How it all began
Szilard's Migration Story from Hungary to the U.S.
Szilard took on German citizenship in 1930 while retaining his Hungarian one. When Hitler came to power, Szilard fled Germany.
Szilard's Flight from Germany
"I came to the conclusion that things will go wrong in Germany in the middle of 1930. This conclusion was based on rather minute signs, which showed that something was not as it should be. […]
I had my suitcases packed, and by this, I mean, I had literally two suitcases which were packed with a key in the lock, so that I could leave Germany at any moment. After the Reichstag’s fire, I decided the moment ha[d] come. I closed my suitcases and took a train to Vienna."
“This just goes to show that if you want to succeed in his world you don’t have to be much cleverer than other people, you just have to be one day earlier than most people.”
(Szilard, His Version of the Facts, p. 14)
Immigration to the U.S.
After several visits to the U.S. in 1931, 1935, and 1937, he filed a declaration of intention to become a U.S. citizen. He then landed in New York to stay in January 1938, filed a petition for naturalization in 1942, and became a U.S. citizen on March 29, 1943.
Petition for Naturalization, 1937
