In 1929, a new Mathematical Institute opened just outside the old city walls of Göttingen, with Richard Courant assuming its prestigious directorship. This modern facility offered the venerable department a spacious library, comfortable offices, housing facilities for visitors, and prominent exhibit space for its valuable collection of mathematical models and instruments. Only four years later, however, the ascendancy of the Nazi party forced the faculty to immigrate to the United States. Their hastily chosen replacements needed to steer an impossible course between the department's hallowed tradition and the odious dictates of the regime.