@DiogenesLamp
He most likely did know. He was an intelligent man and was friends with intelligent Germans. No doubt one of more of his colleagues heard about it and passed him the word to get the hell out of Dodge,NOW.
That makes sense. But on the other hand, I will point out that Szilard saw the potential for a fission reaction decades before anyone else even thought a thing possible. It is my opinion that Fission is literally the consequence of Szilard pushing for it more so than anyone else.
He saw that long before anyone else, so I thought it possible that he could more accurately predict what would happen in Germany and use this information to make his decisions.
But your idea makes more sense.
Not all Germans were dedicated Nazi's and Jew-haters. Probably not even 20 percent of them,if you want me to pull a number out of the air.
The one number I am positive is pretty accurate is the number "100 percent" when it is related to the "number of Germans smart enough to stay quite to avoid taking train rides themselves".
Camouflage. As the Japanese say: "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down."
Or as I used to put it, "When the whole world is crazy, if you aren't also crazy, you are crazy. "