Pushed into Pragmatism: British Approaches to Science in Post-War Occupied Germany

Abstract

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Child development, film evidence, and epidemiological sciences: Elwyn James Anthony and the 1957 Zurich International Congress of Psychiatry

“…This was part of a denazification of science, and a move away from eugenic and race concepts within the sciences (e.g. Bangham and de Chadarevian, 2014 ; Hall, 2019 ; Sheffer, 2018). When the WHO sought experts to guide policies on child mental health, they turned to British experts such as John Bowlby, and to Jean Piaget because his Swiss nationality gave him neutral status (Bowlby [ WHO report ], 1951 ; Lovell, 2014 ).…”

‘A Completely Open Race’: Anglo–Soviet Competition over German Military Science and Technology, 1944–1949

“…Instead, science was widely restricted, especially in any fields which had a potential military application, which left many German scientists with no avenue for their intellectual endeavours during this period. 42 The British authorities thought this might be even more damaging to their recruitment prospects than their low salary and ration offers -they wondered 'whether the prospects of physical starvation weigh as heavily with these men as the virtual certainty of mental starvation if they remain in western Germany'. 43 This was exacerbated by the widespread British policy of short-term exploitation, in which German experts were interrogated and instructed to write up all the research they had conducted during the war, in return for minimal financial recompense and practically no long-term employment offers.…”