Johannes Juilfs
Encyclopedia
Johannes Wilhelm Heinrich Juilfs, also known by the alias Mathias Jules, (1911 – 1995) was a German
theoretical and experimental physicist
. He was a member of the Sturmabteilung
(SA) and then, in 1933, of the Schutzstaffel
(SS). Prior to World War II
, he was one of three SS staff physicists who investigated the physicist Werner Heisenberg
during the Heisenberg Affair, instigated, in part, by the ideological deutsche Physik
(German physics) movement. During the war, he worked as a theoretical physics assistant at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics. During the denazification
process after World War II, he was banned from working as a civil servant in academia. For a few years, he worked as a school principal, and then he took a job as a physicist in the textile industry. With the help of Heisenberg and the Minister of Lower Saxony
, he was able to become a full professor at the University of Hanover.
and Max von Laue
. He received his doctorate in mathematical physics under Kolhörster, in 1938, from the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (today, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
). He completed his Habilitation there on 30 March 1945.
), first for Max von Laue
and from 1943 to Werner Heisenberg
.
Juilfs was first a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA, Storm Detachments) and then, in 1933, of the Schutz-Staffel
(SS, Defense Squadron). He was also a leader in the Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund
(NSDStB, National Socialist German Student League). In the SS, he rose to the rank of Obersturmführer
.
, Heisenberg’s teacher and doctoral advisor at the University of Munich, achieved emeritus status. However, Sommerfeld stayed on as his own temporary replacement during the selection process for his successor, which took until 1 December 1939. The process was lengthy due to academic and political differences between the Munich Faculty’s selection and that of both the Reichserziehungsministerium
(REM, Reich Education Ministry.) and the supporters of deutsche Physik
, which was anti-Semitic and had a bias against theoretical physics
, especially including quantum mechanics
and the theory of relativity
. In 1935, the Munich Faculty drew up a candidate list to replace Sommerfeld as ordinarius professor of theoretical physics and head of the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Munich. There were three names on the list: Werner Heisenberg
, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics
in 1932, Peter Debye
, who would receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
in 1936, and Richard Becker
- all former students of Sommerfeld. The Munich Faculty was firmly behind these candidates, with Heisenberg as their first choice. However, supporters of deutsche Physik and elements in the REM had their own list of candidates and the battle commenced, dragging on for over four years. During this time, Heisenberg came under vicious attack by the supporters of deutsche Physik. One such attack was published in Das Schwarze Korps, the newspaper of the Schutzstaffel
, or SS, headed by Heinrich Himmler
. In the editorial, Heisenberg was called a “White Jew” who should be made to “disappear.” These verbal attacks were taken seriously, as there was physical violence against the Jews and they were incarcerated. Heisenberg fought back with an editorial and a letter to Himmler, in an attempt to get a resolution to this matter and regain his honor. At one point, Heisenberg’s mother visited Himmler’s mother to help bring a resolution to the affair. The two women knew each other as a result of Heisenberg’s maternal grandfather and Himmler’s father being rectors and members of a Bavarian hiking club. Eventually, Himmler settled the Heisenberg affair by sending two letters, one to SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich
and one to Heisenberg, both on 21 July 1938. In the letter to Heydrich, Himmler said Germany could not afford to lose or silence Heisenberg as he would be useful for teaching a generation of scientists. To Heisenberg, Himmler said the letter came on recommendation of his family and he cautioned Heisenberg to make a distinction between professional physics research results and the personal and political attitudes of the involved scientists. The letter to Heisenberg was signed under the closing “Mit freundlichem Gruss und, Heil Hitler!” (With friendly greetings, Heil Hitler!”) Overall, the Heisenberg affair was settled with a victory for academic standards and professionalism, however, with Wilhelm Müller taking over for Sommerfeld on 1 December 1939, this appointment was a political victory over academic standards. Müller was not a theoretical physicist, had not published in a physics journal, and was not a member of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft
; his appointment as a replacement for Sommerfeld was considered a travesty and detrimental to educating a new generation of theoretical physicists.
