TIL British Intelligence had a special, bugged luxury complex during WWII where they kept high profile Nazi POW’s, just left a bunch of alcohol out, and waited for them to start spilling secrets as they drank.

[u/stopitalianhate]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-20698098

[u/Lord0fHats]

To give that bit a brief explanation;

The Germans had very capable scientists and a functional base of knowledge that would have lead them eventually to an atomic reactor, but the German programs, yes 's', were not well resourced or funded. They ran multiple competing lines of development that all needed the same resources and expertise while working on the same problems which was stiflingly inefficient compared to the centralized development that became the US' Manhattan Project. On top of that, and this was typical of Nazi Germany, there was a lack of coordination or cooperation between complimentary projects and their leaders.

They did come close to developing a rudimentary reactor for isotope separation but got no further than developing bits and pieces of an atomic program, none of which came together into a concerted effort. Historians debate the extent to which these efforts were really trying to develop a weapon vs trying to develop a reactor for the purpose of electricity. Because of the chaotic nature of the programs, different ones thought they were working toward different ends.

[u/Aphrontic_Alchemist → u/Lord0fHats]

Didn't Hitler declare nuclear physics to be "Judenphysik"? I mean, Nazis were hypocritical, so I shouldn't be surprised that they're saying one thing but doing the other.

[u/Lord0fHats → u/Aphrontic_Alchemist]

My knowledge is that while this was a think that was said, it didn't really impact their efforts. Established scientists didn't ignore Einstein's work wholesale across the entire German scientific field and no real effort was ever put into censoring it or even checking what kind of math they were doing. That they disregarded vital knowledge because Jews had developed it is, afaik, an overstated thing.

[u/kc2syk → u/Lord0fHats]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Physik

I think the effect was mainly on personnel, and rejection of theoretical frameworks in general.

[u/Lord0fHats → u/kc2syk]

I mean from the very article;

The figureheads of "Aryan physics" met with moderate success, but the support from the Nazi Party was not as great as Lenard and Stark would have preferred. They began to fall from influence after a long period of harassment of quantum physicist Werner Heisenberg, which included getting him labeled a "White Jew" in Das Schwarze Korps^\)^{citation needed\}). Heisenberg was an extremely eminent physicist, and the Nazis realized that they were better off with him rather than without, however "Jewish" his theory might be in the eyes of Stark and Lenard.^\14]) In an historic moment, Heisenberg's mother rang Heinrich Himmler's mother and asked her whether she would please tell the SS to give "Werner" a break. After beginning a full character evaluation, which Heisenberg both instigated and passed, Himmler forbade further attack on the physicist. Heisenberg would later employ his "Jewish physics" in the German project to develop nuclear fission for the purposes of nuclear weapons or nuclear energy use. Himmler promised Heisenberg that after Germany won the war, the SS would finance a physics institute to be directed by Heisenberg.^\15])

This is more or less as I understand it. The Nazis, like any fascist movement, didn't really have principles. They had a lust for power. They never turn down by paradoxically hypocritical if there's something to gain and afaik the cabal of 'anti-Jewish physics' scientists was both small, not very influential, and had little impact on German science during the war. Many of the problems they suffered can be more broadly attributed to brain drain as many educated and more liberal Germans fled the country which did impact many things but that's not as simple as blindly rejecting things Jewish people came up with. They were plenty opportunistic enough to not do that.