The official report of the Prussian Academy of Science meeting held in connection with the Leibnitz anniversary celebration is largely devoted to a memorial speech for the late Professor Fritz Haber, famous German Jewish scientist.
Professor Haber was hailed as the man who made it possible for Germany to hold out against the Allies for four years through his invention for extracting nitrogen from the air. When the Nazi regime came into power, Professor Haber, then the head of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry, voluntarily resigned his post as a “non-Aryan.” Last February he died in exile in Switzerland.
Privy Councillor Bodenstein paid tribute to Professor Haber for his great services to German science, his patriotism and his great achievements’ during the World War.
“But Fritz Haber was a Jew,” he said, “like most of his collaborators. Thus, he came into conflict with the new National Socialist State. On May 2, 1933, he took his departure. A broken man, he did not long survive. We feel the tragedy of his fate and mourn for him as one of our own. A man who did great things for science and for the economic life of the nation.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