During the SS investigation of Heisenberg, there were three investigators and all had training in physics. Heisenberg had participated in the doctoral examination of one of them at the Universität Leipzig
. The most influential of the three, however, was Juilfs. During their investigation, they had all become supporters of Heisenberg as well as his position against the ideological policies of the deutsche Physik movement in theoretical physics and academia.
became an acting director of the Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Dozentenbund (NSDDB, National Socialist German University Lecturers League) at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt (today, the Technische Universität Darmstadt
). As such, he organized the Münchner Religionsgespräche (“Munich Synod”), which took place on November 15, 1940. The event was an offensive against the deutsche Physik movement. Finkelnburg invited five representatives to make arguments for theoretical physics and academic decisions based on ability, rather than politics: Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
, Otto Scherzer
, Georg Joos
, Otto Heckmann, and Hans Kopfermann
. Alfons Bühl
, a supporter of deutsche Physik, invited Harald Volkmann, Bruno Thüring
, Wilhelm Müller, Rudolf Tomaschek
, and Ludwig Wesch. The discussion was led by Gustav Borer, with Herbert Stuart and Johannes Malsch as observers. While the technical outcome of the event may have been thin, it was a political victory against deutsche Physik and signaled the decline of the influence of the movement within the German Reich.
In November 1942, as a follow-on to the 1940 Münchner Religionsgespräche, 30 scientists met at Seefeld
in the Austrian
Tyrol to establish guidelines for the teaching of physics. Among those in attendance were Werner Heisenberg
, Carl Ramsauer
, Wolfgang Finkelnburg
, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
, Juilfs, as well as supporters of the declining deutsche Physik movement. Juilfs clearly expressed the side the SS had taken against the movement. The deutsche Physik supporters were sufficiently cowed and the program of the 1940 Münchner Religionsgespräche was adopted, i.e., quantum mechanics
and the theory of relativity
were accepted as essential parts of German physics. This was a considerable victory by the physics establishment in Germany, as the state was forced to back down on ideological purity in the teaching of physics in order to get the physics community’s support.
process in Germany after World War II barred Juilfs from returning to a university career. From 1948 he was a principal at an adult education school in Helmstedt
. However, with the founding of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany) in 1949, and with the help of some influential individuals, the fortunes of Juilfs began to change. It was in 1950 that he became head of the physics department at the Textilforschungsanstalt (Textile Research Institute) at Kerfeld. The Minister of Culture of the German state of Lower Saxony
intervened on his behalf with a grant. Shortly thereafter, Juilfs coauthored a textbook, Physik der Gegenwart, with Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
, which was published in 1952 and contributed to his rehabilitation in academia. For Juilfs supporting Heisenberg during the Heisenberg Affair, the quid pro quo from Heisenberg was a whitewash certificate; these certificates were known as Persilschein, a word play on the detergent Persil. The Minister of Lower Saxony intervened again and helped Juilfs obtain a temporary position as lecturer on theoretical physics at the Technische Hochschule Hanover (today, the Leibniz Universität Hanover. By 1958, he was an ordentlicher Professor (ordinarius professor) there. After World War II, many academicians lost their jobs through the denazificaion process, but by or shortly after the formation of the new Federal Republic of Germany, most of them were again found in academic positions.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
theoretical and experimental physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
. He was a member of the Sturmabteilung
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
(SA) and then, in 1933, of the Schutzstaffel
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
(SS). Prior to World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was one of three SS staff physicists who investigated the physicist Werner Heisenberg
Werner Heisenberg
Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory...
during the Heisenberg Affair, instigated, in part, by the ideological deutsche Physik
Deutsche Physik
Deutsche Physik or Aryan Physics was a nationalist movement in the German physics community in the early 1930s against the work of Albert Einstein, labeled "Jewish Physics"...
(German physics) movement. During the war, he worked as a theoretical physics assistant at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics. During the denazification
Denazification
Denazification was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of any remnants of the National Socialist ideology. It was carried out specifically by removing those involved from positions of influence and by disbanding or rendering...
process after World War II, he was banned from working as a civil servant in academia. For a few years, he worked as a school principal, and then he took a job as a physicist in the textile industry. With the help of Heisenberg and the Minister of Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
, he was able to become a full professor at the University of Hanover.
Education
Juilfs conducted his university studies from 1930 to 1938. He was a student of Werner KolhörsterWerner Kolhörster
Werner Heinrich Gustav Kolhörster was a German physicist and a pioneer of research into cosmic rays.Kolhörster was born in Schwiebus , Province of Brandenburg...
and Max von Laue
Max von Laue
Max Theodor Felix von Laue was a German physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914 for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals...
. He received his doctorate in mathematical physics under Kolhörster, in 1938, from the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (today, the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
). He completed his Habilitation there on 30 March 1945.
World War II
Juilfs was a theoretical physics assistant from 1938 to 1945 at the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für Physik (KWIP, Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics; today, the Max-Planck Institut für PhysikMax Planck Institute for Physics
Max Planck Institute for Physics is a physics institute in Munich, Germany that specializes in High Energy Physics and Astroparticle physics. It is part of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft and is also known as the Werner Heisenberg Institute, after its first director.It was founded as the Kaiser Wilhelm...
