Max Planck

:This article is about Planck, the German physicist. For the proposed European Space Agency artificial satellite, see "Planck (satellite)".

Nazi dictatorship and Second World War

When the Nazis seized power in 1933, Planck had already reached the age of 74; he had to witness how many Jewish friends and colleagues were expelled from their positions and humiliated, and how hundreds of scientists emigrated from Germany. Again he tried "persevere and continue working"

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and asked scientists who were considering emigration to stay in Germany. In some cases he was successful with this request, such as in the case of Heisenberg.

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Hahn asked Planck whether they should gather a number of well-known German professors in order to issue a public proclamation against the treatment of Jewish professors, but Planck replied, "If you are able to gather today 30 such gentlemen, then tomorrow 150 other will come and speak against it, because they are eager to take over the positions of the others." In the case of Fritz Haber (who was the father of German chemical warfare in WWI, but Jewish), however, Planck went so far as to try to discuss the issue with Hitler himself, naturally without any success.

Related Topics:
Hahn - Fritz Haber - Hitler

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In the following year of 1934, Haber died in exile. One year later, Planck, being the president of the KWG since 1930, organised in a somewhat provocative style an official commemorative meeting for Haber. He also succeeded to enable a number of Jewish scientists to continue working in institutes of the KWG for several years. In 1936, his term as president of the KWG ended, and the Nazi government put pressure on him to refrain from running for another term.

Related Topics:
1934 - 1930 - 1936

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As the political climate in Germany gradually became more hostile, Johannes Stark, prominent exponent of Deutsche Physik ("German Physics", also called "Aryan Physics") attacked Planck, Sommerfeld and Heisenberg for continuing to teach the theories of Einstein, calling them "white Jews." The "Hauptamt Wissenschaft" (Nazi government office for science) started an investigation of Planck's ancestry, but all they could find out was that he was

Related Topics:
Johannes Stark - Deutsche Physik - Sommerfeld - Heisenberg - Einstein

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"1/16 Jewish."

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In 1938, Planck celebrated his 80th birthday; the DPG held an official celebration, during which the Max-Planck medal (founded as the highest medal by the DPG in 1928) was awarded to French physicist Louis de Broglie - one year before the outbreak of a new war between France and Germany. At the end of the same year the Prussian Academy lost its remaining independence and was taken over by loyal Nazis (Gleichschaltung); Planck protested by resigning his presidency. He continued to travel frequently, giving numerous public talks, such as his famous talk on "Religion and Science," and 5 years later he was sufficiently fit to climb to 3000-meter peaks in the Alps mountains.

Related Topics:
1938 - Louis de Broglie - Gleichschaltung

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During the Second World War, the increasing number of Allied bombing campaigns at Berlin forced Planck and his wife to leave the city temporarily and live in the countryside. In 1942 he wrote: "In me an ardent desire has grown to persevere this crisis and live long enough to be able to witness the turning point, the beginning of a new rise." In February 1944 his home in Berlin was completely destroyed by an air raid, annihilating his entire scientific records and correspondence. Finally, he got into a dangerous situation in his rural retreat due to the rapid advance of the Allied armies from both sides. After the end of the war he was brought to a relative in Göttingen.

Related Topics:
Second World War - 1942 - 1944 - Göttingen

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