No survival for an elderly mathematician: Felix Hausdorff’s failed emigration and death
Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze
University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway
Abstract
This paper describes the failed attempts of the founder of modern set-theoretical topology, Felix Hausdorff, to save his life from the anti-Semitic Nazi threat by emigration to the United States in 1939. Although he was still mathematically productive, Hausdorff’s advanced age was his undoing, making him less attractive to the Americans. The paper is a translation of the 2021 German original [Mitt. Dtsch. Math.-Ver. 29 (2021), 132–136].
Cite this article
Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze, No survival for an elderly mathematician: Felix Hausdorff’s failed emigration and death. Eur. Math. Soc. Mag. 136 (2025), pp. 11–15
DOI 10.4171/MAG/258