physicist was complementary, and the collaboration between Bethe and Oppenheimer exemplify this concept. Bethe recalls the ease with which experiments were carried out at Los Alamos. He would maximize his ability to posit original ideas, and Oppenheimer would employ his critical faculty to objectively evaluate the legitimacy of those ideas. The two developed a close working relationship towards the inception of the Manhattan Project, and Bethe fondly looked back on his time spent with “Oppie.”

Yet why was the relationship between Bethe and Oppenheimer (i.e. between German émigré physicists and American physicists) so flawlessly complementary? I contend that we can attribute this harmonious relationship to one, simple goal: the desire to win World War II. Both Oppenheimer and Bethe were concerned with the defeat of National Socialism. In a letter written in 1954, Oppenheimer reflects on his changing interests: “Beginning in late 1936, my interests began to change. I had had a continuing, smoldering fury about the treatment of Jews in Germany. Through this, I began to understand how deeply political and economic events could affects men’s lives. I began to feel the need to participate more fully in the life of the community.”³⁷ It is clear that Oppenheimer’s study of physics was affected by his desire to become an active participant in ending the atrocities that plagued the Jewish people abroad. Similarly, Bethe recalls: “After the fall of France, I was desperate to do something—to make some contribution to the war effort.”³⁸ Thus, the study of emigration-induced change in America is not solely concerned with science, but also with socio-historical change. The outbreak of World War II was a unifying event that forged cohesive relationships between German émigré physicists and American physicists working under the Manhattan Project between 1942 and 1945. It is imperative to keep this in mind as we embark on our discussion of the positive contributions made by other German émigré physicists, which subsequently follows.

The Contribution of Leo Szilard

In 1939, Hungarian German physicist Leo Szilard worked directly on troubleshooting the problems that plagued the first nuclear reactor to successfully generate an atomic-chain reaction; it was nicknamed “Chicago Pile-1” for its location underneath the football stadium at the University of Chicago. Fleeing Germany to escape Nazi persecution in 1933, Szilard eventually made his home in New York City after accepting a prominent position at Columbia University, located in the Manhattan District. Upon realizing that the “neutron might slip past the positive electrical barrier of the nucleus,”³⁹ Szilard set out to “find an element which is split by neutrons and which would emit two neutrons when it absorbs one neutron, such an element could sustain a nuclear chain reaction.”⁴⁰ Thus began Szilard’s involvement in the wartime Manhattan Project—one primarily devoted to producing a nuclear chain reaction. Szilard would contribute to the project through his ability to theoretically analyze the problems that threatened to halt the progress of atomic fission. For example, physicists at the University of Chicago were “struck by the number of different approaches toward the problem of cooling the graphite pile.”⁴¹ Szilard worked on a multitude of various approaches towards solving the aforementioned problem. For instance, he created a “refrigerator and an apparatus for transporting liquid metal, especially for concentrating gases and vapors in refrigerators.”⁴² In addition, he invented an electromagnetic apparatus for producing oscillatory motion, a compressor and a refrigerator pump. Yet most importantly, Szilard solved the cooling problem in Chicago Pile-1 through the invention of a new type of refrigerator and a new type of electromagnetic pump. The new refrigerator was “more efficient and less dangerous to operate than existing ones.”⁴³ Such a refrigerator produced a cooling agent that was caused by alcoholic absorption into water. Moreover, the innovative electromagnetic pump generated an electromagnetic field that induced movement of liquid metals. While these creative inventions were never marketed to the American public and consequently commercialized, they were vital ingredients to achieving a nuclear chain-reaction and the construction of the atomic bomb. When one of Szilard’s peers questioned him about his refrigerator, he simply replied: “Oh that?...That went into the atomic bomb.”⁴⁴ With his contributions to the development of physical apparatuses, Szilard was able to enrich the study of physics in America, thereby hastening the progress of the Manhattan Project.

The Contribution of Eugene Wigner

The work of Hungarian German émigré physicist Eugene Wigner was also vital to the success of the Manhattan Project. Residing in Germany for most of his younger years, Wigner earned a degree in chemical engineering at the Technische Hochschule Berlin and employed his skill in physics as an active member of the German Physical Society. But the rise of National Socialism in Germany forced Wigner to emigrate in 1933, where he arrived at Princeton University to study quantum mechanics and nucleic behavior at the atomic level.

