GERMAN JEWISH EXILES

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21324, 17 November 1934, Page 15

GERMAN JEWISH EXILES

VALUABLE WORK IN BRITAIN MANY USEFUL REFUGEES' (FHOM OVE OWN COEEESPONDBNT.) LONDON, October 5. The wholesale expulsion from Germany of Jewish scientists and industrialists may in the long run be of enormous advantage to Great Britain. Many eminent scientists are now occupied in research worK with British industrial concerns. Of the 178 who have been placed in the British Isles the greater number are in temporary research posts, financed by maintenance grants which may not be capable of renewal for a second year in certain cases. "The bulk of the work in placing these research workers has been done by the Academic Assistance Council, which raises funds for the. purpose of maintaining displaced scholars and scientists, without regard to faith, politics, or race, and by the Central British Fund for German Jewry (professional branch), which also makes grants and finds employment for the expelled non-Aryan professional cItISSGS The "Financial Times" gives a list of some of the more prominent of these workers. One of the world's leading chemists is Professor Polyani, formerly of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Berlin, and now at Manchester University. There he is engaged on "heavy water" research. The potentialities of "heavy water" are many, and the new commodity is likely to prove of as great practical importance as of scientific interest. Professor Traube, the "father" of colloid chemistry, is now at Edinburgh University, and is carrying on work which will be of considerable importance to the rubber industry. Oil, paint, and plastic industries will also benefit. His time is much in demand by industrial companies, which are supplementing the university grants to him. Also prominent in colloid chemistry is Professor Freundlich, a former co-worker of Professor Polyani at Berlin, but now at the London University. Unrivalled Knowledge Others who are attracting a good deal of attention for their work in this field are the brothers, A. Farkas and L. Farkas, who are at the Institute of Colloid Science, Cambridge. Two experts in the electric welding of heavy masses of metal are at work in the provinces. Professor Walter Frankel, the well-known expert on metallurgy, is now carrying on his activities in this country. Another making his contribution to industrial activities is experimenting in the dyeing of buttons, while an important milling combine is utilising the services of a specialist in the study of pests which attack flour. An electrical engineer who was regarded as a leader in this field, with a very special knowledge of switch-gear, was introduced to a, big electrical equipment . manufacturing company in the north of England and was engaged on the, spot for the company's switch-gear department. His unrivalled knowledge is thus available to this country. Agricultural Research Sulphur and its derivatives is the particular branch in which another exile has specialised, and this work is now being continued in this country. A soil chemist is working under the auspices of a British Government department. He is particularly prominent in his knowledge of Xray technique of soils and clays and is engaged on the study of fertilisers and soils and in the suitability of various soils for different kinds of seeds. Dr. F. G. Brieger is another scientist whose time is being devoted to work which will aid agriculture. He is working on new methods of breeding maize and in the study of maize diseases. At Cambridge Dr. Weiler is engaged in the designing of instruments for micro-chemical analysis, important work from an industrial point of view. Previously British firms sent this class of work to Germany. Now very little is sent to that country. Dr. Weiler was formerly with the important Zeiss firm, and it was the delicate instruments made by that concern which enabled Germany to lead in the micro-analysis field. Apart from Dr. Weiler, there are many other former Zeiss people here, both those who were engaged in research work and actual makers of instruments. Women Workers Not all the exiled experts are men. Several women workers are undertaking important activities. One is a recognised authority on ceramics chemistry, now working at a Staffordshire pottery works. A considerable amount of new business has accrued to her employers by reason of her discovery of a newprocess of staining and glazing certain clays. Another woman chemist has a highly specialised knowledge of ceramics and refractories. The work undertaken by these exiles formerly for the benefit of Germany, which is now being actively directed to improving industrial and other processes in this country, may have a tremendous cumulative effect.