Did Albert Einstein come to the US to escape the Holocaust?

Did Albert Einstein come to the US to escape the Holocaust?

Einstein was a Jew, but he wasn't in Germany when the Holocaust started.

He left his home in Berlin in 1933, right after Hitler came to power.

A famous scientist, Einstein criticized the Nazis and their racist policies.

He renounced his German citizenship and applied for release from the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

The Nazis hated him and wanted to kill him.

They burned his books, confiscated his bank accounts, searched his house for weapons, and called him a traitor and a communist.

They even published a photo of him with the caption "not yet hanged.

Einstein knew he had to get the hell out of Europe.

The first stop was Belgium, where he got some protection from the royal family. But he wasn't safe there either.

He heard rumors that there were these assassins after him.

He decided to go to England, where he had some friends who could help him.

There, Einstein stayed in a secret hut in Norfolk, guarded by a group of locals with guns.

He also gave some speeches in London to raise money for Jewish refugees.

But England wasn't his final destination either.

He wanted to go to the US, where he had been offered a job at Princeton University.

Einstein had visited the US before and liked it there. He thought it was a free and democratic country where he could work on his science without fear or interference.

He also wanted to help other refugees who were fleeing from Nazi persecution.

Einstein finally arrived in the US in October 1933, after getting a visa with the help of some influential friends.

He settled in Princeton, New Jersey, where he lived until his death in 1955.

He became an American citizen in 1940. He continued to work on his scientific theories and also became involved in social and political causes.

Einstein advocated for world peace, human rights, civil liberties, and nuclear disarmament.

We must understand what the Holocaust was.

A genocide of gargantuan size, the Jews and other minorities were eviscerated by the Nazis in Germany and their allies during World War II.

They killed about six million Jews in concentration camps, ghettos, mass shootings, and gas chambers.

They also persecuted and murdered millions of other people, like Roma, Slavs, communists, homosexuals, and disabled people.

It was a horrific crime against humanity that we should never forget.

So did Einstein come to the US to escape the Holocaust?

Well, yes and no.

He came to the US to escape the Nazis, who were already threatening his life before the Holocaust began.

But he also came to the US because he wanted to pursue his scientific career and contribute to humanity's progress.

Einstein was not just a refugee; he was also an immigrant who enriched his new country with his genius and his values.