Some remarks and documents concerning the emigration of Polish mathematicians during the 1930s and early 1940
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4467/2543702XSHS.19.006.11012Keywords:
emigration of Polish mathematicians, occupation by Nazi Germany, problems of academic job market, Society for the Protection of Science and Learning (SPSL), Shapley’s Asylum Fellowship PlanAbstract
The history of the sufferings and the emigration of mathematicians under Nazi influence would be very incomplete without considering the perhaps most vibrant and at the same time most victimized European mathematical school of the 1930s, namely the Polish one. Polish mathematical emigration contributed – similarly to German-speaking emigration – considerably to the development of mathematics in the host countries, particularly in the United States.
The paper contributes to the discussion with some archival documents from two specific sources, which have so far found relatively little attention among historians of mathematics. These are the files of the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning (SPSL) at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, UK, and the files related to the Asylum Fellowship Planorganized by the Astronomer at Harvard University Harlow Shapley, now in possession of the Harvard University Archives.
References
ARCHIVAL SOURCES
Society for the Protection of Science and Learning(SPSL), Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK.Harvard University Archives, Harlow Shapley Refugee Files. HUG 4773.10 Asylum Fellowship Plan.
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