The Influence Of German Exiles And Refugees On The World

The Influence of German Exiles and Refugees on the world. The outcome of World war II as we know it may have been very different without the influence of refugees from Nazi Germany. As the Third Reich marched across Europe, little was known of the technological advancements being made inside the country. New and advanced weapons were being created to crush any and all resistance against Hitler s armies. Among these weapons are the V-2 Rocket, The Messerschmitt ME-262 jet fighter, and the atomic bomb. These weapons would change warfare in the 20th century and beyond. Without the help of German exiles, these technologies would have never fallen into allied hands yielding a much different outcome of the second world war and the Cold War.†¦show more content†¦Adolf Hitler seized complete control in 1934 and began to Discriminate against specific religions and ethnicities. The main group Target by Hitler s Regime was the Jewish community. Top Jewish scientists were fired and many fled the country to escape the Nazis and continue their research. Einstein fled to the United states in 1933 before Hitler gained complete control and Fermi in 1938. Both continued experiments on atomic energy at Universities in the U.S. The following year, the threat was realized when German scientists published the results of a successful attempt at creating a nuclear fission reaction. With a vast knowledge of the danger the test imposes on the world, Einstein sends a letter to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In the letter, he urges the FDR to recognize the pending threat and begin to accelerate research and experimentation on a nuclear weapon. He also asks to stockpile the radioactive substance uranium and to fund a project to create the weapon. Both Uranium and money were necessary to beat the Germans in nuclear power, so the Manhattan project is born. General Leslie Groves is placed in command of the project while J. Robert Oppenheimer is named the lead scientist. As the war continued, the Manhattan project was placed as top priority and also deemed top secret. It was moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico in 1943. The race was underway and now in full swing. The Manhattan project was comprised of the top scientists from any of the allied