Abstract
This is an important chapter, finding Van der Waerden in an awkward situation: he is a German professor at the time when Germany treacherously attacked his Homeland, Holland. Where do his loyalties lie?
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Notes
- 1.
1934, [H].
- 2.
The Defense, July 20, 1945; RANH, Papers of Hans Freudenthal, mathematician, 1906–1990, inv. nr. 89.
- 3.
Felix Belair, Jr., “America Angered, Says Roosevelt; Citing ‘Cruel Invasions’ to Science Congress, He Warns of Danger to Americas;” The New York Times; May 11, 1940, Section A, Page 1.
- 4.
Universitätsarchiv Leipzig, PA 70, p. 55.
- 5.
Van der Waerden, letter to Heisenberg, December 22, 1947, Private Papers of Werner Heisenberg, Max Planck Institute for Physics, Munich.
- 6.
Erich Hecke’s Mathematische Annalen editorial archive; Private collection of Prof. Dr. Holger P. Petersson.
- 7.
Universitätsarchiv Leipzig, PA 70, p. 59.
- 8.
During 1933–1934 the German mathematician Ludwig Bieberbach, who later founded the movement and the journal of the same name Deutsche Mathematik, started to spread his racist view of mathematics. The Danish mathematician Harald Bohr published a stern rebuttal of Bieberbach prior to the Bad Pyrmont meeting of DMV.
- 9.
The term die deutsche Wissenschaft as contrasted with “Jewish Science” had racist and anti-Semitic connotation.
References
Dold-Samplonius, Y., Bartel Leendert van der Waerden befragt von Yvonne Dold-Samplonius, NTM, International Journal of History and Ethics of Natural Sciences, Technology and Medecine, 2 (1994), 129–147. English translation: Interview with Bartel Leendert van der Waerden, Notices of the Amer. Math. Soc. 44 (3) (1997), 313–320.
Georgiadou, M., Constantin Carathéodory: Mathematics and Politics in Turbulent Times, Springer, Berlin, 2004.
Heine, H., On the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany and Other Writings, translated by H. Pollack-Milgate, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2007.
Waerden, B. L. van der, Letter to Hecke, May 16, 1940, Erich Hecke’s Mathematische Annalen editorial archive; Private collection of Prof. Dr. Holger P. Petersson.
Waerden, Hans van der, letter to A. Soifer, September 10, 2010.
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© 2015 Alexander Soifer
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Soifer, A. (2015). Germany Treacherously Invades Holland. In: The Scholar and the State: In Search of Van der Waerden. Birkhäuser, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-0712-8_18
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