V O L U M E 8 , D O C U M E N T S 5 a , 1 6 a 1 1
Vol. 8, 5a. From Heinrich Zangger
[between ca. 14 April and 1 July
1914][1]
Dear friend Einstein,
[Text unintelligible]... Only when you were standing in Berlin as if in front of a
cage... and Switzerland in summer is nice when Dahlem is
broiling[2]
[I thought
[then] that you still have examinations to hold at the
Poly[3]
in July [and since it
was July] I didn’t want to do anything foolish and miss you by chance. I have final-
ly obtained the proceedings of the [Prussian] Academy, it must be nice... for people
who [...] [don’t] like to read books like you and me.
You have not yet unlearned to apologize, if you don’t write, but neither you nor
I believe in an improvement.
Varicac[4]
wanted to help the renters in the Hofstrasse, its seems that one battle
follows another [there] But there was nothing to do.
They say Abraham will come to
Zurich[5]
[who will go] to Göttingen, Frankfurt,
Debye?[6]
On the 1st of August you come to Zurich!
first because the Berliners will do something out of envy, if there are rays around
the sun for your
sake[7]
[and] don’t do it in the photographic [camera] because then
it is better one can enjoy the short sleeves [...]
If you know when you are coming, please send a postcard a few days before-
hand.
Vol. 8, 16a. To Heinrich Zangger
[Berlin,] 27 June
[1914][1]
Dear friend Zangger,
You’re furious about my unbelievable silence and scold me unjustifiably calling
me a Berliner; but a Berliner always has his mouth open and he can manage a lot
with
that![2]
Whereas I have a semipathological inhibition toward writing, as
generally with any action that requires any definite decision. That’s how tiredness
and age manifest themselves with me.
Life appeals to me very much here, I have to admit. The sheer amount of com-
petence and glowing interest in science one finds here! I’m repeatedly fascinated
by the colloquium and the phys.
society.[3]
And the people, you ask? They are
basically the same as everywhere. In Zurich they feign republican probity, here mil-
itary rigidity and discipline, but here, as there, they’re governed by the same drives,
and here, as there, only a few rise above raw instinct.
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