), first for Max von Laue
Max von Laue
Max Theodor Felix von Laue was a German physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914 for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals...
and from 1943 to Werner Heisenberg
Werner Heisenberg
Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory...
.
Juilfs was first a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA, Storm Detachments) and then, in 1933, of the Schutz-Staffel
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
(SS, Defense Squadron). He was also a leader in the Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund
National Socialist German Students' League
The National Socialist German Students' League was founded in 1926 as a division of the NSDAP with the mission of integrating University-level education and academic life within the framework of the National Socialist worldview...
(NSDStB, National Socialist German Student League). In the SS, he rose to the rank of Obersturmführer
Obersturmführer
Obersturmführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi party that was used by the SS and also as a rank of the SA. Translated as “Senior Assault Leader”, the rank of Obersturmführer was first created in 1932 as the result of an expansion of the Sturmabteilung and the need for an additional rank in...
.
The deutsche Physik movement & the Heisenberg Affair
On 1 April 1935 Arnold SommerfeldArnold Sommerfeld
Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld was a German theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in atomic and quantum physics, and also educated and groomed a large number of students for the new era of theoretical physics...
, Heisenberg’s teacher and doctoral advisor at the University of Munich, achieved emeritus status. However, Sommerfeld stayed on as his own temporary replacement during the selection process for his successor, which took until 1 December 1939. The process was lengthy due to academic and political differences between the Munich Faculty’s selection and that of both the Reichserziehungsministerium
Reichserziehungsministerium
The Reichserziehungsministerium was officially known as the Reichsministerium für Wissenschaft, Erziehung und Volksbildung .-Background:...
(REM, Reich Education Ministry.) and the supporters of deutsche Physik
Deutsche Physik
Deutsche Physik or Aryan Physics was a nationalist movement in the German physics community in the early 1930s against the work of Albert Einstein, labeled "Jewish Physics"...
, which was anti-Semitic and had a bias against theoretical physics
Theoretical physics
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena...
, especially including quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
and the theory of relativity
Theory of relativity
The theory of relativity, or simply relativity, encompasses two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. However, the word relativity is sometimes used in reference to Galilean invariance....
. In 1935, the Munich Faculty drew up a candidate list to replace Sommerfeld as ordinarius professor of theoretical physics and head of the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Munich. There were three names on the list: Werner Heisenberg
Werner Heisenberg
Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory...
, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
in 1932, Peter Debye
Peter Debye
Peter Joseph William Debye FRS was a Dutch physicist and physical chemist, and Nobel laureate in Chemistry.-Early life:...
, who would receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
in 1936, and Richard Becker
Richard Becker
Richard Becker was a German theoretical physicist who made contributions in thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, superconductivity, and quantum electrodynamics.-Education:...
- all former students of Sommerfeld. The Munich Faculty was firmly behind these candidates, with Heisenberg as their first choice. However, supporters of deutsche Physik and elements in the REM had their own list of candidates and the battle commenced, dragging on for over four years. During this time, Heisenberg came under vicious attack by the supporters of deutsche Physik. One such attack was published in Das Schwarze Korps, the newspaper of the Schutzstaffel
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
, or SS, headed by Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
. In the editorial, Heisenberg was called a “White Jew” who should be made to “disappear.” These verbal attacks were taken seriously, as there was physical violence against the Jews and they were incarcerated. Heisenberg fought back with an editorial and a letter to Himmler, in an attempt to get a resolution to this matter and regain his honor. At one point, Heisenberg’s mother visited Himmler’s mother to help bring a resolution to the affair. The two women knew each other as a result of Heisenberg’s maternal grandfather and Himmler’s father being rectors and members of a Bavarian hiking club. Eventually, Himmler settled the Heisenberg affair by sending two letters, one to SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
and one to Heisenberg, both on 21 July 1938. In the letter to Heydrich, Himmler said Germany could not afford to lose or silence Heisenberg as he would be useful for teaching a generation of scientists. To Heisenberg, Himmler said the letter came on recommendation of his family and he cautioned Heisenberg to make a distinction between professional physics research results and the personal and political attitudes of the involved scientists. The letter to Heisenberg was signed under the closing “Mit freundlichem Gruss und, Heil Hitler!” (With friendly greetings, Heil Hitler!”) Overall, the Heisenberg affair was settled with a victory for academic standards and professionalism, however, with Wilhelm Müller taking over for Sommerfeld on 1 December 1939, this appointment was a political victory over academic standards. Müller was not a theoretical physicist, had not published in a physics journal, and was not a member of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft
Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft
The Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft is the world's largest organization of physicists. The DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 60,000, as of 2011...