More importantly, Wigner was a political activist; he recollects: “Hahn and Strassmann’s discovery of nuclear fission in 1938 suggested that the first atomic bomb would likely come from Nazi Germany. Hitler could conquer the world far more easily with such a bomb. Soon I began thinking of working with the United States Army against Hitler.”⁴⁵ It is clear that Wigner was adamantly opposed to the spread of National Socialism and he sought to contribute in any way he could to its defeat. He had developed a close working relationship with Leo Szilard, and continued to work with him as they were assigned to the University of Chicago to design the world’s first successful nuclear reactor: “In Chicago, the work on reactor design was done mainly under the direction of Wigner.”⁴⁶

The fissioning of atoms in a nuclear chain reaction liberated immense amounts of energy, resulting in the creation of new fragments, particles and radiations. However, the generation of energy was also accompanied by large quantities of heat that threatened to destabilize the process of atomic fission. In conjunction with Szilard, Wigner and his group developed a conceptual design for liquid-cooling reactors that would solve the problem of atomic heat liberation, arguing that “it becomes necessary to cool the structure of the neutronic reactor in order to prevent melting of solid materials, the increasing of oxidation rates, and other undesirable effects within the reactor structure.”⁴⁷ Wigner’s new reactor was an innovation in physics; it incorporated a number of ground-breaking technologies that would ultimately be patented in 1952. Some of these salient features included: a protective aluminum casing of the fissionable body, a graphite moderator that controlled the cross section through which neutrons would travel, and air and water-coolant channels that would engage at locations of the greatest neutron flux.

Wigner’s contribution to physics in America between 1939 and 1945 was considerable. He designed and manufactured the reactor that provided the necessary conditions required for the successful nuclear chain-reaction seen in Chicago Pile-1. The studies performed by Wigner during the wartime Manhattan Project ultimately played a vital role in the development of the atomic bomb by 1945. More generally, Wigner augmented the previously-insufficient body of work concerning the behavior and interaction of atomic particles in a closed nuclear experiment, the theory of symmetry in quantum mechanics, and the mathematical expressions governing the structure of atomic nuclei.

The Contribution of the Lesser-Known German Émigré

Yet the work of lesser-known émigré physicists should not be overlooked here; the dispersion of non-prominent German physicists throughout the American academic world between 1933 and 1945 buttressed the works of prominent physicists. A doctor of physical chemistry, Eugene Rabinowitch was an assistant at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Germany and an associate of physics at the University of Gottingen between 1929 and 1933. With the loss of his fellowship, Rabinowitch fled Germany in 1934 and ultimately arrived in America as a lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.⁴⁸ Rabinowitch published important works on rare gases, periodic systems and atomic structure and intra-action. While Rabinowitch himself was never fully-recognized as the face of physical innovation, his work provided the invaluable backbone to the published works of prominent German and American physicists.

Moreover, Rabinowitch and other concerned American physicists worked closely during the early 1940’s to voice their opposition to the development and systematic use of atomic weaponry in the military. What would eventually become the Union of Concerned Scientists (1969) was borne out of Rabinowitch and American physicist James Franck’s “conviction that the scientific community had a right, if not a duty, to speak out on the new and complicated policy issues of the nuclear age.”⁴⁹ Again, the work of Rabinowitch and Franck depicts the mutually-dependent relationship between American and German physicists during this time; American and German physicists depended upon each other to achieve their goals within the study of physics. The shared interest of influencing public policy and political affairs brought Rabinowitch and Franck together in their fight for responsible atomic research. In addition, working to educate the American public, Rabinowitch and American physicist Hyman Goldsmith co-founded the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. As editor-in-chief, Rabinowitch “maintained the Bulletin’s quality and independence as a forum for discussion of scientific issues with social and political implications.”⁵⁰ While his work was crucial to the study of atomic structure and the development of new technology through which to harness nuclear energy, Rabinowitch and his American peers argued that the government should refrain from employing nuclear energy without a detailed understanding of its capabilities and potential consequences. An early leader in the movement, Rabinowitch garnered the support of many prominent American physicists, some of whom were not even involved in the development of the atomic bomb. Understanding Rabinowitch’s involvement in the Concerned Scientists Movement of the early 1940’s helps us to fill in the historiographical gap in the current body of literature on the German emigration to America from 1933-1945. While the contribution of prominent German physicists to the American academic community is deservedly noteworthy, the work of lesser-known German physicists also enabled and supported the advancement of physical research in America. Moreover, physicists such as Rabinowitch also help us to understand the symbiotic nature of the relationship between German émigré physicists and the American physicists they encountered.

