Curt Teichert - Dokumente zu einer Emigration (Dänemark - Australien - USA)

Abstract

Curt Teichert (Königsberg 1905—Arlington, Virginia 1996) provides in his life story examples of the many hardships and difficulties encountered by emigrants who were fortunate to escape Hitler´s regime. He was a great paleontologist and stratigrapher whose fieldwork on four continents involved nearly every fossil group; his interests were focussed mainly on the Paleozoic and the Triassic. His results and critical remarks on many general topics filled numerous publications. Remarkably, he accomplished all this under partly very unfavorable working conditions. He donated his scientific correspondence from his times in Germany, Denmark and Australia to the Geological Archive in Freiburg. The following article makes use of these documents. Teichert’s professional career started in Germany in the scientifically exciting nineteen-twenties; he worked at the universities in Königsberg, Munich and Freiburg/Breisgau. In Freiburg, however, he had serious disagreements with the Director of the Geological Institute there—this in spite of his investigations having produced some excellent results. The times around 1930 were a period of a global economic crisis, and, like many others, he could only survive financially by getting fellowships from different institutions and payments for publications. In 1933, his situation in Germany became even more critical: this was because he had married a “Non-Aryan”. However, he was able to work in Copenhagen from the end of 1933; this was largely a result of his having participated in 1931–1932 in an expedition to Greenland led by the Dane Lauge Koch. Unfortunately, he could not get a permanent position in Copenhagen because the relations between him and the influential Koch became very unpleasant. Noting Hitler´s war preparation, Teichert tried to escape from Europe. He wrote many touching letters to correspondents around the globe, receiving mostly disappointing answers. Finally, in 1937, he succeeded in getting the post of a research paleontologist at the University of Perth, in Western Australia. There he worked very successfully, both in the field and in the laboratory. Additionally, he cooperated with the University in lecturing, and contributed much to its collections. His wife Gertrud assisted him always in his work, with great effectiveness. Yet tenure still eluded him, even after seven years of hard work—tenure was what he wanted, understandably, especially after such a long period of uncertainty. Finally, he succeeded in getting tenure in Eastern Australia , but moved then to the USA in 1954. There his outstanding scientific qualities were fully recognized, both in the Geological Survey and in several universities, also as an editor of several classic publications.