Note that under Article 247 of the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty "Germany undertak[ook] to furnish to the University of Louvain, within three months after a request made by it and transmitted through the intervention of the Reparation Commission, manuscripts, incunabula, printed books, maps and objects of collection corresponding in number and value to those destroyed in the burning by Germany of the Library of Louvain. All details regarding such replacement will be determined by the Reparation Commission."
The provision was duly performed until Hitler came to power -- one of the first measures ordered was to stop the books restitution. The University was divided along linguistic lines in the late 60's but we still have in the libraries of the now two universities (Louvain at Louvain-la-Neuve and Leuven in the old Flemish town) books with a stamp "in execution of Article 247 of the Treaty of Versailles."
A fascinating history... Thank you for putting it together.
In 1938, Johannes Stark (the 1919 Nobel laureate) published an overtly antisemitic article in Nature:
" I have taken the field against the dogmatic spirit in Germany because I have been able to observe repeatedly its crippling and damaging effect on the development of physical research in this country. In this conflict I have also directed my efforts against the damaging influence of Jews in German science, because I regard them as the chief exponents and propagandists of the dogmatic spirit."
(Stark, J., 1938. The pragmatic and the dogmatic spirit in physics. Nature, 141(3574), pp.770-772.)
In the US, one reaction to Stark's paper was the formation of ACDIF (American Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom), with Oppenheimer as an active member. It would be interesting to uncover the full story.
The many references are a plus.
The University Library building was rebuilt after WWI with donations from US and crests of US States are on the pillars of the building.
Great piece.
Note that under Article 247 of the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty "Germany undertak[ook] to furnish to the University of Louvain, within three months after a request made by it and transmitted through the intervention of the Reparation Commission, manuscripts, incunabula, printed books, maps and objects of collection corresponding in number and value to those destroyed in the burning by Germany of the Library of Louvain. All details regarding such replacement will be determined by the Reparation Commission."
The provision was duly performed until Hitler came to power -- one of the first measures ordered was to stop the books restitution. The University was divided along linguistic lines in the late 60's but we still have in the libraries of the now two universities (Louvain at Louvain-la-Neuve and Leuven in the old Flemish town) books with a stamp "in execution of Article 247 of the Treaty of Versailles."
A fascinating history... Thank you for putting it together.
In 1938, Johannes Stark (the 1919 Nobel laureate) published an overtly antisemitic article in Nature:
" I have taken the field against the dogmatic spirit in Germany because I have been able to observe repeatedly its crippling and damaging effect on the development of physical research in this country. In this conflict I have also directed my efforts against the damaging influence of Jews in German science, because I regard them as the chief exponents and propagandists of the dogmatic spirit."
(Stark, J., 1938. The pragmatic and the dogmatic spirit in physics. Nature, 141(3574), pp.770-772.)
In the US, one reaction to Stark's paper was the formation of ACDIF (American Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom), with Oppenheimer as an active member. It would be interesting to uncover the full story.
Indeed. The history of Deutsch Physik deserves its own essay
Flot, gennemarbejdet artikel. Tak for oplysning.