The Myth of Albert Einstein and the Manhattan Project

Einstein renounced his German citizenship and immigrated to America in 1933, electing to study at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University. Upon his arrival to the United States, Einstein was surprised at the warm welcome he received. In a biography of Einstein written by Philipp Frank, Einstein ponders:

I never understood why the theory of relativity with its concepts and problems so far removed from practical life should for so long have met with a lively, or indeed passionate, resonance among broad circles of the public…I have never yet heard a truly convincing answer to this question.⁵¹

The speed with which Einstein’s fame spread across America was startling; not only did he garner the respect of his intellectual peers, but his relationship with the American public as a whole became one of respect and admiration. This can be attributed to Einstein’s shared antipathy towards National Socialism. While Einstein was not as vocal as some of the previously-discussed émigrés, he protested against the Nazi persecution of Jews not by denouncing Hitler, but rather by emphasizing the accomplishments of Jewish accomplishment. That being said, Einstein still declared: “Comrades! As an old-time believer in democracy, one who is not a recent convert…”⁵² His fame was merely accentuated by his advocacy of democratic ideals—ideals which were (and are still) considered to be quintessentially American.

However, the notion that Einstein gave birth to the atomic bomb is a misleading historical conclusion. His disdain for National Socialism did not trigger a desire to join the war effort through participation in the development of the atomic bomb or the Manhattan Project. Historians have frequently addressed the striking prevalence of this myth. In Einstein from B to Z, John Stachel argues that the relationship between the equation E = mc² and the production of the atomic bomb is sometimes exaggerated; he contends that the production of the A-bomb “could have taken place just as well even if Einstein had never derived that formula from his special theory of relativity.”⁵³ In Einstein: a Life in Science, Michael White asserts that “contrary to popular myth, Einstein had absolutely nothing to do with the Manhattan Project.”⁵⁴ In fact, the idea of Einstein’s connection with the development of the atomic bomb was so prevalent that the following July, 1946 issue of Time Magazine was published with this picture as its cover:

While it is true that his famous equation E=mc² (developed in 1905) describes the phenomenon of how a small amount of nucleic matter can release an immense amount of energy, Einstein himself did not directly contribute to an understanding of the “physics and chemistry of atomic fission” during the operation of the wartime Manhattan Project. During his time in the United States, Einstein vehemently opposed the spread of nuclear weapons, and he never intended the use of atomic fission as a useful tool of military weaponry. We must therefore not misinterpret Einstein’s correspondence with President Roosevelt; while Einstein wrote the letter “out of his deep and reasonable fear that the Nazis would make [an atomic bomb] first,”⁵⁵ Einstein did not directly contribute to the advancement of nuclear physics with the intention of developing an atomic bomb in America between 1933 and 1945.

Einstein’s impression on physical research in America is evidenced by the development of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox (EPR Paradox), authored in 1935. Working in conjunction with American Jewish physicists Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen, Einstein published “Can Quantum Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?” In this paper, Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen propose a “striking case” where “two quantum systems interact in such a way as to link both their spatial coordinates in a certain direction and also their linear momenta.”⁵⁶ As a result of the close interaction of these two systems, ascertaining the position or momentum of one system would fix the position or momentum of the other. As such, Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen argue that 1) the theory of quantum mechanics is incomplete and 2) that two incompatible systems can not be assigned the same level of reality. Einstein employed Americans Podolsky and Rosen as his assistants in formulating the argument found in the EPR Paradox, assigning them the task of expressing his theoretical argument mathematically. Using a combination of mathematical variables and constants (i.e. Heisenberg Uncertainty Relation, Planck’s constant, Hilbert space, and spin values), Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen expressed their argument mathematically as: [Sx, Sz] = -iħSy ≠ 0. The close relationship Einstein developed with his American peers resulted in the formulation of innovative new theories of quantum mechanics; Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen forced physicists to question the validity of their mathematical assumptions and to re-evaluate the practical use of quantum mechanics in reality. Thus, the EPR Paradox not only effected change in physical research, but also had consequences on the philosophical study of metaphysics and the nature of reality. The case of Albert Einstein allows us to assert that the en masse immigration of German physicists to America resulted in positive emigration-induced change in the study of physics.

