Fuat Andic and Arnold Reisman:

Migration and Transfer of Knowledge: Refugees from Nazism and Turkish legal Reform

Abstract

Starting in 1933, Turkey reformed its judicial system as well as its higher education system by giving refugees fleeing the Nazis a safe haven through formal government invitations and employing them in reform its institutions. For them America was out of reach because of restrictive immigration laws and widespread anti-Semitic hiring bias at its universities. Among the invited were several German legal scholars and economists who played a large role to further westernize the new Turkish Republic’s legal code and tax legislation. This paper discusses that epoch, its legacy, and perceptions thereof in Turkey today.