Famous Asylum Seekers

Contributions made by asylum seekers

Generally the public does not know what refugees and asylum seekers have, and are contributing to the economy and the quality of our lives and thinking.

A few famous asylum seekers include:

• Albert Einstein, one of the world's most famous scientists, was a refugee from Germany.
• Sir Montague Burton, founder of Burtons shops and employer of thousands British people was a Russian Jewish refugee.
• Karl Marx, political writer and thinker, was a refugee.
• Joseph Malin was a Jewish refugee who established the worlds first fish and chip shop on Cleveland Street, London in 1860.
• Alec Issigonis was a refugee, exiled from Turkey in 1906. He went on to design the Mini motor car, widely regarded as a true Great British icon.
• Michael Marks was one half of the Great British retail institution Marks and Spencer. He was a Polish refugee. Today M&S are seen as one of the greatest British retail icons.
• Marc Chagall, the famous artist was exiled by Nazis and he became an asylum seeker.
• Sir Georg Solti was a refugee from Budapest who became one of the world's greatest music conductors.
• Isambard Kingdom Brunel, recently voted as one of the greatest Britons of all time was in fact the son of a French refugee. He became one of the world's most outstanding engineers.
• The Dalai Lama became a refugee in 1959 from Tibet. Today he is one of the world's greatest spiritual leaders.
• Frank B. Colton was a Polish refugee who, along with Austrian Carl Djerassi, invented the contraceptive pill.