Summary

In summation, the ascendancy of American physics to global prominence between 1933 and 1945 was made possible not only by the arrival of German intellectual émigrés to America, but also by the symbiotic relationship between German and American physicists that allowed for the assimilation of German ideas into the study of physics in America. Moreover, the government-sanctioned Manhattan Project proved to be a hotbed for German physicists contributing to physical innovation and progress in America, as both German and American physicists united under the goal of defeating National Socialism in Germany.

The Development of Physics under National Socialism

Filling the Void Left by the German Emigration

National Socialism and German Physics, 1933-1938

The National Socialist revolution of 1933 resulted in the methodical purging of all non-Aryans from the German physical community. Nazi physicists ensured that the future of German physics was free from “non-Aryan” influence by retaining control of future university appointments, scientific publications and research funding. Such a suffocating academic environment “was unsettling, if not deeply disturbing for most German physicists.”⁵⁷ As such, over 15% of all German academic physicists willingly (or unwillingly) emigrated to America or Britain, resulting in what Mark Walker, in Nazi Science: Myth, Truth and the Atomic Bomb, calls “great damage to physical research in 20^th-century Germany.”⁵⁸ Walker argues that the oppressive nature of Nazi control over German physical research and the consequent emigration of prominent German physicists resulted in the downfall of prestigious scientific research institutions such as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (KWG), as such institutions relied upon the open sharing of information outside of German universities.⁵⁹ This free flow of information was interrupted as a result of Nazi persecution and the ensuing emigration of persecuted Judeo-German physicists overseas.

A cursory reading of Walker might lead us to believe that the scientific advancement of physics under National Socialism was thus halted. Yet despite the “great damage” caused by the en masse emigration of Judeo-German physicists overseas, the scientific development of physics under National Socialism actually experienced a period of sustenance and in some cases growth between 1933 and 1945 as a result of the relationship between the National Socialist Party and German physics.

According to Jonathan Harwood, author of “German Science and Technology under Nation Socialism,” the aim of physics during the Third Reich was “two fold, one ideological and the other utilitarian.”⁶⁰ Under National Socialism, the scientific development of physics directly correlated with the ideological principles of a National Socialist view of the world. With regard to deutsche Physik, this meant that theoretical physics was regarded as an impure, Jewish science that threatened to undermine the ideology of pure, German applied physics. Accordingly, German physical research was concerned only with theories that were consistent with “Aryan” or “German” scientific ideals. For example, Himmler established a department of pseudo-science within the Ahnenerbe that focused solely on a physical/cosmological glacial theory that could have confirmed the divine origin of the Germanic peoples who owed their existence not to evolution, but to God Himself.

Yet scientific research under National Socialism was more importantly concerned with utility. As such, “theoretical physics was suspect, not just because of its many Jewish practitioners, but also because of its apparent lack of utility (before the discovery of atomic fission in 1938).”⁶¹ In general, the development of deutsche Physik under the Third Reich was characterized by a concentration on principles of applied physics—principles which would prove to be useful in strengthening the German state. For example, Johannes Stark, a devout member of the National Socialist Party and one of the founders of the deutsche Physik movement, focused his research on the Doppler Effect, a theory of physics that mathematically predicts a change in wavelength caused by a source of motion. Knowledge of this kind of physics would prove to be useful to the Third Reich, as the very same electrostatic theory that governed the Doppler Effect also governed the technology of radar—a vital military weapon. The relationship between the National Socialist Party and the deutsche Physik movement could be characterized as one of mutual-dependence; the success of the Third Reich was dependent upon progress in physics, and progress in physics was dependent upon the ideological/economic backing of the Third Reich.

