The 1930 Reichstag election immediately triggered the Institute’s emigration planning

Evidence

At the general election for the Reichstag on 14 September 1930, the Nazi Party (NSDAP) received the largest number of votes after the SPD, and 107 seats. Felix Weil, Max Horkheimer, Fritz Pollock and Leo Lowenthal met for a discussion on the following day, in the course of which Lowenthal urged Felix Weil: `You must get the money together for us to open the branch office in Geneva. We can’t stay here any more, we must start preparing for emigration.’ — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 258

In 1930 Lowenthal became a full assistant at the Institute of Social Research. At the general election for the Reichstag on 14 September 1930, the Nazi Party (NSDAP) received the largest number of votes after the SPD, and 107 seats. Felix Weil, Max Horkheimer, Fritz Pollock and Leo Lowenthal met for a discussion on the following day, in the course of which Lowenthal urged Felix Weil: `You must get the money together for us to open the branch office in Geneva. We can’t stay here any more, we must start preparing for emigration.’ — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 85

Categorization

• XREF: Directly explains the Institute’s Geneva branch, a key institutional milestone of the Frankfurt School’s exile. — connects to: Lowenthal pressed for exile emigration the day after the 1930 Nazi election. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 258; The Institute moved its assets abroad well before the Nazi seizure of power — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 452; The Institute quietly moved its endowment abroad before the Nazis took power — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 149 (+1 more)
• QUESTION: What exactly did the Geneva office do once established, and how early was it fully funded?
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 258; Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 85

Broader Connections

• The Institute quietly moved its endowment abroad before the Nazis took power #corroborates (0.80) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 149
• The Institute moved its endowment and library abroad well before the Nazi takeover #corroborates (0.78) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 452