'The Refuge and the Fortress' - Britain and the flight from tyranny, 1933 - 2008

By Jayne Warren - 11/11/2008

Published to mark the 75th Anniversary of CARA (Council for Assisting Refugee Academics), 'The Refuge and the Fortress' by Jeremy Seabrook describes the profound and measurable contribution to the life of Britain that refugees have made ever since Hitler forced Jewish academics out of German universities within weeks of coming to power in 1933.

Founded by Lord Beveridge and supported with an address by Albert Einstein at a fundraising event on 23rd October 1933 at the Royal Albert Hall, CARA has since supported over 9,000 displaced academics.

Those to whom Britain gave shelter included Max Perutz, whose work on haemoglobin led to breakthroughs in understanding blood disease; Ludwig Guttmann, who revolutionised the treatment of paraplegics and invented what became the 'paralympic games’; Karl Popper who, fiercely opposed to all totalitarian philosophies, worked for most of his life in a Britain which he helped to confirm as a continuing inspiration to active liberal democracy, and Leo Szilard, who in 1940 drafted the famous letter to President Roosevelt, signed by Einstein, urging research on the A-bomb before the Germans got there first - and who subsequently worked for abolition of nuclear arms.

Through CARA, not only did Britain gain in intellectual and economic terms, but it also benefited from a different inherited pool of talent through children and grandchildren. For example, the atomic physicist Max Born’s son was an Associate Director of the National Theatre, and his niece the singer Olivia Newton-John, whilst one of the oldest surviving beneficiaries of CARA’s work is Lewis Elton, father of comedian Ben.

'The Refuge and the Fortress' follows the experience of the early refugees, and the subsequent influence of the displaced scientists, artists, writers and philosophers on the life and culture of Britain and the wider world over the next 75 years. Examining the wider environment of popular distrust of foreigners and racism, the book challenges not only the academic community today, but also the politicians, policy-makers, and the media whose articles set the terms of national debate.

Bill Rammell MP, Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, said: "CARA has truly made a difference through its invaluable work. Due to its principled commitment to academic freedom, it provides life-changing support to individual academics who are under threat in their own countries. Alongside this it also upholds the principle of freedom of inquiry by acting as a beacon for academics around the world committed to intellectual freedom”.

After their extraordinary work in the 1930s, CARA had originally hoped that their 75th anniversary would not be necessary, but the need for the work they do is as prevalent now as it ever was - and the author hopes that his story may help change the often distorted views of the general public about refugees in Britain today.

'The Refuge and the Fortress' by Jeremy Seabrook with a foreword by Jon Snow is published on January 1st 2009 by Palgrave Macmillan, Paperback, £9.99.