30 March 2023 press release

During the Nazi dictatorship, Paul Rosbaud served as a spy with the code name "Griffin" and passed information about the state of nuclear research in Nazi Germany to the British. His story is told in the novel "Griffin", written by nuclear physicist and science author Arnold Kramish. Despite Kramish's meticulous research, there is still a dearth of evidence documenting Paul Rosbaud's espionage work.

The original documents donated to the German Exile Archive from family property have now made it possible to take a wider view of the spy, chemist and science journalist Paul Rosbaud. This donation is unique, since the ever-cautious Rosbaud did not leave a conjoined estate and the files held by the British Secret Intelligence Service MI6 can not yet be accessed by the public.

Paul Rosbaud was born in Graz in 1896, studied chemistry in Darmstadt and Berlin, and became a science journalist. He had a dense network of contacts and counted Lise Meitner, Otto Hahn and Wolfgang Pauli among his friends. He used his influence in many ways, e.g. to help Lise Meitner and geochemist Viktor Moritz Goldschmidt emigrate from Nazi Germany. In 1939, Paul Rosbaud played a pivotal role in making Otto Hahn's findings on nuclear fission and the National Socialists' nuclear research programme common knowledge all over the world. A number of stories have been woven around Rosbaud's activities as a spy. He is said to have forwarded information about military and scientific plans to MI6 via the Netherlands and Norway. The fact that he shared his knowledge with the relevant authorities in Britain is evident from the surviving documents: “To give you some idea about my activity, I was nearly all the time in direct contact with England and I think that owing to some gallant friends my informations were received safely“, wrote Rosbaud to his wife Hilde on 22 July 1945. On 14 August 1945, he added, "I don’t want to speak much about this first of my tasks. You may be sure that I found many ways to England and I am sure that the nazis had much trouble by this activitiy of mine.“ As a Jew, his wife had left Germany with their daughter Angelika and found refuge in Britain, while Rosbaud remained in Nazi Germany.

The new collection in the German Exile Archive contains manuscripts by Paul Rosbaud, including surviving fragments of memoirs and an extensive bundle of photographs taken in both private and professional settings. Other documents include 141 letters from physicist and Nobel Prize laureate Wolfgang Pauli dating from 1952 to 1958, 25 letters from the chemist and nuclear scientist Otto Hahn dating from 1942 to 1960, 33 letters from the physicist and Nobel Prize laureate Max von Laue dating from 1942 to 1959, and correspondence with other scientists.

Moreover, the donation encompasses a number of family documents, including correspondence with his brother, the conductor, composer and pianist Hans Rosbaud.

Background

The German National Library’s German Exile Archive 1933–1945 is a platform for discussing the subjects of exile and emigration during the Nazi era. The collection includes some 70,000 exile monographs and journals with 347 institutional and personal estates. While the main focus is on preserving the historical originals, the collections are also gradually being made accessible in digital format.

The establishment of the Exile Archive during the early post-war period was initiated by a number of émigrés and other persons who saw it as an instrument of political enlightenment. This is another reason why the institution attaches particular importance to cultural education: exhibitions, publications and a varied programme of events all communicate the complexity of exile between 1933 and 1945.

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