Three German Jewish professors, Dr. Felix Raivitcher, formerly professor of botany at Freiburg University; Dr. Ernst Breslau, formerly professor of zoology at Cologne, and Dr. Heinrich Rumboldt, who lectured in chemistry at Bonn, arrived here yesterday to assume posts as lecturers at the newly created University of Sao Paulo.
The scientists were to have arrived at Santos harbor on July 27, but landed three weeks ahead of schedule. Newspapers and scientific circles here are emphasizing the importance of the work of the three men and call their presence in Brazil an asset to the cultural development of the country. Brazilian Jewry feels that the visitors augment its prestige.
REICH APPROVES CONTRACTS
Drs. Raivitcher, Breslau and Rumboldt are here largely as a result of the efforts of Dr. Theodor Ramos, who went to Germany as a representative of the University of Sao Paulo and engaged the professors. The contracts were approved by the German government, which granted the scientists permission to leave the country.
In a special interview with a Jewish Telegraphic Agency representative Dr. Ramos described his impressions of Germany and of the plight of Jewish savants there. In the course of the talk he showed the correspondent a list of the names of more than 100 well known Jewish scientists who had declared their readiness to take posts in Brazil. From this list, however, Dr. Ramos was free to choose only three.
CAN’T UNDERSTAND ACTION
Dr. Ramos spoke with sympathy of the German Jews and their learned men, whose position, he said, is unbearable. He pointed out that he could not understand the reason for Germany’s failure to spare at least those Jewish scientists without whom she will suffer greatly and whom she has condemned to seek a haven abroad
“One can perhaps understand what drove Germany into the arms of Hitler,” Dr. Ramos said, implying that he in no sense approved of that circumstance, “but I cannot for the life of me understand the sense of destroying the tremendous scientific institutions which Jewish scientists have developed for Germany. Germany has done herself great harm.”
An elective course in Hebrew may shortly be established at the University of Sao Paulo, Dr. Ramos indicated.
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.
