Customer Reviews

Hitler's Gift : The True Story of the Scientists Expelled by the Nazi Regime

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This book is...simply excellent !

It gives a background (nothing heavy) about the history of science, with a bit of a focus on the Nobel Prize, arguably the Holy Grail of academic science; though many recipients - perhaps more in the past than now - weren't really seeking it. It it tells of Germany's dominance in science before WW2 and gives a refreshing view of pre-Nazi Germany as a country that was quite progressive in very many ways...and it tells how Germany threw away its academia in order to pursue a Nazi New Order or whatever it was.
All this is largely covered in the early part of the book.

The rest of the book gives a brief biography of selected scientists that contributed so much to modern Knowledge and tells what happened to them or how they escaped or otherwise dealt with Naziism and/or the war.

The book is VERY readable. No scientific jargon; it is concise and completely for the non-scientific reader. The book can be read by most in a few days by reading in the evening.

I'm impressed by this work, its scholarship and its way of promoting (perhaps unintentionally) science as a worthwhile endeavor.

Buy it, borrow it, or whatever....but READ it !

This book summarizes the life, adventures and discoveries of some of the best brains in the first half of the XX century.

An additional benefit of this book is providing an overview of several scientific discoveries and part of the relationship that they have between them. It introduces information on some major scientific achievements that are worth to be known.

I would rewrite the title. Better forget Hitler's name, he is not so important.

Althought at times this book drags, it is a fascinating read. The authors do not peach about Hitler's Germany; they just tell it like it was. Often times, the author's will repeat themselves, but I believe that is because you don't have to read this book cover to cover in order.

What a concept...If Hitler had not expelled Jewish scientists and non-Jews who did not support him, the US and Britan would not be the political leaders they now are.

This book looks at the plight of scientists who were forced out of their positions in Germany and Austria after the Nazi regime came to power in 1933, and the scientific contributions many of them made after they resettled in Britain and elsewhere.

The first chapter discusses the status and prestige of German scientists prior to 1933. This chapter provides a baseline against which the authors later show the serious adverse consequences to the German scientific community that occurred after the Nazi regime came to power in 1933. The second chapter briefly summarizes the rise of the Nazi party in Germany and its path to gaining power in 1933. This chapter provides the context to understand the implementation of the anti-Semitic policies and laws of the Nazi regime. The rest of the book covers the trials and tribulations of various scientists in Germany and Austria who were deprived of their positions because of the anti-Semitic policies and laws of the Nazi regime, as well as some scientists who fled Germany and Austria in anticipation of those anti-Semitic policies and laws affecting them.

An interesting aspect of the book is its discussion of the significant efforts of British scientists and intellectuals (with some assistance from Canada and the United States) to provide aid, refuge, and the career opportunities to the persecuted German and Austrian scientists. The book also points out some of the anti-intellectual aspects of the Nazi regime that adversely affected even those scientists not covered by the regime's anti-Semitic policies and laws.

The book is written in a generally readable style that does not require the reader to have prior knowledge about German and Austrian scientists or Nazi Germany. The book is largely anecdotal, biographical, and episodic in nature, not a systematic scholarly historical work.