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Frankfurt am MainThe exhibition is divided into nine sections. The
first two sections provide a general introduction to the subject, while
the final sections summarize the persecution and expulsion, and explore
the question of whether a return to Germany after 1945 was
possible. The remaining sections are mostly independent of
each other and can be viewed in any order.
Section 1
From Exclusion to
Acceptance, From Acceptance to Persecution
The first section begins with a brief overview of Jewish intellectual life before Jews were granted legal equality and emancipation in the 19th century. It also describes the role of Jewish mathematical scholars in earlier times, from their involvement in the translation of ancient works during the Middle Ages up to their first steps in the world of European universities. Next, the section summarizes the legal, political and cultural framework of Jewish life in Germany up to 1933.
Section 2
People
This section presents general information on Jewish mathematicians in the Wilhelmine Empire and the Weimar Republic. Various charts and maps show all known Jewish mathematicians who regularly taught or did research at German universities, and the places of their professional activity. The section also provides an overview of how the presence of Jewish mathematicians at universities in the period of about 150 years covered by the exhibition changed as a result of their gradual emancipation, and how the emancipatory trend varied regionally. The material is expanded by an (incomplete) list of sources preserved in various German university archives. The data presented here are based on primary research and provide the most comprehensive information available for the mathematicians of the period under review. A corresponding database in the Internet version of the exhibition will be provided at a later date.
Section 3
Places
As Section 2 shows, Jewish mathematicians were not equally represented in all places. The particular character of a city – and the extent to which it allowed Jewish life to unfold – played an important role for Jewish citizens. Section 3, therefore, examines various places where Jewish mathematicians were involved in the mathematical culture of a city for an extended period of time. The cities covered in this section include the two large centers for German-speaking mathematics, Berlin and Gottingen, as well as other cities in which German-Jewish culture was particularly lively, such as Bonn and Frankfurt am Main, the two cities selected here. For these places, the section also provides examples of how the Jewish mathematicians who lived and worked in a particular city were connected with the general culture of that city.
Section 4
Writings
This section presents a selection of about 50 monographs, influential textbooks and, in a few cases, collected works of Jewish mathematicians. The exhibited works can be leafed through and read by visitors to the exhibition. The books on display rank among the most important mathematical works of their time.
Section 5
Professional Commitment
From the beginning, German-Jewish mathematicians were also
involved in the organs of the mathematical profession: in the
publication of journals, in collaborating with publishing houses,
specifically the Springer Verlag, and in professional associations.
This section reminds visitors of some of the personalities who left a
significant imprint on the German-language mathematics publishing
houses of the 19th and 20th centuries: Carl Wilhelm Borchardt, Leon
Lichtenstein, Otto Blumenthal, Richard Courant and
Richard von Mises. The section also illuminates the participation of
Jewish mathematicians in the founding of the German Mathematical
Society and the Society for Applied Mathematics and Mechanics.
Section 6
Mathematics in Culture
Jewish mathematicians were involved in making the intriguing questions of their discipline accessible to a larger public beyond the borders of their scientific community, and in explaining the role of mathematics in general culture. This section presents selected aspects of this engagement – from the controversy between Alfred Pringsheim and Felix Klein on the question of how modern university lectures for beginners in analysis should be held to the widely disseminated popular texts written by German-Jewish authors and the taking of positions in the cultural debates of the Weimar period. Related material in Section 3 – Places – expands the subject matter of this section.
Section 7
Anti-Semitism
Animosity toward Jews, which for centuries had been part and parcel of Jewish history, did not disappear after they had been granted legal equality. Anti-Semitism was just as likely to be present in the academic world of the Wilhelmine Empire and the Weimar Republic as it was in general society. This section depicts, on the one hand, the everyday anti-Semitism of the time, which affected all Jewish mathematicians in the period under examination and was expressed in prejudices and stereotypes, but also – as several documents presented in this section make very clear –– in university appointment policies. Many of the exhibits included here are published for the first time. On the other hand, this section evokes the dramatic development from anti-Semitic stereotypes to the Nazi obsession with race. This trend can also be traced in mathematical culture – in documents, texts and actions, and not least of all in pamphlets published by adherents of the so-called “Deutsche Mathematik”.
Section 8
Dismissals and Exile
Section eight of the exhibition summarizes current knowledge about the persecution and expulsion of Jewish mathematicians that began in 1933. It recounts dismissals, emigration, flight, deaths and murders. The manner in which the German Mathematical Society treated its Jewish members is also discussed. In the remainder of the section, the conditions encountered by refugees in their main countries of immigration are described briefly. Since all these topics can be no more than touched upon by the exhibition, the section also refers interested visitors to available sources and relevant research literature.
Section 9
Return?
This section addresses an issue which has received little attention in recent research, namely the possibilities – or in some cases the impossibility – for Jewish mathematicians to return to Germany after the downfall of the Nazi regime. In selected exhibits, it depicts the various, usually failed, efforts of Jewish mathematicians to return to Germany, as well as the few successful remigrations some years after the war. The section also illustrates some of the problems involved in reopening scientific communication between German mathematicians and the emigrants and their families in the years that followed the Holocaust.
Section 10
In memoriam
change to
the homepage of the History of Science Group at Goethe University
Frankfurt am Main