Contributions by German emigres to British medical science

Abstract

When the Nazis came to power in Germany on 30 January 1933, they produced not only gigantic political change but a revolution in science, arts and intellectual life that was bigger than any other in the history of the world. At that time, Germany led the world, especially in science, in a way no other nation had ever done. The situation changed in a matter of weeks, for one specific and simple reason. Adolf Hitler acquired total political power and he was a fanatical anti‐semite. Those two facts account for the devastating damage to German science and scientists. There was no surprise about Hitler's anti‐semitic policy, only about its speed and intensity. Most Jewish scientists realized before Hitler's advent to power that professional life would become difficult or impossible for them. The change in official tone was immediate. The reason why German Jewish scientists left so quickly was that in Germany almost all universities were state institutions; so when the law for ‘cleansing’ the civil service was promulgated (not voted) on 7 April 1933, only 9½ weeks after Hitler's appointment, all academics became liable to dismissal and most were quickly dismissed. For some this completeness and abruptness of anti‐semitic measures was an advantage. Jews knew exactly where they stood vis‐à‐vis the state. Werner Heisenberg, the great physicist who at the age of 32 was already a Nobel prizewinner, said he almost envied his Jewish colleagues, they were in no doubt what they had to do. They had to leave—he did not. Eventually he decided to stay in Germany in spite of great temptation to leave, mainly, it is thought, under the influence of Max Planck and his passion to preserve German science in the face of the danger he foresaw only too clearly. Very few non‐Jewish scientists left—Otto Krayer, Marthe Vogt, Erwin Schrödinger, under very different circumstances. It is easy to criticize those who did not leave in spite of the approaching horror, but the personal and professional problems of doing so were immense. It was easier to take action from the safety of Britain (and still more of the USA); the action of British academics who formed the Academic Assistance Council (AAC) which rescued so many German academics was extremely creditable. The AAC was led by William Beveridge, of the London School of Economics, Lord Rutherford, President of the Royal Society, A.V. Hill, biological secretary and MP for Cambridge university, and Leo Szilard, ex‐Hungarian physicist, who was one of the first to diagnose the situation in Germany. They were helped by the admirable Tess Simpson who remained as secretary for many years, sustaining the AAC and her ‘children’ in it for decades. The scientists flocked over to London, some went to France and to USA. In some cases, e.g. Krebs, they were already known as budding scientists. He had written direct to Gowland Hopkins, who wrote back that he had long been interested in his work, and if he could find funds he would welcome Krebs in his laboratory. I am talking here of the contributions by German emigrés (including Austrians and Hungarians who had been working in Germany, or trying to do so), to British medical science. That statement needs some qualification—first, for the obvious reason that contribution to British medical science included Western science generally, especially American; second the subject is medical science, not clinical medicine. This distinction, today becoming of less significance, was not so then. The British attitude to German medical scientists was very different from that to German doctors in general. In the first instance Britain's attitude was entirely welcoming; in the second, quite the reverse. German doctors were not generally welcome here, for both economic and nationalist reasons. This was a period well before the National Health Service, when doctors' income came from various sources, mostly private practice and health insurance; in the case of hospital practice service was voluntary. It was easy, therefore, to see the financial threat to British consultants and general practitioners. Less worthy, was an attitude on the part of leaders of the profession that Britain had little to learn from German and Austrian medicine. Witness the comments of the Home Secretary, Samuel Hoare, in the early post‐Hitler days; he ‘would gladly have admitted the Austrian medical profession en bloc’, but his humanitarian sentiments had received ‘an unpleasant shock’ when he encountered resistance from the British medical profession, who assured him that ‘British medicine had nothing to gain from new blood and much to lose from foreign dilution’. It may well be true that some of the qualities which had put Germany and Austria in the lead, in surgery and psychiatry for example, were no longer so prominent, but they could not be so cavalierly dismissed. However, there was an undoubted air of smugness in those years on the part of the British Medical Association as well as the Colleges, which was unhelpful to the emigrés. Fortunately the scientists—individually or in organizations—behaved much more openly. Krebs's pre‐eminence can need no urging—the fundamental importance of his research in intermediary metabolism was officially recognized by the award of the Nobel prize in 1953 jointly with Fritz Lipmann, another German refugee (to the USA). By this time, he was professor of biochemistry at Sheffield (whence came another later Nobel prizewinner, Howard Florey, originally of Adelaide—no anti‐semitism there!) Next year, 1954, Krebs was appointed to the chair at Oxford where he stayed until his death in 1981. His presence in Britain was a towering advantage for his subject, his universities and his new country. Another Oxford figure, at the other end of the scientific/clinical spectrum, was Ludwig Guttmann. He was a neurosurgeon in Breslau who had trained with Otfrid Foerster, the best known neurosurgeon in Europe. He had worked at times with Hugh Cairns, professor of surgery at Oxford, professional descendant of Harvey Cushing and doyen of the subject in Britain. Guttmann was Jewish, but could have stayed in his post in Germany. He was repelled by two things—he would only be able to treat Jewish patients and he had witnessed the burning of the books on 10 May 1934. This action—by students urged on by the Rectors—shocked him greatly. The books were burnt regardless of subject or author, and this action convinced Guttmann that the Nazi intellectual tyranny would last. As head of the Jewish hospital in Breslau, Guttmann did all he could to protect his patients. Things got particularly bad after