The Contributions of Jewish Refugees |
The Jewish Renaissance in America During
the years of the Nazi rule of Europe (1933-45), hundreds of Jewish scholars
escaped to the United States and caused in this country a rebirth of science and
scholarship, which reminds us of three similar events in the history of
learning. Best
known among similar events was the flight of the Christian Greek scholars from
Constantinople as the city was invaded by the Muslim Turks in 1453.
Fearing forced conversion to Islam, these scholars moved to nearby Italy
and there promoted a major development of science, art, music, and literature. Constantinople
was founded by the Roman emperor Constantine I at the site of the ancient city
Byzantium, located at the entrance of the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.
Constantine had abandoned Rome and made Constantinople the capital of the
Roman empire so that the eastern empire became known as the Byzantine Empire,
lasting from 330 to 1453. A
second example of a scholarly renaissance was the flight of the Protestant
scholars from the French city Nantes upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
which had been issued by King Henry, permitting the Protestant religion in that
city, although Catholicism was otherwise the only religion allowed in France.
When Louis XIV revoked that edict in 1695, the Protestants in Nantes were
beaten until they converted to Catholicism or died at the hands of the French
enforcers. Consequently, numerous
Protestant scholars fled to Prussia, England, and the Netherlands. In
1937, the dictator Stalin purged the learned professions in Russia by killing or
imprisoning those he suspected of disloyalty to him.
This persecution led to the flight of numerous Russian scholars to
America, England, and elsewhere. The
Hitler years in Europe then resulted in the entrance to the United States of
hundreds of German, Austrian, and eastern European Jewish scholars, who brought
with them major scientific developments not known in this country.
Albert Einstein alone was responsible for thirty-three inventions by
others that rested on Einstein’s theoretical physics.
Not as well known as Einstein was the physician and expert on childhood
diseases Erwin Netter, the legal scholar Arthur Lenhoff, the ophthalmologist
Franz Michael, the historian Franz Gilbert, and the numerous Hungarian Jews who
developed the atomic bomb, including the physicist Teller, the mathematician von
Neumann, and som many other Jewish scientists that atomic energy and “the
bomb” were indeed Jewish contributions to American science. The
history of art was brought to this country by a Jewish art professor, as was the
study of hydraulics, and developments in American literature, music, and the
movie industry. The
contributions of Jewish refugees also included military achievements, which were
of vital importance to the US armed forces during the Second World War. Indeed,
the Jewish immigration to the USA during the 1930’s and 1940’s resulted in
an American renaissance of scholarship and learning that made this country even
greater than before the coming of these remarkable Jews. For the chance to live in this blessed country, every Jew
owes the USA sincere gratitude. May
Shem Yisborach bless the United States, the country country outside of Israel
which, in the words of George Washington (1732-99), “gives to persecution no
assistance.” Shalom
u'vracha. Dr. Gerhard Falk is the author of numerous publications, including The American Jewish Community in the 20th and 21st Century (2021). |