Being a conservative member of parliament for the democratic "Zentrumspartei", Dessauer opposed the National Socialists' rise to power and was then forced to emigrate in 1934. His successor, Dessauer's colleague and long-standing collaborator, Boris Rajewsky was the first director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Biophysics.
Dessauer, a conservative member of parliament for the democratic "Zentrumspartei", opposed the National Socialists' rise to power and was forced to emigrate in 1934. His successor, Dessauer's colleague and long-standing collaborator, Boris Rajewsky took over as the first director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Biophysics.