Page 212 - Neutrons for Sciences and Society

Neutrons for Science
The first German researchers who arrived at the Institut all belonged to a generation who had never known these dark times personally. I am thinking especially of Reinhard Scherm and Andreas Freund. The latter arrived in 1967 to work on a thesis with Maier-Leibnitz. The work of these two scientists was typical of the excellence of our German colleagues. They proved too,
by their behaviour that the period of Nazism was certainly not representative of what was truly German. Bertaud’s attitude
was very significant. Born Lewy in Germany (1913) to a Jewish family he emigrated in 1933. His parents did not wish to follow (not wishing to be subjects to former enemies) and both perished in concentration camps. He was naturally wary at first, speaking French to M.L. He was happy to find his compatriot was quite free from Nazism, and later had no hesitation in conversing in German.
The experiment of the ILL as that of the EMBL and CERN shows that nothing is better than working together to dispel prejudices.
An important component in this success was the youth of staff who made up the ILL in its early days. Looking at a film shot in 1973 by German television113 I am struck by the young scientists and engineers who had large responsibilities. For all, the war belonged to a past that they had only known about as children.
There was always a friendly atmosphere at the ILL thanks no
doubt to this wise recruitment of German physicists. A recent
survey amongst the older members of staff has confirmed
113 German TV channel ZDF (1973) Part of the series “Die stillen Stars” (The silent stars) https://wwwarchive.ill. fr/about/what-is-the-ill/history/ill-in-1973-movie/
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