As fascism and war infected Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, millions fled their homes to escape persecution and violence. Only a fraction of those uprooted managed to settle in the United States, yet among them were a remarkable number of scholars—many of them Jewish. This intellectual migration brought extraordinary men and women to many American colleges and universities, where they enriched the intellectual, scientific, and cultural life of the entire nation.

Perhaps the most famous of these refugees—Albert Einstein—was the principal speaker at Swarthmore’s 1938 Commencement. Invited by President Frank Aydelotte, the great mathematician challenged America’s isolationists, asking how anyone could “look on passively, or perhaps with indifference, when elsewhere in the world innocent people are being brutally persecuted, deprived of their rights, or even massacred.” He did not refer by name to the dark forces at work in his native Germany, but his message was clear—and prescient. Within a few months, Kristallnacht would wreak havoc on Germany’s Jewish communities. In September 1939, the Nazis invaded Poland, and Europe—and later the world—was plunged into war.

Einstein was just one of the many refugees who made immeasurable contributions at institutes, labs, colleges, and universities around the United States. Together, they not only advanced their fields but changed the very nature of what was considered “American” scholarship and culture.

Some of them came to Swarthmore.

They became some of the most respected and accomplished professors the College has ever had on its faculty. Mostly Jewish, they shared a common, if loosely knit, bond with each other. With émigrés from other war-torn parts of the world, some became longtime campus fixtures; others arrived late in their careers and stayed only a short time. Two inspired works of fiction.

All made lasting connections with their students.

Although far from a complete list, below are stories of some of the refugees who found homes at Swarthmore.

 

 

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