They Also Served

Jewish and Oppositional Émigré Neurologists and Psychiatrists in the Armed Forces of North America during & after WWII

Abstract

During the Second World War, approximately 550,000 Jews enlisted in the US Armed Forces and 17,000 served in the Canadian Armed Forces. Among these groups joining the Allied war effort was also a significant number of refugee academics and physicians who had fled Nazism and Fascism in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. As soon as the war broke out, they declared their willingness to serve in the Allied Forces; their engagement in the Atlantic and Pacific war theatres has not been systematically analyzed regarding the early field of the brain sciences in the existing research literature. By drawing on substantial historical research and utilizing extensive archival materials, biographical sources, and a wide range of secondary literature, the existing evidence from approximately four hundred such émigrés reaching North America reveals that at least 10 percent actively served in military, research, and clinical areas. This contextualizing article emphasizes the contributions of these Jewish and oppositional émigré servicemen and servicewomen, as well as military researchers, while challenging the insufficient scholarly and public awareness of their contributions to the Allied war effort. While the Second World War presented Jewish servicemen unprecedented opportunities to participate in the military campaign, and on the home front, they came to face a double threat while not only opposing the rise of Nazism and Fascism, but also standing up for Jewish survival at the same time. This ultimately enticed a higher representation of the émigré biomedical scientists to offer their services and engage in wartime research, public health activities, medical education, and health care initiatives within the armed forces of North America.