The failure of Canadian academics to aide their colleagues in Germany during the 1930s stands in stark contrast to their counterparts in Great Britain, the United States, and elsewhere. While other national academic refugee organizations were established in 1933, it was only in 1939 that Canadian academics organized the Canadian Society for the Protection of Science and Learning (CSPSL). Prior to 1939, a mere handful of displaced scholars found refuge in Canada, almost all of whom were funded by grants from the Carnegie Corporation. The success of the Carnegie program shows that there were no impenetrable barriers to academic migration, if supported by Canadian universities. By the time the CSPSL was established, it was too late to help most of those scholars still trying to escape from German-controlled Europe. The CSPSL was never particularly successful in its efforts to assist refugees, and was never able to escape the anti-Semitism that was so endemic to Canadian society both inside and outside the academy. © University of Toronto Press Incorporated.

Academic Universities Refugees Anti-Semitism

[No Keywords available]