Meet Issai Schur, kike extraordinaire. Born in Belarus he studied in Latvia and learned German and graduated with the highest grades. He became an prussian officer before WW1 but left to study math at Berlin. He became a lecturer at 1903 and a full professor by 1919.
He made great advances on the representation theory of groups, divergent series and number theory. He was loved by students and faculty alike. In 1922 he became a member of the prussian academy, at the proposal of Max Planck.
The 1933 events ruined Issai. As a former officer he was except from forced retirement but neverthlesd he was retired from his job. Even nazi intellectuals came to his defense but to no avail. He was invited to emigrate to the USA along with Einstein and so many others but he declared he was too old to learn english and adapt. Already in his 60s Issai rejected every foreign university invitation and could not comprehend how a german could not work on Germany. He was formally fired in 1935 and was pressured to renounce from the prussian academy. He renounced in 1938 and told his wife he would commit suicide if summoned by the Gestapo. His wife sent him to a house out of Berlin and went to talk herself to the Gestapo. The Gestapo asked her why they didn't just leave Germany, which was impossible in light of the "Reich flight tax" equivalent to a quarter of his assets. Deeply impoverished he found an anonymous donor to pay the tax and left to Palestine. With no money to live he died two years later of a heart attack in Tel Aviv.
He made great advances on the representation theory of groups, divergent series and number theory. He was loved by students and faculty alike. In 1922 he became a member of the prussian academy, at the proposal of Max Planck.
The 1933 events ruined Issai. As a former officer he was except from forced retirement but neverthlesd he was retired from his job. Even nazi intellectuals came to his defense but to no avail. He was invited to emigrate to the USA along with Einstein and so many others but he declared he was too old to learn english and adapt. Already in his 60s Issai rejected every foreign university invitation and could not comprehend how a german could not work on Germany. He was formally fired in 1935 and was pressured to renounce from the prussian academy. He renounced in 1938 and told his wife he would commit suicide if summoned by the Gestapo. His wife sent him to a house out of Berlin and went to talk herself to the Gestapo. The Gestapo asked her why they didn't just leave Germany, which was impossible in light of the "Reich flight tax" equivalent to a quarter of his assets. Deeply impoverished he found an anonymous donor to pay the tax and left to Palestine. With no money to live he died two years later of a heart attack in Tel Aviv.