Accomplishments of German Physics under National Socialism, Pre-1938

By 1938, German physicists had managed impressive achievements under National Socialism. In 1936, German physicist Walther Gerlach argued that advances in the field of physics had not stagnated in Germany, citing the impressive research of Erich Regener, Walther Bothe and Otto Hahn as evidence of advances in German physics between 1933 and 1938. Regener contributed to German physics through his development of the electroscope—an instrument used to measure the intensity of cosmic rays in the upper-atmosphere. According to Bruno Rossi, author of Cosmic Rays, the technique of self-recording electroscopic study was,

brought to an unprecedented degree of perfection by the German physicist Erich Regener and his group. To these scientists we owe some of the most accurate measurements ever made of cosmic ray ionization as a function of altitude and depth.⁶²

Upon being appointed Director of the Institute of Physics at the University of Heidelberg, Walther Bothe conducted a series of nuclear experiments that resulted in the identification of a new form of penetrating radiation and the creation of the cyclotron—one of the first known manufactured particle-accelerators. With this instrument, Bothe worked on the diffusion theory of neutrons. Bothe was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1954, for his “remarkable gifts” to the advancement of physics.⁶³ In his laboratory at the University of Berlin, Otto Hahn made a remarkable discovery at the end of 1938: “While working with Dr. Strassmann, Hahn discovered the fission of uranium and thorium in medium-heavy atomic nuclei.”⁶⁴ Hahn continued to research the separation of elements through the process of nuclear fission even after his discovery. The works of Regener, Bothe and Hahn serve as effective counter-examples to the “attacks by German ideologues” who claimed that the state of German physics was “badly battered” by 1938.⁶⁵

But the discovery of atomic fission in 1938 forced German physicists of the deutsche Physik movement to qualify their ideological position on theoretical physics. It was becoming increasingly apparent that theoretical physics did serve a utilitarian purpose. The discoveries of Regener, Bothe and Hahn were not made in direct conjunction with the National Socialist Party; rather, they were made in spite of it. Regener was evidently forced into retirement by the Nazi Party, Bothe was appointed a position at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research in order to avoid forced emigration, and Hahn was a member of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society—an institution that had been (for the most part) independent of National Socialist affiliation. By 1939, even Nazi physicists “decried the detrimental effects of Aryan physics by asserting the ostensible relevance of works of theoretical physics to the war effort.”⁶⁶

Prominent German physicists ultimately addressed the counterintuitive nature of simultaneously adhering to the ideology of National Socialism while accepting the principles of theoretical physics at a conference in Munich on November 15^th, 1940. Wolfgang Finkelnburg, “an influential member of the University Teacher’s League, took the offensive against Lenard and Stark [deutsche Physik] by arranging a debate on modern physics.”⁶⁷ By the end of the conference, Aryan physicists had engaged in a lengthy debate on the content of physical research, rather than the political ramifications of accepted principles of physics. As such, both professional and Aryan physicists had come to the conclusion that “theoretical physics with all the mathematical aids [was] an indispensable component of the whole of physics.”⁶⁸ With the legitimacy of modern physics firmly established, the relationship between the National Socialist Party and the scientific development of German physics was strengthened, resulting in even further scientific progress in the German physical community between 1938 and 1945.

The Uranium Machine, Accomplishment in German Physics Post-1938

“Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, two chemists working at the Berlin Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry, made a discovery in late 1938 which, in time, changed the world.”⁶⁹

German physicist Otto Hahn found that bombarding uranium atoms with charge-less nuclear particles generated atoms of barium—an element precisely one-half the mass of uranium. Hahn universally concluded that colliding uranium atoms with neutrons resulted in the splitting of the uranium nucleus, thereby releasing energy and more neutrons in the process. According to Walker, “It was only a very short step from these results to the realization that nuclear fission had consequential economic and military applications.”⁷⁰ A controlled chain reaction could produce energy in the form of electricity, but an uncontrolled chain reaction such as the one produced by nuclear fission could generate an explosion of immense power and scope. Under National Socialism, a German physicist had been responsible for making one of the most ground-breaking discoveries of the 20^th century—a discovery that would strengthen the ties between National Socialism and physics. This relationship ultimately paved the way for even more dangerous contributions to physics during the Third Reich.

