Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars

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Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars (1933–1945)

What it was
- A group created to help scholars who were barred, persecuted, or threatened by the Nazi regime. Its goal was to relocate them so they could continue their teaching and research.

Where and how it worked
- It began in Germany after Hitler rose to power and then expanded to help scholars fleeing Nazi aggression across Europe, including Austria, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Italy.
- The committee was founded by Professor Philip Schwarz, who helped send dozens of scientists to safety in other countries, including Turkey (40 scientists were sent there through this effort).

Impact
- More than 300 scholars were assisted. Some went on to win Nobel Prizes in fields like literature, medicine, and physics.
- The help provided by the committee and the ideas of the scholars influenced the post–World War II world.
- The work was supported by major foundations, including the Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation, with many scholars hosted by American colleges and universities.
- Alvin Saunders Johnson, co-founder and first director of The New School, was an early leader. He helped relocate many scholars to the United States and helped establish the University in Exile, which later became the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science.

Edward R. Murrow’s role
- In 1932, Edward R. Murrow was appointed assistant director of the committee (while also starting a career at the Institute of International Education). From 1933 to 1937, he worked without pay as Assistant Secretary, identifying at‑risk educators and arranging lectures and teaching positions at U.S. colleges. Murrow’s early work with the committee helped launch his long career in journalism and education.

Legacy
- The Emergency Committee is considered a precursor to the Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund, established in 2002 to continue protecting scholars in danger.

Notable scholars helped by the Committee (a representative sample)
- Margarete Bieber
- Felix Bloch
- Martin Buber
- Emmy Noether
- James Franck
- Thomas Mann
- Hans Morgenthau
- Kurt Lewin
- Max Delbrück
- Paul Tillich
- Rachel Wischnitzer

Trivia
- Murrow’s work with the committee contributed to the plot of the film Good Night, and Good Luck.