; his appointment as a replacement for Sommerfeld was considered a travesty and detrimental to educating a new generation of theoretical physicists.
During the SS investigation of Heisenberg, there were three investigators and all had training in physics. Heisenberg had participated in the doctoral examination of one of them at the Universität Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
. The most influential of the three, however, was Juilfs. During their investigation, they had all become supporters of Heisenberg as well as his position against the ideological policies of the deutsche Physik movement in theoretical physics and academia.
Afterwards
It was in the summer of 1940 that Wolfgang FinkelnburgWolfgang Finkelnburg
Wolfgang Karl Ernst Finkelnburg was a German physicist who made contributions to spectroscopy, atomic physics, the structure of matter, and high-temperature arc discharges...
became an acting director of the Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Dozentenbund (NSDDB, National Socialist German University Lecturers League) at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt (today, the Technische Universität Darmstadt
Darmstadt University of Technology
The Technische Universität Darmstadt, abbreviated TU Darmstadt, is a university in the city of Darmstadt, Germany...
). As such, he organized the Münchner Religionsgespräche (“Munich Synod”), which took place on November 15, 1940. The event was an offensive against the deutsche Physik movement. Finkelnburg invited five representatives to make arguments for theoretical physics and academic decisions based on ability, rather than politics: Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
Carl Friedrich Freiherr von Weizsäcker was a German physicist and philosopher. He was the longest-living member of the research team which performed nuclear research in Germany during the Second World War, under Werner Heisenberg's leadership...
, Otto Scherzer
Otto Scherzer
Otto Scherzer was a German theoretical physicist who made contributions to electron microscopy.-Education:...
, Georg Joos
Georg Joos
Georg Jakob Christof Joos was a German theoretical physicist. He wrote Lehrbuch der theoretischen Physik, first published in 1932 and one of the most influential theoretical physics textbooks of the 20th Century.-Education:Joos began his higher education in 1912 at the Technische Hochschule...
, Otto Heckmann, and Hans Kopfermann
Hans Kopfermann
Hans Kopfermann was a German atomic and nuclear physicist. He devoted his entire career to spectroscopic investigations, and he did pioneering work in measuring nuclear spin...
. Alfons Bühl
Alfons Bühl
Alfons Bühl was a German physicist. From 1934 to 1945, he was director of the physics department at the Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe.-Education:...
, a supporter of deutsche Physik, invited Harald Volkmann, Bruno Thüring
Bruno Thüring
Bruno Jakob Thüring was a German physicist and astronomer.Thüring studied mathematics, physics, and astronomy at the University of Munich and received his doctorate in 1928, under Alexander Wilkens and Arnold Sommerfeld...
, Wilhelm Müller, Rudolf Tomaschek
Rudolf Tomaschek
Rudolf Karl Anton Tomaschek was a German experimental physicist. His scientific efforts included work on phosphorescence, fluorescence, and gravitation. Tomaschek was a supporter of deutsche Physik, which resulted in his suspension from his university posts after World War II...
, and Ludwig Wesch. The discussion was led by Gustav Borer, with Herbert Stuart and Johannes Malsch as observers. While the technical outcome of the event may have been thin, it was a political victory against deutsche Physik and signaled the decline of the influence of the movement within the German Reich.
In November 1942, as a follow-on to the 1940 Münchner Religionsgespräche, 30 scientists met at Seefeld
Seefeld, Tirol
Seefeld in Tirol is a municipality of the Innsbruck-Land District in the Austrian state of Tyrol, located about northwest of Innsbruck. With more than one million overnight stays each year, it is one of the most popular Tyrolean tourist destinations especially for skiing in winter, but also for...
in the Austrian
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
Tyrol to establish guidelines for the teaching of physics. Among those in attendance were Werner Heisenberg
Werner Heisenberg
Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory...
, Carl Ramsauer
Carl Ramsauer
Carl Wilhelm Ramsauer was an internationally notable professor of physics and research physicist, famous for the discovery of the Ramsauer-Townsend effect...
, Wolfgang Finkelnburg
Wolfgang Finkelnburg
Wolfgang Karl Ernst Finkelnburg was a German physicist who made contributions to spectroscopy, atomic physics, the structure of matter, and high-temperature arc discharges...
, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
Carl Friedrich Freiherr von Weizsäcker was a German physicist and philosopher. He was the longest-living member of the research team which performed nuclear research in Germany during the Second World War, under Werner Heisenberg's leadership...