Kristallnacht, 9 November 1938, when state‐organized violence destroyed synagogues and other Jewish buildings, and killed Jews. Guttmann gave orders to his hospital staff that any man arriving that night should be at once admitted. When Nazi officers came, Guttmann all the got for Guttmann his but he was helped by his He was by of to see a man with a and the was by German foreign from he got to at Oxford on his There he got a of from the for the of and new of the and was to leave Germany on before the of The were welcome in the at and of the for him to do research in his He did him clinical to do. did not have a of of and was Guttmann with his of to and to The was that he and he became known as For a time, Guttmann was of the this changed as the of a second in at the London and the National who was head of the Medical Service, foresaw the of that the in France would have to all one from and Guttmann was to change and he was exactly the man to do was for him at and Guttmann was put in He on with and on He was in the the night to his orders were They The were first was changed to The patients not only but a for later and other As one an put first is to In the of his work, Guttmann in blood and and that only when the was This he did with later professor of at They to the patients At the age of he was a of the Royal In the life and contribution of Ludwig it to that they came from and than or those qualities it been so to of refugee scientists came in and from of the most was who was rescued by was one of the most and of scientists. He was a at and as well as and at at the age of there was nothing he could not the of His was that he could any situation as it only as he This led to a of his where or where a simple would have a wrote a to which wrote an more said could have been or he could not have been a or As it was he was one of the I ever from that he was on the a for many years, but his political be to take a more as the than in that is not what he He knew about Hitler's tyranny from its and he about was a in in of who had from was to an and at and had been by Max of who the of and the of in of and the great not interested in which in the were still not known to be and he so many great was and it was he would his of his was on and and they may have been the which him to to on 30 January of Hitler's to but two later to his At first he stayed with his in London, who was not to and he a new in his life by did not or lose of his and the of He to be a so he to the to Gowland at who was well as he was to so many and to at two weeks had appointed to his was in the of from a in biochemistry at Cambridge to a chair in at He had early and recognized his at a said that the he gave was what may as the best and most action of and and were different and helped and got to take him his at Cambridge where he gave the all the and he Things were but was still still had not entirely the of a The came in when the appointed professor of at Oxford, Howard Florey, his for for which he a At first he another man from but so he find his is more than I that if his and foreign not be in an and very able at the particularly of his and of so to research and so in in he for a of in those days; there were only or in the of he have a in all the of his was easy to and the of in his great with over the or years, he could be a and difficult and this in a situation which other of and to put it He was known by some as the when he his in his need to be in and to have of were to his It is to what would have to and if he had not under a man of the and that the best in (and in many as well as his him to in his early in this when his have his and he would have to or had left years which he had It is to that would have a more to the who to to In the end he left Florey, Oxford and but by that he had to one of the biological ever It is to the of as resistance but nothing can the for doctors who worked in the The case still of the first to a of who was back from death and when and from his was and for a second can be in many The most is by the of Nobel In the case of Germany in the is Germany had many more Nobel in science than any other exactly one of the science in Britain had the only As a of Hitler's left Germany and so did no than who went on to This was intellectual could to on this a had to any other can it ever the damage was by Germany to German Jewish were who later working in Krebs, and all of I had the of and on one of I can a personal Max He was and in as a to to Cambridge where so much and other was He more or less with a of of who a part in the early of and who him as the man had ever came a after had no to to Austria and was a in came the of of those as or to the It years to become In was and later to not on the which was with the of many Cambridge were particularly there was of a German of the of a period of the and the were mostly after back to Britain. his as he was not for any of he received a to to his staff were professor of at later a professor at London, and an man of no profession but of a and especially in had an for of and which could be to in for to In the the in where the was that he was still and was the The was by who the Home to which they did in of importance came of the that became This a When from he went back to the liable to he was to his and to the of worked on the for years and when see him a of the it is not that it so the only surprise is that he was a and and that the and the Medical Council were of his work, which have so It in in when the Nobel prize in with and and the The of had For many years, over the of I the that when the got one of another Nobel they were so that a in the of the or this a bad of in the of two who in if and by the from the his on and Erwin Schrödinger, almost a less the in wrote is a which that the was a and in and were in a was of in and to the to with the of the Schrödinger, not Jewish, came to Britain in he was a of Oxford of a him by Lord and little of He to Austria in when he had no need to do and when a German already He in a to with an impossible and back to Britain only in to by the after rescued by Oxford in an of in Another German refugee who came to Cambridge of the Nazis was His in was the of two for a to an research post in Germany after the Nazis came, and was an in at the was Jewish but still able to an life of he worked in the which was a He was the Nobel prize in with A.V. had an with Gowland by which he a to Cambridge for a had already work, on was in Cambridge for only a it was a in his got to of in and and have he left he him to leave his the to at but life became difficult in Germany, and he decided he to where he in April He was by the and