Abstract
IN 1933, when the rise of the Nazi party rendered the position of men of science and other scholars extrenely dangerous, the Academic Assistance Council was founded to help the refugees; later its title was changed to the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning. The recently published fifth annual report (issued from Westminster College, Cambridge) surveys the Society's activities for the years 1939–45. These years, being war years, have necessitated the limitation of the survey chiefly to an account of the academic refugees in Great Britain. Of the 2,541 individuals who were registered, only 601 are now in this country. The majority of those who have found employment abroad are in the United States. Some of these are in the special foundations of French and Polish exiled scholars, or on the staff of the School for Social Research in New York. Spanish exiles have found their way to Mexico, and the Central and South American countries have absorbed a large number of the refugees. Others have gone to the British Dominions, some to Turkey, Palestine,, Sweden and Switzerland. Of those in Great Britain r about 40 per cent are in universities and parallel institutions. Another group, about 36 per cent, are employed in some of the professions industry and the Government service. Scholars of Allied nationality have returned or will return to their own countries if they are Dutch, Belgian, French or Scandinavian, but the Poles and some of the Czechs are in a difficult position. So far as numbers are concerned, the Germans and Austrians present special problems. Some with a good war record have been naturalized these will presumably remain in Britain, but some definitely wish to return, and discussions are now taking place for the return of some of them to the British zone. The report emphasizes that the Society is not a welfare agency in the usual sense, but exists to make the work of refugee scientific workers and other scholars available, by maintaining them white other support is not forthcoming. It is expected that in a few years time the activities of the Society will be considerably curtailed, but in the meantime much work still remains to be done.
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Society for the Protection of Science and Learning. Nature 158, 92 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/158092c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/158092c0