Nikolay Timofeyev-Resovsky in Germany, the death of his son and his sentence after the war

When in the 1940s the world-renowned scientist, an outstanding researcher of the problems of evolution and population genetics, Nikolay Vladimirovich Timofeev-Resovsky, head of the department of genetics and biophysics at the Brain Institute in Berlin-Buc.

In fact, the scientist, who had been invited to Germany as early as 1925 by the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science, found himself a hostage in Germany once the Great Patriotic War began. He was allowed to head the institute, but a return to his homeland was out of the question.

His son Dmitry was arrested for taking part in an anti-fascist organisation. In exchange for his son's freedom, Timofeev-Resovsky was offered a commission to work on the racial inferiority of Slavs and Gypsies. Naturally, he refused, and Dmitry died in the Mauthausen concentration camp.

After the war Nikolay Timofeev-Resovsky was arrested and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment as a non-returner. He was sent to a camp in Karaganda, and a year later transferred to a secret research institute in the Southern Urals, where he was head of the biophysics department until 1955.

Nikolay Vladimirovich lived a long life. His contribution to science is recognised worldwide; he created a scientific school of his own and laid the foundations for entire fields of research