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Anna M. Rosner
gain visas and permission to stay (Voyage of St Louis 2014). The quota was quickly
filled and waiting lists grew.
Major British Projects
In the 1930s British authorities together with the non-governmental organisations
carried out two major projects aimed at helping Jews oppressed by the Nazi regime
in Europe. Both had a common goal, but differed in everything else. Chrono¬
logically, the first one started in 1933 and focused on adult Jewish inhabitants of
Germany and Austria. Individuals eligible for help were mainly scientists, research¬
ers, and artists, who were subject to the racist legislature of the Third Reich. The
second, carried out from November 1938, was aimed at helping Jewish children—
from infants up to seventeen-year-olds. Today it is known as the Kindertransports.
Today both of these programmes are recognised as exemplary actions which
could have been carried out on a larger scale, but in 1930s they were often de¬
scribed as questionable or unnecessary. The discussion did not focus on the need
for aid, but on its outcome. Adult migrants aroused the most suspicion. Unlike
the children—considered harmless, innocent, and vulnerable—adults were seen
as potentially impeding British economic growth by taking jobs designated for the
British, misusing social care, or even (due to their German origins) posing a threat
to Great Britain should war break out. Public opinion simply feared large numbers
of immigrants with German cultural background, and this fear was strengthened
by the Germanophobia of the late 1930s.
Those who decided to emigrate from Germany in the early 1930s were in a con¬
siderably more fortunate position. In the early years of the Nazi regime one could
still emigrate with some money and other possessions. Passports obtained before
the first legislative changes (not yet containing information on ethnic background)
were also considered valid. This group consisted mainly of businessmen, artists,
and scholars, people who managed to build up contacts and friendships which
were helpful when they migrated. Those without private connections could obtain
assistance from the Academic Assistance Council, later called the Society for the
Protection of Science and Learning (SPSL). The organisation later joined with the
Notgemeinschaft Deutscher Wissenschafiler im Ausland.’ The aim of the organisation
was to help scientists and researchers oppressed for racial or political reasons; its
funding was mostly based on individual donations (large sums came from British
university teachers). The SPSL financed those who could be employed in Great
Britain and provided all applicants with advisors responsible for finding job of¬
fers. If employment could not be found, the organisation asked research facilities
to grant the immigrants hospitality and allow them to work in the laboratories,
archives, and libraries of the facilities in question. Since the number of positions
suitable for the immigrants was very limited, the SPSL tried to organise special lec¬
? The Emergency Association of German Scientists in Foreign Countries.
gency