, Juilfs, as well as supporters of the declining deutsche Physik movement. Juilfs clearly expressed the side the SS had taken against the movement. The deutsche Physik supporters were sufficiently cowed and the program of the 1940 Münchner Religionsgespräche was adopted, i.e., quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
and the theory of relativity
Theory of relativity
The theory of relativity, or simply relativity, encompasses two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. However, the word relativity is sometimes used in reference to Galilean invariance....
were accepted as essential parts of German physics. This was a considerable victory by the physics establishment in Germany, as the state was forced to back down on ideological purity in the teaching of physics in order to get the physics community’s support.
Post World War II
The denazificationDenazification
Denazification was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of any remnants of the National Socialist ideology. It was carried out specifically by removing those involved from positions of influence and by disbanding or rendering...
process in Germany after World War II barred Juilfs from returning to a university career. From 1948 he was a principal at an adult education school in Helmstedt
Helmstedt
Helmstedt is a city located at the eastern edge of the German state of Lower Saxony. It is the capital of the District of Helmstedt. Helmstedt has 26,000 inhabitants . In former times the city was also called Helmstädt....
. However, with the founding of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany) in 1949, and with the help of some influential individuals, the fortunes of Juilfs began to change. It was in 1950 that he became head of the physics department at the Textilforschungsanstalt (Textile Research Institute) at Kerfeld. The Minister of Culture of the German state of Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
intervened on his behalf with a grant. Shortly thereafter, Juilfs coauthored a textbook, Physik der Gegenwart, with Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker
Carl Friedrich Freiherr von Weizsäcker was a German physicist and philosopher. He was the longest-living member of the research team which performed nuclear research in Germany during the Second World War, under Werner Heisenberg's leadership...
, which was published in 1952 and contributed to his rehabilitation in academia. For Juilfs supporting Heisenberg during the Heisenberg Affair, the quid pro quo from Heisenberg was a whitewash certificate; these certificates were known as Persilschein, a word play on the detergent Persil. The Minister of Lower Saxony intervened again and helped Juilfs obtain a temporary position as lecturer on theoretical physics at the Technische Hochschule Hanover (today, the Leibniz Universität Hanover. By 1958, he was an ordentlicher Professor (ordinarius professor) there. After World War II, many academicians lost their jobs through the denazificaion process, but by or shortly after the formation of the new Federal Republic of Germany, most of them were again found in academic positions.
Selected Literature by Juilfs
- Johannes Juilfs and Viktor Masuch Die Ionisierung durch Gamma- und Höhenstrahlen in verschiedenen Gasen, Zeitschrift für Physik Volume 104, Numbers 5-6, pp. 458-467 (1937). The authors were identified as being in Berlin-Dahlem. The article was received on 26 November 1936. The authors thanked Professor Doctor Werner KolhörsterWerner KolhörsterWerner Heinrich Gustav Kolhörster was a German physicist and a pioneer of research into cosmic rays.Kolhörster was born in Schwiebus , Province of Brandenburg...
.
- Johannes Juilfs Das erste deutsche Matematikerlager, Deutsche Mathematik Volume 4, 109-140 (1939)
Books by Juilfs
- Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and Johannes Juilfs Physik der Gegenwart (Athenäum-Verl., 1952, 1958)
- Johannes Juilfs Die Messung von Gewebetemperaturen mittels Temperaturstrahlung (Westdt. Verl., 1955)
- Johannes Juilfs Vergleichende Untersuchungen zur elastischen und bleibenden Dehnung von Fasern (Westdt. Verl., 1956)
- Johannes Juilfs Zur Messung der Fadenglätte (Westdt. Verl., 1956)
- Johannes Juilfs Zur Dichtebestimmung von Fasern (Westdt. Verl., 1957)
- Johannes Juilfs Die Bestimmung des Wasserrückhaltevermögens (bzw. des Quellwertes) von Fasern (Westdt. Verl., 1958)
- Wilhelm Weltzien, Johannes Juilfs, and Werner Bubser Die Textilforschungsanstalt Krefeld 1920 - 1958 (Westdt. Verl., 1958)
- Johannes Juilfs Vergleichende Untersuchungen am Schopper-Scheuerprüfgerät (Westdt. Verl., 1958)
- Johannes Juilfs Zur Bestimmung der Bruchlast (Zugfestigkeit) von Fasern, Fäden und Garnen (Westdt. Verl., 1959)
- Johannes Juilfs Zur Bestimmung der Absolutdichte von Fasern (Westdt. Verl., 1960)