| Description | Written from the Foreign Office, February 1948
'I was very interested to read your letter of 20th January with its enclosures about the conditions in the German universities. I deplore as much as you do any difficulties which are put in the way of anti-Nazi professors by their colleagues, but there are obvious limitations to the extent to which the Control Commision can interfere. They could hardly for example, intervene in support of the appointment of particular professors, since if they did so the position of these among their colleagues and students would be quite impossible. Nor can they intervene directly to remove individual professors unless they have committed some definite offence. Indeed, I am strongly of the opinion that the time for witch-hunting is over and that everything possible must be done to encourage the development of stabililty in Germany.
What I have said above does not mean that we are satisfied with the way in which the German universitits are developing. It is for this reason that the Military Governor, with the agreement of the Governments of the Lander in our Zone, has just announced that he proposes to set up a Commission, consisting mainly of Germans from different spheres of life, to investigate the whole position of the universities and the contribution which they can make to the reconstruction of Germany. The members of the Commission will be very carefully selected and the Germans will be supplemented by one or two people from outside Germany. It is our hope that they will be able to produce a very valuable survey of the whole field and make recommendations on the changes needed in order to fit universities more fully for the part they must play in the community. It is through such broad actions as this that we can hope to influence the universities rather than by individual intervention in particular instances.
I have carefully considered your suggestion that there might be a small committee of refugee German scientists in this country who could advise me on German university matters, but I do not feel that this would fill a real need. I am, however, always glad to receive information or representations from yourself or from any other scientists who have an interest in this problem, and I can assure you that I shall always consider their views most sympathetically. I am still looking into the possibility of employing Dr Rosbaud, and hope to write to you separately about this in the near future. ' |