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Kaiser Wilhelm Society
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science (German: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften) was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by the Max Planck Society. The Kaiser Wilhelm Society was an umbrella organisation for many institutes, testing stations, and research units created under its authority.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft (KWG) was founded in 1911 as a research institution outside the university system in order to advance the interests of German state and capital through the development of scientific knowledge relevant to industrial and military application. The inaugural meeting was held on 11 January 1911. The constituent institutes were established in succession and placed under the guidance of prominent directors, whose ranks included the physicists and chemists Walther Bothe, Peter Debye, Albert Einstein, Fritz Haber and Otto Hahn; a board of trustees also provided guidance.
Funding came from both business and government to reduce KWG's dependence on either source. It was also obtained from individuals, from the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft (Emergency Association of German Science), and foreign sources.
Outside Germany, the Rockefeller Foundation granted students worldwide one-year study stipends for whichever institute they chose. Some studied in Germany, in contrast to the German universities, with their formal independence from state administration, the institutions of the Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft had no obligation to teach students.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society and its research institutes were involved in weapons research, experimentation and production in both the First World War and the Second World War. During the World War I, the group, and in particular Fritz Haber, was responsible for introducing the use of poison gas as a weapon. This was in direct violation of established international law.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society sacked its Jewish employees following the enactment of the Nazi Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service in the spring of 1933. Fritz Haber was the only institute director who resigned to protest the instructions issued by the general secretary of the KWG, Friedrich Glum. The Jewish directors were retained for several more years.
After the implementation of the Nuremberg Laws in the autumn of 1935, the KWG President Max Planck convinced the Rockefeller Foundation not to withdraw its funding for the construction of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics (KWIP) in Berlin. He also successfully lobbied the Nazi government through his industrial connections to commit to financing KWIP's future operations.
On 29 May 1937, Max Planck handed over the KWG presidency to the IG Farben founder and chairman Carl Bosch, based on the Society's decision to strengthen its industry ties. He had announced this step in early 1936.
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Kaiser Wilhelm Society
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science (German: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften) was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by the Max Planck Society. The Kaiser Wilhelm Society was an umbrella organisation for many institutes, testing stations, and research units created under its authority.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft (KWG) was founded in 1911 as a research institution outside the university system in order to advance the interests of German state and capital through the development of scientific knowledge relevant to industrial and military application. The inaugural meeting was held on 11 January 1911. The constituent institutes were established in succession and placed under the guidance of prominent directors, whose ranks included the physicists and chemists Walther Bothe, Peter Debye, Albert Einstein, Fritz Haber and Otto Hahn; a board of trustees also provided guidance.
Funding came from both business and government to reduce KWG's dependence on either source. It was also obtained from individuals, from the Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft (Emergency Association of German Science), and foreign sources.
Outside Germany, the Rockefeller Foundation granted students worldwide one-year study stipends for whichever institute they chose. Some studied in Germany, in contrast to the German universities, with their formal independence from state administration, the institutions of the Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft had no obligation to teach students.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society and its research institutes were involved in weapons research, experimentation and production in both the First World War and the Second World War. During the World War I, the group, and in particular Fritz Haber, was responsible for introducing the use of poison gas as a weapon. This was in direct violation of established international law.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society sacked its Jewish employees following the enactment of the Nazi Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service in the spring of 1933. Fritz Haber was the only institute director who resigned to protest the instructions issued by the general secretary of the KWG, Friedrich Glum. The Jewish directors were retained for several more years.
After the implementation of the Nuremberg Laws in the autumn of 1935, the KWG President Max Planck convinced the Rockefeller Foundation not to withdraw its funding for the construction of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics (KWIP) in Berlin. He also successfully lobbied the Nazi government through his industrial connections to commit to financing KWIP's future operations.
On 29 May 1937, Max Planck handed over the KWG presidency to the IG Farben founder and chairman Carl Bosch, based on the Society's decision to strengthen its industry ties. He had announced this step in early 1936.