Goettingenknowr

There were plenty of accomplished mathematicians before Hilbert. But the real golden age of Göttingen math and physics was due to a large recruitment effort led by David Hilbert. After realizing some early success in his recruitment effort, the reputation of Göttingen as the place to be for math and physics grew more organically.

It seems like Americans understand just fine how much they benefited from post-war prosperity and the destruction of Europe WWII brought with it.