Maybe I'm miscalculating the sort of international work that was being done in the years leading up to the war, but were there any English or American or French or whatever scholars who tried to keep in touch with their Axis counterparts (or vice versa!) on the principle that human knowledge was more important than a temporary conflict? Or even for some other reasons; I just needed a way to describe it for the question.
Simpler: what sort of academic co-operation persisted between enemy powers during WWII? Did any?
I'm about to release a book that draws heavily on a dissertation published in Germany in 1936, written at Lund University in Sweden. The story involves my mentor, Sven Liljeblad (1899-2000), his mentor, Carl Wilhelm von Sydow (1878-1952 - the father of actor Max von Sydow), and their student, Elisabeth Hartmann (1912-2004), the author of the dissertation (Die Trollvorstellungen in den Sagen und Märchen der Skandinavischen Völker – The Troll Beliefs in the Legends and Folktales of the Scandinavian Folk). The following paragraph, an excerpt from my book, may give you a sense of what it was like to negotiate the barriers imposed by war:
"During the 1930s Hartmann developed a close relationship with Liljeblad. They eventually shared an apartment and the sort of life together that is fueled by intense, mutual, academic interests but little money. Unfortunately, the tidal forces of politics and war proved cruel to the young scholars. The Nazi government of Germany summoned Hartmann home. At the same time, Liljeblad organized a group in Copenhagen to help political refugees and Jews to escape from the clutches of Hitler. With the outbreak of war in September 1939, Liljeblad, now a target of the Nazis, was forced to flee to North America, since there was no guarantee that his Swedish nationalism would protect him from the rising tide of fascism. Correspondence between Liljeblad and Hartmann was soon cut off. Liljeblad gained some news of Hartmann from von Sydow who, living in neutral Sweden, could continue writing to his German student. Word arrived that she had married, but then communication ceased, and Liljeblad assumed for years that Hartmann had died during the war."
I made contact with Hartmann in 1999 and corresponded with her for the last five years of her life. Because of the war, she lost touch with von Sydow, and she was unable to regain contact with Liljeblad until 1999 when he turned 100 (and she was a mere 88). Sven talked to me a great deal about how ties with continental folklorists were broken during the war. Communication was extremely difficult, and the consequences of war cut the community of folklorists at least in half.
Oh man! There is a great amazing book for you to read.
Hiroshima: the World Bomb By Andrew J. Rotter.
In short pre WWII there was an attempt by the major nuclear science players from Germany, the UK, Russia, USA, Japan, and various other sources to create a "Scientific Commune". A place where not nations but science would reign. Mind you this was before the concept of a nuclear bomb was more then just Science Fiction and crazy theory. The Idea was that through collaboration and accedmic exchange there would be a non political exchange of ideas.
All that came to a quick end after the realization of what nuclear power could do. Mostly Germany became more and more hostile to Jewish scientists and they fled to the UK and after to the US. But also germany started working on nuclear fission as well.
When this happend the idea of a non political scientifc commune evaporated like a fart in the wind.
The best example was there was a Russian conference that would usually get papers submitted by the hundreds by physicists like Oppenheimer. Within couple of years submissions went from dozens to zero. Its as if the US and UK plus all the exile scientists had all died. But actually they just shut down all external publishing and kept it in the Manhattan project.