07/12/1938 AD escaped
Through Bohr in Copenhagen, Peter Debye communicated with DIrk Coster and Fokker, and they approached the Netherlands Ministry of Education with an appeal to allow Meitner to come to the Netherlands. As foreigners were not allowed to work for pay, an appointment as a non-salaried privaat-docente was required. Wander Johannes de Haas and Anton Eduard van Arkel arranged for one at Leiden University.
Coster also spoke to the head of the border guards, who assured him that Meitner would be admitted. A friend of Coster, E. H. Ebels, was a local politician from the border area, and he spoke directly to the guards on the border.
On 11 July, Coster arrived in Berlin, where he stayed with Debye. The following morning, Meitner arrived early at the KWI for Chemistry, and Hahn briefed her on the plan. To avoid suspicion, she maintained her usual routine, remaining at the institute until 20:00 correcting one of the associate's papers for publication.
Hahn and Paul Rosbaud helped her pack two small suitcases, carrying only summer clothes. Hahn gave her a diamond ring he had inherited from his mother in case of emergency; she took only 10 marks in her purse. She then spent the night at Hahn's house. The next morning Meitner met Coster at the train station, where they pretended to have met each other by chance. They traveled on a lightly-used line to Bad Nieuweschans railway station on the border, which they crossed without incident; the German border guards may have thought that Frau Professor was the wife of a professor. A telegram from Pauli informed Coster that he was now "as famous for the abduction of Lise Meitner as for the discovery of hafnium".
Subjects Who or What escaped?
-
Lise Meitner A leading Austrian-Swedi...
Objects To Whom or What was escaped?
-
Nazi Party (NSDAP, National Socialist German Workers' Party) A far-right political pa...
Events in 1938 MORE