There is a plethora of correspondence between prominent German physicists and departments of the Third Reich with specific regard to the technical and military consequences of harnessing energy from nuclear fission. In 1939, a theoretical physicist named Georg Joos wrote a letter to the Reich Ministry of Education, outlining the use of uranium fission as a means of producing energy. The letter was subsequently forwarded to the Reich Ministry Research Council whereby it was received by the ministry director, Abraham Esau. Esau promptly announced his plan to embark on a uranium research project that would employ uranium as a means of creating an uncontrolled, violent explosion on a nuclear level. Additional groups of German physicists soon began launching similar uranium research projects that were funded by the National Socialist Party. In 1933, the budget of the Third Reich allotted RM 5.6 million to scientific development. According to Kristie Macrakis in Surviving the Swastika, the year 1942 represented a turning point of the war, when “government officials began to recognize the use of science for the war effort.”⁷¹ Accordingly, by 1944, that number had risen to RM 14.3 million. Soon, all facets of government under the Third Reich began allotting money to scientific development, including the Reich Ministry for Food and Agriculture, the Foreign Office and the Reich Air Ministry. Yet governmental agencies were not the only sources of funding for scientific research; other major sources included the German Research Association and the Promotion Society of the German Industry. These institutions were known for contributions to the Kaiser Wilhelm Society—an organization that became progressively affiliated with National Socialism at the turn of the 1940’s. The prospect of harnessing nuclear energy and employing an uncontrolled reaction as a weapon of mass destruction induced a paradigmatic shift in the focus of physics under the Third Reich. The relationship between German physics and National Socialism achieved a perfect equilibrium; it was a relationship of

compromise and collaboration. Every branch of the state—including the Party, the Secret Police, the SS, the armed forces, and the various ministries—had competent loyal scientists in their employ.⁷²

The possibility of creating a destructive “Uranium Machine” consumed German physicists to the point where ideological principles were tossed aside—sacrificed for the dream of winning the war in one fell swoop.

By the end of 1943, the construction of the Berlin-Dahlem bunker laboratory was complete, offering well-funded German physicists from the Kaiser Wilhelm Physics Institute the opportunity to achieve a self-sustaining and uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction. The experiments performed in the reinforced bunker laboratory taught German physicists various properties of nuclear chain reactions, and ultimately added to the growth of science through acquisition of knowledge that had previously been unfathomed.

In the spring of 1944, a series of four experiments were performed in an attempt to ascertain production coefficients for neutrons when collided with uranium plates of varying size: as physicists achieved higher production coefficients for their experiments, the more likely they were to achieve a nuclear chain reaction. But as German physicists continued to produce lackluster results using horizontal uranium plates, they soon realized that colliding neutrons with a uranium cube produced higher production coefficients, and hence better results. According to Macrakis, the summer of 1944 marked one of the most important findings of atomic research in Germany: “that cube configurations were better than plate configurations” in producing uncontrolled nuclear chain reactions.⁷³

In the winter of 1945, German physicists continued to experiment with uranium atoms, hoping to ascertain the conditions necessary for a nuclear reaction. German physicist Karl Wirtz led a team of scientists who concluded that six to seven centimeters squared “was the optimal dimension for cubes of uranium.”⁷⁴ Six hundred and eighty uranium cubes weighing over 1.5 tons were placed on the aluminum lid of a magnesium cylinder, and then lowered into a nuclear reactor vessel that bombarded neutrons at the atoms of uranium. Wirtz’ team was thrilled to learn that the experiment resulted in a dramatic increase in neutron production hitherto unobserved, but simultaneously disappointed that not enough were being emitted in order to create a self-sustaining chain reaction. But before Wirtz and his team could reconvene to make use of their innovative results, the war was ended. According to Macrakis, they had been on the “brink” of a chain reaction.

Reflection on the Accomplishments of Physics under National Socialism

The current historiographical approach to analyzing the development of physics in Germany between 1933 and 1945 is prevalent: most historians find it quite simple to conclude that the deutsche Physik movement presented ideological obstacles to scientific progress. With the rise of National Socialism came the systematic persecution of Judeo-German physicists and their consequent en masse emigration from Germany to America. Even more incriminating for physicists of the deutsche Physik movement was their unwillingness to initially accept the principles of modern physics—principles such as Einstein’s theory of special relativity—that are widely-accepted today. Considering the departure of over 15% of all physicists from Germany, especially those who were on the forefront of modern theoretical physics, it is easy to accept the argument that the emigration of German intellectuals resulted in a decrease in the quality of German academic life with regard to physical research. Even the term “Aryan” physics elicits a negative reaction—a reaction that presents the historian with a historiographic, and perhaps even a moral dilemma: can we conclude that scientific development founded upon premises that instantiate egregious racism sustained the study of physics?

