In 1933, the newly-installed Nazi government began its purge of all Jews and those of Jewish descent from German universities, including thousands of scholars. In the same year, a group formed in New York to help those displaced scholars find positions in American universities, employment that would also assist them in immigrating to the United States outside the strict quota system.
Over 5,000 scholars, including 80 female scientists and mathematicians, sought the help of the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars. The committee eventually aided scholars throughout Nazi-controlled Europe. This map shows both the European birthplaces of each of these 80 scholars and the American universities that took four of those scholars in with the committee’s help. The divergent paths of two of these women, a mathematician who found refuge in the United States, and a biologist who was murdered in an extermination center, can be traced on the map above, as well as in their detailed story maps in their profiles below.
Different paths: two scholars, two fates
Scholars Biography
About the Project
The Rediscovering the Refugee Scholars project is a research effort by Northeastern University faculty and graduate students in Jewish Studies, Journalism, Public History, and Computer Science to retrace the forgotten career and life pathways of a group of scholars who attempted to flee Nazi persecution in the 1930s and 1940s.
Data Analysis
Demographic and biographical data of the 80 women scientists and scholars who applied to the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars.
Background
United States immigration data compiled from The Statistical Abstract of the United States from the years 1913 to 1949, including for professors and ministers who received non-quota visas.
Scholars Database
Our database includes the scholar’s discipline, academic specialization, universities granting their degrees, academic references, country of origin, last known European address, date of birth and country of origin, among other categories.