formed a with the and the which his other he worked on and the of which stood him in later in the in the He was in but not to and was in a matter of weeks the of in of there were many in His in led to his in in after the in He was the first to the and In was appointed to and stayed there as and until he to Cambridge for in His at was very His became the of the world. different were to him with all of the of in with of He fundamental in other and could be as the of with his on the of to His to Cambridge came at a was a after the Nobel prize and the of His and quickly the of and knew his way the about as well as It led to the first of a as a in could in His on and clinical medicine in an way his of of in and later He was and in spite of some of personal which one at in to the of his early life and his to Britain. It may have been a but there were no and he problems his he the one to had a of e.g. his the they with science to other is when he from a to a and Max him for his he was a more than I The of Krebs the of Jewish scientists in Germany before the It was early that he was for a in was and entirely to There were of He was Jewish, he to do both clinical and almost and there was no profession as However, he the of to an but a great Krebs got a in a of medicine in a hospital in which he could do some his Krebs to on one of his In April he to where he had patients to after on of he the first in the This of a and was a new and a Krebs became known In him for his said an in the of medicine Krebs not only but his work, especially the on the of in the his one of the of medical few with Hitler in the wrote this that to he was on leave until Krebs was to He was to to Gowland who by of so much that I am very to and there were other Fortunately Cambridge already had to back him had long been a very of Krebs was at once by Hopkins, his and by The was that at in Germany. years in he what he about this period in a in of at the was in that I for the first and at some of the of what is to as British way of The Cambridge included of many different and I or and was the figure, and as a his Cambridge and the Royal in to the German was the of and his and the from and for the of a one the of I be Krebs could stay in Cambridge for only a until the but he got a in There he to be professor of biochemistry until 1954, when he to the chair in Oxford where so many came under his had in and when Krebs was but I him as when he would to and at the as if this for to his and there was a very his about more was his in when he had been on of all the in this to a to the of the Royal and British for they had been to Britain. He was by this a Nobel and but the that he was to the what his included many of of can and to the British this of gave was not a new and a new and way of life from an of political and a of and It is this way of life with which some of I for in were here a new a but a true Home is where one where one the of doing the one one to do in to life and gain true Krebs's Nobel prize had in jointly with Fritz Lipmann, another German who had to the in the of by and That should have in This is no for in science, but if one had been German would one not be of a which had a Krebs science do. When his was so quickly his attitude was if that is what they they can have more of Krebs's from Germany in he was at by a too Krebs as the When Krebs in London he was and in by with he was for the of his As an of the by the German to the Krebs's here all his life and is a of the Royal was a refugee before He the personal importance of with great scientists that so changed the of the had worked with in When he was to to London on said on A.V. there and him and and many under his and were almost for British science from Hitler's This to the which became in He was in hospital with and of a Very a came from A.V. him a There was no but that was of Germany and could his first to the other and working with Tess Simpson and of the As so in the of personal in they helped They were a and went to where I first him in as a all he was an of the only later did that he on for at His in when who had he was in appointed him later in at It was in Oxford that he his great on and which led to of fundamental and clinical was at his most in I had the great of in the few years of his was extremely easy to to as is by his of his first with They had when at a in in they got a on the and as on the That is as of as of Hugh two of the it would be to at He had with at the National for Medical before Hitler came when they were especially had the which was to When in had been from the of in he had much to see the of the in Germany. He did not very as he went the of other scientists in when he came a I have from to in him I have a for him went at once to London, later to Cambridge and the National said he would have been quite to stay in where he was working with but there was no man that he not with of the who not only worked there but the and an great was before the on but he as a of in the at as well as any of the refugee and in that would have destroyed many of He had his first he had but his second he had his only he had been from his and his he had the when he said this to been of his he have been he the had been he have been he had led a life of and which led to to he had been to the Royal Society, he was It to his that when he at he had been It is difficult to about scientists who came here from Germany, there were so they were so in and and did so much to this country. I have to who came and stayed There were who were rescued by Britain but e.g. and of and a when in in had the of a chair in in when he was quite was to his university, came to to his and later was appointed to a at which some scientists that here was a the of an There were of the who from in the before the for British His him was in so that at could of his him at on her way to got the Nazi by as an which he the or he and would have The most dismissal I is of later of and of the Royal When was a in the hospital in 1933, admitted a of with The was and he had to have a to the for a There were were all Jewish and had been dismissed. had the but a had and they was to the hospital to be with the that was was with and at her and take this this is no leave the hospital Fortunately an easy to where rescued the of the a of the was a working with in Cambridge when Hitler was not Jewish, and the When her went to the German and her at them. to be but there been to the when the and later a her to had of been as a The her to her that could and got to of the they went to and he went to the Home Secretary, was from but see if there is I can B

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