Post-War Developments and Concluding Remarks

Abstract

German scientists whose research had been relevant both for civilian and military purposes were generally faced with two difficult alternatives after the Second World War. They had to decide, that is, between abandoning either their country or their field of expertise. According to the resolutions of the Allied Control Council, which had been established at the Potsdam Conference in July and August of 1945, communications and electrical engineering were deemed relevant to military research, and therefore the production and development of communications equipment and electrical devices could only be recommenced on German soil in a closely monitored and tightly restricted manner.2 A look at the post-1945 fates of the former electron tube researchers at Osram and Telefunken reveals that a great many of them relocated to new German cities or left the country altogether.3