Turkey's Invitations to Nazi Persecuted Intellectuals Circa 1933: A Bibiliographic Essay on History's Blind Spot

Abstract

In 1933, Turkey set out on a crash process of reforming its legal and health care delivery systems as well as its system of higher education using refugees fleeing the Nazis. By way of formal government invitations these people were given a safe haven. For many America was out of reach because of restrictive immigration laws and wide spread anti-Semitic hiring bias at its universities. As other opportunities availed themselves most of these eminent intellectuals came West and helped catapult America's academe to still greater heights. This paper documents the fact that Anglophone historians are still unaware of this significant chapter of 20th Century history and discusses that episode, its legacy turned epoch, and perceptions thereof in Turkey today.

Keywords: Turkey; Turkish history, History of science, Educational plicy; Government policy; Development; Nazi persecution; Nazism; Holocaust; Migration; Diaspora; Exile.