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THE NATION: Immigrants can brin
- Subject: THE NATION: Immigrants can brin
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 00:06:00
Mailbag
Immigrants can bring
powerful influences
The letter, captioned ''More Immigration''
(A4, March 3) contains advice that was
successfully practised by the US when the
nation welcomed refugees from European
fascism in the thirties. These refugees
brought with them the atomic know-how that
later helped the Allies cut short World War II
before many more millions of
non-combatants would have lost their lives
in the then inevitable assault on the
Japanese main islands.
Albert Einstein, a German-born Jewish
scientist, who saw no future for himself in
the land of his birth after 1933, because of
chauvanistic policies, was welcomed as an
immigrant to a land which secured his talent
in developing an atomic bomb as part of
the US government's Manhattan Project.
Having learned from that important success
the US government, through its military
occupation forces in defeated Germany,
snatched rocket scientist Wernherr Braun
from the clutches of the Soviets (who also
wanted him to advance their plans to fly to
the moon). Another immigrant served the
US in securing one more important victory
over the competition, taking that famous
''first step for mankind'' outside of our own
planet.
To be fair, I believe that final judgement on
the above feats by these immigrants is still
being mulled in the minds of
contemporaries.
Rudolf Voll
Bangkok