The quantum exodus : Jewish fugitives, the atomic bomb, and the Holocaust / Gordon Fraser.

Includes bibliographical references.

Neutrons and Nazis -- The rise of German science -- Cultural cleansing -- Emblematic emigrants -- The fall of German science -- Plagues -- Abide with me -- Fission mission -- Gathering nuclear fuel -- For in much wisdom is much grief -- Science and anxiety -- Epilogue: Europe redux -- Appendix 1: A list of emigrant scientists -- Appendix 2: Sources and bibliography.

Print version record.

It was no accident that the Holocaust and the Atomic Bomb happened at the same time. When the Nazis came into power in 1933, their initial objective was not to get rid of Jews. Rather, their aim was to refine German culture: Jewish professors and teachers at fine universities were sacked. Atomic science had attracted a lot of Jewish talent, and as Albert Einstein and other quantum exiles scattered, they realized that they held the key to a weapon of unimaginable power. Convinced that their gentile counterparts in Germany had come to the same conclusion, and having witnessed what the Nazis were prepared to do, the exiles were afraid. They had to get to the Atomic Bomb first. The Nazis meanwhile had acquired a more pressing objective: their persecution of the Jews had evolved into extermination. Two dreadful projects - the Bomb and the Holocaust - became locked a grisly race.

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