V O L U M E 8 , D O C U M E N T 3 8 0 a 8 1
robe, is my political friend through thick and
thin.[2]
Here I can take better care of
myself now than before insofar as I have an apartment next to my uncle’s cousin’s
and don’t have to go out anymore for meals. I haven’t had another attack and am
quite considerably
fortified.[3]
But a certain local sensitivity to touch on my abdo-
men still seems to be there as before.
Arriving home, I found colossal tax obligations waiting and the bank informs me
that my store of cash is at an end. If it continues like this for a while, my finances
will become unsustainable. So I resolve that Tete should be back in Zurich on Oc-
tober 1st and am giving my family 2,000 marks per quarter. Sending the money for
Tete’s sanatorium without documentation would not be
possible.[4]
I therefore re-
quest you pay the months July and August and September for me as well, as you
have done earlier for June. (July is paid for.) Thereupon please send me a bill for
the months of June, August, and September, which I can present to the Reichsbank
as proof of my debt. Then I will sell a part of my securities and immediately send
you the money. I ask you please to do all this exactly as I have said, so that I can
get rid of this worry.
I know that the 2,000 marks quarterly is a meager support for my family, owing
to the unfavorable exchange rate. But more cannot be given without definite bank-
ruptcy developing. If it becomes necessary, I would have to send my wife and Tete
to Bavaria or Baden, to a small town where one can get twice as much for one’s
money and where the food situation is hardly worse than in
Switzerland.[5]
This op-
tion is open to me despite the recent travel restrictions. But [Hans] Albert may un-
der all circumstances stay in Zurich, as this is necessary for his
schooling.[6]
I already discussed all these things with Besso and his
wife,[7]
although, at the
time, I considered it possible to keep Tete up there for another half year. Anna
Besso took excellent care of me in Zurich and appears, in general, to have much
talent and an unlimited preference and goodwill for this type of work. I noticed that
she likes it if I tell you so. Perhaps she is considering taking up nursing as a profes-
sion. Speak to her about it, but don’t be put off by her silly talk. Her deeds are better
than her words.
In Benzingen I read a very fine book by a Viennese (Neue Staatslehre [New the-
ory of political science]) by Menger, from which I learned many
things.[8]
Take the
time to dip into it when you have some leisure (?) again. Over here, a few of my
best Academy brethren (Brauer, a zoologist, and Frobenius, a mathematician)
died.[9]
What is even more distressing is that the exceptional and still young Smo-
luchowski died of dysentery, one of the best persons and minds I have ever known;
another war casualty, since he certainly would not have contracted the disease in
normal
times.[10]
Please do follow my wishes regarding the settling of my family’s affairs, be-
cause it really is necessary. In the first place, my wife must return home again, of
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