Despite the deutsche Physik movement’s neglect to consider theoretical physics as a legitimate scientific enterprise, and despite the failure of German physicists to achieve their goal of harnessing nuclear energy to create an atomic bomb, the contribution of German physicists to the scientific development of physics in Germany under the Third Reich can not be discounted. Before 1938, prominent German physicists continued to propose innovative theories in spite of the deutsche Physik movement, as evidenced by the contributions of Regener and Bothe. Under National Socialism, a German physicist was credited with spurring the development of nuclear fission technology—a technology that would ultimately determine the outcome of the war, and even “change the world.” After 1938, the mutually-dependent relationship between National Socialism and German physics allowed for extensive experimentation on the developing principles of nuclear physics, resulting in the contributions of German physicists such as Wirtz. Thus, despite the en masse emigration of Judeo-German physicists to America, we can not overlook the ways in which German physics “survived the swastika.”

Conclusion

The Grander Meaning of the German Intellectual Emigration, 1933-1945

“History is the transformation of tumultuous conquerors into silent footnotes”

Paul Eldridge, Maxims for a Modern Man

The historian is responsible for the objective research of humanity’s past events and the synthesis of those events within a broader context. Yet achieving pure objectivity in historical research is realistically a more challenging task than it would appear. Subjectivity is a concept that is ingrained in human nature; that is to say, humans are apt to view the world through a moral lens. We tend to condone actions that are morally-praiseworthy and condemn actions that are considered morally-impermissible. Thus, it is not surprising that historians tend to “transform tumultuous conquerors into silent footnotes.” It is difficult for us to accept the positive historical contributions of debase conquerors, because we have knowledge of the wicked means that produced them. It is therefore easily understandable that positive historical contributions made by immoral conquerors sometimes go overlooked.

Physicists studying in Germany under National Socialism between 1933 and 1945 are the “tumultuous conquerors” in this case. The immoral principles upon which National Socialism was founded make it hard for us to accept the physical contributions of German physicists during this time. For this reason, an analysis of the consequences of the en masse emigration of German intellectuals to America is often one-sided; historians tend to focus on the positive contributions made by German scientists to America while failing to neglect the sustainability of the study of physics in Germany. The intent of this essay was twofold: to help complete the “second-half” of the analysis of the German intellectual emigration in the context of emigration-induced scientific change, and to confirm the argument that the German intellectual emigration positively contributed to academic life in America through the study of physics.

The emigration of German intellectuals to America teaches us many important historical concepts. First—that the social degradation of the Jewish intellectual in Germany resulted in the emigration of many prominent German physicists to America beginning in 1933. Second—that despite their departure, the study of physics in Germany under National Socialism was still sustained, as evidenced by the important contributions of German physicists working in German Universities. Third—that the invention of atomic fission in 1938 drastically altered the landscape of the National Socialists’ attitude towards theoretical physics. No longer was National Socialism incompatible with advances in what were once thought of as theoretical physical concepts. As such, various government-sanctioned programs of the National Socialist Party directly aided the progress of nuclear physics in Germany between 1938 and 1945. Fourth—that in America, the arrival of German refugee physicists lead to an effective, harmonious relationship between American natural physicists and German theoretical physicists, as evidenced by the work of Einstein, Szilard and Wigner. Fifth—that the importance of the lesser-known German émigré physicist can not be overlooked, and that it would behoove us to consider their important contributions to the study of physics both in America and Germany. And finally—that the myth that Einstein was responsible for the production of the atomic bomb in America can be easily dispelled.

While these specific historical arguments are quite informative, we must consider their grander significance. An understanding of the German intellectual emigration teaches us that if we, as historians, are to construct impartial historical analyses of important events, we must be sure to shed the biases that threaten to sacrifice our historical integrity.

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Jordan Scho

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