USA led to the ‘Wall Street Crash’ in October and a world wide economic
down-turn. In Germany by 1931, more than 4 million workers were
unemployed. Inclined to despair by a feeling of uselessness, Haber was to
write to ministers warning of a collapse ‘even worse than that of 1918’,
18 but
the feeble Weimar Republic was unable to take the necessary ‘root and
branch’ reforms that those such as Haber proposed. The German people,
attracted by the dark charisma of Adolf Hitler, made the National Socialists
the single largest party in the elections of 1932. The elections of January 1933
saw Hitler appointed as Germany’s Chancellor on a wave of nationalism. He
set out to crush all opposition. Day by day he claimed more and more powers
and by March 1933 the democratic Weimar Republic collapsed when the
German parliament gave Hitler’s government absolute power. Germany was
ready to accept a führer, a führer whose bitterness towards Jewish people was
used to construct flag-ship, and undeniably popular, political policies.
For Haber this new order was completely at odds with his world. By April
alarm bells were sounding as it soon became clear that now ‘Jewishness’ was a
matter of ancestry not religion; conversion was no indemnity. Nazi leaders
organised a boycott of Jewish businesses; in Prussia all Jewish judges were
required to voluntarily request leave of absence; a law was passed that
demanded Jews be removed from the civil service within a year unless they
had served in the Great War. This law applied to every professor at a German
University and nearly every scientist at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. Haber
was stunned by the immediacy and the ruthlessness of it all. Even so he could
have remained in office because of his ‘distinguished’ war service. But, in the
absence of Einstein, who was travelling at the time and who made it clear he
would not be returning to Germany, Haber became the most prominent
Jewish scientist at the Institute. Because of its prestige and the large proportion of Jewish scientists there (about 25%) the Nazis targeted it for special
repression. They ordered the Institute to ‘change its make-up’ by dismissing
some scientists, and Haber, as director, had to make the choice(s). Should he
‘dispose’ of those of lower rank in order to protect the top scientists? Or was it
better to remove the more prominent for they would find new employment
more readily? In an act of humanity, he chose to remove the Institutes two
top scientists Herbert Freundlich and Michael Polanyi who had already
secured alternative employment. But Haber had enough of the ‘new order’
and on 30 April 1933 he tendered his own letter of resignation to the
Prussian Minister of Culture, effective on 01 October 1933.
Over the next few months he remained the Institute’s Director, busying
himself with the welfare of his young scientists and trying to arrange
employment for them abroad. But of his own future he seemed paralysed,
376
D. Sheppard
down-turn. In Germany by 1931, more than 4 million workers were
unemployed. Inclined to despair by a feeling of uselessness, Haber was to
write to ministers warning of a collapse ‘even worse than that of 1918’,
18 but
the feeble Weimar Republic was unable to take the necessary ‘root and
branch’ reforms that those such as Haber proposed. The German people,
attracted by the dark charisma of Adolf Hitler, made the National Socialists
the single largest party in the elections of 1932. The elections of January 1933
saw Hitler appointed as Germany’s Chancellor on a wave of nationalism. He
set out to crush all opposition. Day by day he claimed more and more powers
and by March 1933 the democratic Weimar Republic collapsed when the
German parliament gave Hitler’s government absolute power. Germany was
ready to accept a führer, a führer whose bitterness towards Jewish people was
used to construct flag-ship, and undeniably popular, political policies.
For Haber this new order was completely at odds with his world. By April
alarm bells were sounding as it soon became clear that now ‘Jewishness’ was a
matter of ancestry not religion; conversion was no indemnity. Nazi leaders
organised a boycott of Jewish businesses; in Prussia all Jewish judges were
required to voluntarily request leave of absence; a law was passed that
demanded Jews be removed from the civil service within a year unless they
had served in the Great War. This law applied to every professor at a German
University and nearly every scientist at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. Haber
was stunned by the immediacy and the ruthlessness of it all. Even so he could
have remained in office because of his ‘distinguished’ war service. But, in the
absence of Einstein, who was travelling at the time and who made it clear he
would not be returning to Germany, Haber became the most prominent
Jewish scientist at the Institute. Because of its prestige and the large proportion of Jewish scientists there (about 25%) the Nazis targeted it for special
repression. They ordered the Institute to ‘change its make-up’ by dismissing
some scientists, and Haber, as director, had to make the choice(s). Should he
‘dispose’ of those of lower rank in order to protect the top scientists? Or was it
better to remove the more prominent for they would find new employment
more readily? In an act of humanity, he chose to remove the Institutes two
top scientists Herbert Freundlich and Michael Polanyi who had already
secured alternative employment. But Haber had enough of the ‘new order’
and on 30 April 1933 he tendered his own letter of resignation to the
Prussian Minister of Culture, effective on 01 October 1933.
Over the next few months he remained the Institute’s Director, busying
himself with the welfare of his young scientists and trying to arrange
employment for them abroad. But of his own future he seemed paralysed,
376
D. Sheppard