Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars
Professional services
UnclaimedA United States-based rescue organization that relocated scholars threatened by Nazi persecution to academic posts abroad, especially in the United States.
Last updated August 26, 2026
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Overview
The Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars was a United States-based humanitarian and academic-placement organization active from 1933 to 1945. It was created in response to the Nazi seizure of power and the resulting expulsion, dismissal, intimidation, and imprisonment of Jewish and politically disfavored academics in Germany. The organization initially operated under the name Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced German Scholars, then broadened its remit as Nazi aggression and occupation spread across Europe. Its central task was to identify scholars whose work and personal safety were threatened, assess their qualifications and circumstances, and secure temporary or permanent teaching and research positions outside the reach of Nazi authorities. In practice, this meant cultivating relationships with American colleges and universities, arranging institutional sponsorship, raising financial support, and helping scholars navigate immigration and relocation. The committee also supported placements in countries other than the United States, including Turkey, where Philip Schwarz helped send approximately 40 scientists. The committee worked with major philanthropic bodies, notably the Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Foundation, while American campuses provided hosting institutions and academic appointments. Alvin Saunders Johnson, co-founder and first director of The New School, became one of the initiative’s most important leaders. He brought a substantial number of displaced scholars to The New School and established the University in Exile, which later developed into the institution’s Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science. More than 300 scholars received assistance. The beneficiaries included figures in physics, mathematics, medicine, philosophy, political science, psychology, literature, art history, and other disciplines. Among those associated with the rescue effort were Felix Bloch, James Franck, Hilda Geiringer, Emmy Noether, Kurt Lewin, Martin Buber, Herbert Marcuse, Hans Morgenthau, Thomas Mann, Paul Tillich, and Rachel Wischnitzer. Several assisted scholars later became Nobel laureates or made influential contributions to science, social thought, literature, and postwar intellectual life. Edward R. Murrow also played an important early administrative role. While working at the Institute of International Education, he became an unpaid assistant secretary of the committee late in 1933. Until early 1937, he helped process appeals from European educators and researchers and sought American lecture and teaching appointments for those at risk. His later career in broadcast journalism helped make the rescue work part of the historical context surrounding the film Good Night, and Good Luck, although the committee itself was an earlier academic-relocation organization rather than a media enterprise. The committee ceased operating in 1945, after the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of the principal emergency for which it had been created. Its work helped preserve scholarly careers, transfer European intellectual traditions to the United States and other receiving countries, and strengthen American higher education. It is also regarded as an early institutional predecessor of the Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund, established in 2002 to assist threatened scholars in later global crises.
History
The Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars emerged in 1933, shortly after Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. Nazi racial and political policies rapidly transformed universities into instruments of exclusion. Jewish scholars, political opponents, and others considered ideologically unacceptable were dismissed, prevented from teaching, threatened with detention, or forced to leave the country. Philip Schwarz established the original Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced German Scholars to respond to this crisis. The committee’s model combined humanitarian intervention with academic placement. Rather than merely providing short-term relief, it attempted to preserve scholars’ professional lives by finding them positions at colleges, universities, research institutions, and other educational bodies. Staff and volunteers reviewed requests from endangered academics, communicated with potential hosts, raised funds, and helped arrange the practical conditions for emigration. The Institute of International Education was closely involved in this work. Edward R. Murrow, then an assistant director at the institute, became an unpaid assistant secretary of the committee in late 1933 and remained involved until early 1937. The political geography of the program expanded as Germany’s persecution and military aggression spread. The committee subsequently aided scholars from Austria, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Italy. It also supported relocation beyond the United States. Schwarz’s work in Turkey, for example, helped send about 40 scientists there. In the United States, the Rockefeller Foundation and Carnegie Foundation provided important support, while universities supplied appointments and institutional homes. Alvin Saunders Johnson was particularly influential in integrating displaced scholars into American academic life. As a co-founder and first director of The New School, he recruited numerous scholars to the institution and founded the University in Exile. That initiative eventually became the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science and helped establish a durable center for European intellectual émigrés in New York. The committee assisted more than 300 scholars during its existence. Its beneficiaries represented a wide range of disciplines, including physics, mathematics, medicine, psychology, philosophy, political science, literature, and art history. Some later received Nobel Prizes or became major figures in postwar scholarship. The rescue effort therefore had consequences beyond the immediate protection of individuals: it transferred knowledge, research programs, and intellectual networks to receiving countries, especially the United States. The committee ended its operations in 1945. Its legacy remained visible in American universities and in later efforts to protect scholars facing political persecution. The Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund, created in 2002, is commonly described as a later institutional continuation of the scholar-rescue tradition established by organizations such as this committee. The committee’s records are held by the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library.
- 2002
IIE Scholar Rescue Fund established
[2]The Institute of International Education created a later scholar-rescue program regarded as an institutional successor in the broader tradition.
- 1945
Emergency Committee operations end
[1]The committee’s active period ended after World War II in Europe.
- 1933
Committee founded in response to Nazi persecution
[1]Philip Schwarz established the original committee to assist German scholars barred from academic work or endangered by the Nazi regime.
- 1933
Edward R. Murrow becomes assistant secretary
[1]Murrow joined the effort in an unpaid administrative role while working at the Institute of International Education.
Program broadened to displaced scholars across Europe
[1]The organization changed its name and expanded its work as Nazi persecution and occupation reached additional European countries.
University in Exile established at The New School
[1]Alvin Johnson created an academic home for displaced scholars that later became The New School’s Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science.
Products and positioning
An emergency academic-rescue and scholar-relocation organization focused on preserving intellectual work and protecting academics persecuted by authoritarian regimes.
Marketing campaigns
- 1933Emergency academic placement for displaced German scholars
Germany · United States
The original campaign identified German scholars excluded or threatened by the Nazi regime and sought American teaching, research, and lecture appointments for them.
Outcome. The initiative developed into a broader European rescue program and helped relocate hundreds of scholars.
- European scholar relocation network
Austria · Czechoslovakia · Norway · Belgium · the Netherlands · France · Italy · United States
As Nazi rule and occupation expanded, the committee extended assistance to scholars from multiple European countries and arranged placements in the United States, Turkey, and other receiving locations.
Outcome. More than 300 scholars were assisted during the committee’s operating period.
Brand decisions
- Expand eligibility beyond German scholarsStrategy
Background
Nazi persecution and military expansion displaced academics from countries beyond Germany.
Action taken
The committee adopted the broader displaced-foreign-scholars mandate and assisted academics from additional European countries.
Aftermath
The expanded program became an international scholar-rescue effort rather than a Germany-only initiative.
- Create the University in ExileStrategy
Background
Many displaced scholars needed an institutional base as well as individual employment.
Action taken
Alvin Johnson recruited scholars to The New School and organized the University in Exile.
Aftermath
The initiative evolved into the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science and became a lasting center for émigré scholarship.
Sources4 sources
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