There was a lot of #AcademicFreedom, good scholarship, and independent thought in German universities before Hitler. After Hitler had risen to power, many academics fled the country. Some resisted the Nazi regime and were persecuted. Most adapted to a new situation. Here are some examples. 1/n
After Hitler came to power in 1933, Edmund Husserl resigned from the Deutsche Akademie in protest. Husserl died in 1938. Only one faculty colleague attended Husserl's funeral.
“I must achieve internal consistency.” - Edmund Husserl
2/n
One of Husserl's students, Hannah Arendt, was jailed by the Gestapo for her research on antisemitism prohibited by the Nazis and on her release, fled Germany.
“The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.”- Hannah Arendt
#AcademicFreedom 3/n
Martin Heidegger, one of Husserl's most brilliant students and Arendt's lover of four years, soon after Hitler got to power, joined the Nazi Party and was elected rector of the Freiburg University.
"National Socialism is a barbarous principle. That is its essence and potential greatness."
4/n
After Hitler came to power, Edith Stein, another of Husserl's students, was forced to quit her teaching position. She became a Carmelite nun and perished in Auschwitz.
“Those who remain silent are responsible.” - Edith Stein
5/n
After Hitler came to power, Erich Fromm left Germany.
“When Fascism came into power, most people were unprepared... They were unable to believe that man could exhibit such propensities for evil, such lust for power..or such yearning for submission.” - Erich Fromm
6/n
After Hitler came to power, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was a Lutheran theologian and pastor, became an anti-Nazi dissident. The Nazis hanged him in 1945.
"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil."
7/n
One year after Hitler came to power, Karl Jaspers took an oath of loyalty to Hitler. He later wrote:
"I deluded myself. I think back on it shamefully. I had not yet even considered the most extreme consequences, but still believed that a quick transformation of the nonsense.. was possible.."
8/n
After Hitler came to power, James Franck, in protest, resigned from his professorship.
"In the past, scientists could disclaim..responsibility for the use to which mankind had put their disinterested discoveries. We cannot take the same attitude now"- Franck Report
9/n
After Hitler came to power in 1933 and Nazi laws and power were imposed on German universities, Martin Buber resigned in protest from his professorship.
“We can be redeemed only to the extent to which we see ourselves.” - Martin Buber
10/n
When Hitler came to power, von Braun was a doctoral student. He joined the Nazi rocket development program and the Nazi party. After WWII, he developed rocket technology in the U.S. He wrote SF novel about a man Elon colonizing Mars
"Science does not have a moral dimension"- Wernher von Braun
11/n
After Hitler came to power, Adorno's right to teach was revoked. Soon after, he was forced into exile.
“Wrong life cannot be lived rightly.” - Theodor W. Adorno.
12/n
After Hitler came to power, Max Horkheimer was forced to leave academia. Soon after, he left Germany.
"Those who are too weak to make a stand against reality have no choice but to obliterate themselves by identifying with it."
13/n
After the Anschluss, Frankl joined the only hospital in Vienna still admitting Jews. He spent three years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps.
“Don't aim at success.. Listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge"- Viktor Frankl 14/n
One of Husserl's students and a physician, Hans Lipps, after Hitler came to power, joined the SS in 1934. He was drafted into the military and died in a battle in Russia.
“One can keep or abandon one’s ideas.. The truth is only a means and must not be exaggerated..”-Hans Lipps #AcademicFreedom 15/n
After Hitler came to power and the Gestapo repeatedly raided his home in Berlin, Albert Einstein fled Germany and renounced his German citizenship.
“The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”
- Albert Einstein
16/n
After Hitler came to power, his teaching license was revoked. He left Germany.
“The limit of tolerance..is obtained when the proponent of a questionable..doctrine endeavors to maintain it..by misrepresentation, misinformation..and by insinuating unfairness in opponents..” -Franz Weidenreich
17/n
